This memory guides me to the very first dance studio I ever saw. It had a name: Sala Rossa. It was a bright red box of a room with golden barres and pictures of famous ballerinas hanging on the walls. All very anxiety-inducing for my likes. I’m surrounded by slim, beautiful girls walking like elegant cats, holding onto the barre for balance in ways that seem effortless to me.Read more
Dear Balloons,
thank you for reminding me
to stay plenty empty
available for space
and new possibilities.Read more
I remember the way the chair felt and that feeling…. that feeling of seeing something that would change me. It was not just that the piece was excellent. It was that first-time sensation…. the first time when something on stage punched me in the guts…the first time I saw a show that depicted real people exploring everyday social issues not just making pretty shapes. I knew it was choreographed and practiced but, for me, it was happening in real time. It was everything that I could imagine and more. I was in high school and we were told to take notes but no notes could describe what I felt so my page was left empty.Read more
You are a dance style
with a name that sounds like destruction, but you only destroy obstacles and fears.
You are an art form contradicting limits and always inspiring to go for more.
I think I love you for many things. But I really appreciate that you always accept
me the way I am and push me to leave the comfort zone. Well, over the past 3 years,
that comfort zone never found me. And it is a gift.Read more
I think the major opinion about returning to work as a dancer after maternity leave is that we become less hireable and that our bodies change for the worse. A big question employers ask is “how will these mother/dancers ever manage a tour life with children”? I understand these worries and to say I never had them would be lying. But how are we supposed to overcome certain beliefs if we believe them ourselves?Read more
Dance, I need you to know you are my one and only, and
I will keep trying. If you could only see how much I love you, I know you’d love me back. I
want you to be devoted to me, like how I am devoted to you. I don’t want to be your side piece
anymore. I think I deserve more.Read more
In the same week, I attended performances of 2019 by Batsheva Dance Company and Shira Eviatar and Hadar Ahuvia’s Possessing. As an audience member, my reflections on these shows were influenced by the juxtaposition of the two in my mind. After all, audiences always bring the past experiences into the theater, superimposing what they haveRead more
In a repeat viewing of the legendary Carnations by Pina Bausch (my first was in Caesarea many years ago, 1991?), I observe as one views a postcard sent from relatives in a distant country. It’s beautiful there but chilly. The essential element is missing, the thing that always characterized Pina Bausch’s works. The essential, for me, is the moment in which the action on stage floods out into the audience, threatens, keeps me up at night and makes me identify with the characters/dancers and to worry about their physical emotional well-being.Read more
זֶה הֲכִי לוֹקָאלִי הַדֶּרֶךְ הַזֹּאת לסוזן דָלָל.
לֹא-קַל-לִי בִּכְלָל.
וּבֶטַח גַּם לָהֶם לֹא.
וְגַם לְאִירִיס שֶׁכְּבָר מְחַכֶּה עַל הַבָּמָה,
וּתְסַפֵּר לָנוּ בַּגּוּפָה עַל הַמְּקוֹמִיּוֹת.
If you were to write a letter to something or someone dance related, who would it be to? A performer who changed the way you saw life? A piece that rocked you to your core? A choreographer that inspired you to throw caution to the wind and pursue a career on stage?
Creative Writing invites you to take a moment to gush, dwell, fantasize and swoon over a particular something that tickled you pink. Sit down, write them a love letter. We want to publish it! Let’s get lovey.Read more