Inevitably, family gatherings go on a little too long, past the point where everyone is happy to be together, past the dinner, dessert, coffees and teas and into a strange no-man’s-land of social interaction. The kids get cranky, the conversation runs dry, someone gets upset, screens arise from the purses and pockets they’ve been stuffed into. This desire to stay together, to milk the last drops of family time, is similar in nature to that need for one more scene, one more phrase, ten more minutes set to one last piece of music.Read more
In live performance, every show is different. Every body is in a slightly different configuration each day, each person is in a unique mood during the show and there are all of the outside stimuli and conditions that influence the way things feel. A cold day can lead to a stiff performance and a sweltering day can garner a droopy one. Because dance is a form resting on the living body, not machines, it has to be infinitely flexible. It has to consider that no two days are the same and, as such, no two shows can be identical. What works one day won’t work the next.Read more
Our children enter the world to upstage us. Their youth marks the waning of our own, their innocence points to the disappearance of our own. The freshness of a baby is entrancing, and it works as a tonic on most adults around. We can so easily forget ourselves when faced with our children.Read more
Through repetitive phrases, done countless times in different interpretations, Lechet splays out the intensity of life. When the piece comes to a close, I wondered how the dancers would get home as Lechet demands every ounce of energy they have, every breath and every heartbeat. And yet, within this extreme effort, the dancers appear to be truly enjoying themselves. They have found a freedom within the grind (choreographic) and that revelation is uplifting not only as a dance-lover but as a person who runs my own rat race day in and day out. Read more
In life, be it in major moments like the Olympics or in small moments like school tests, college applications, job interview and beyond, we sometimes fail. We often fail even. And when we fail, a lot of times there isn’t anything we or anyone else can say that will make us feel better. There might not be another chance. The opportunity might be gone. And there is no path around that pain, only the hope to endure it.Read more
Choreographers have always filmed auditions. Until recently, it was clear that this recordings were to be used for later reference and were private.
However, I have noticed that more and more choreographers are affording themselves the luxury of publishing audition videos online.Read more
In the past, I need the audience’s approval and affirmation more. There is a balance between pleasing myself and pleasing the audience and it has changed from process to process. I’m trying to learn how to fulfill my own desires and I believe that if I’m able to free myself to satisfy myself, it will also satisfy the audience.Read more
On March 6, when The Suit took part of the Women Festival at the Holon Theater, I finished two performances, checked the box in my mind that I had completed the engagement and looked onwards to a month and a season full of shows and tours. Little did I, or anyone else, know that it would be my last meeting with an audience for a long while. So when I walked down the stairs of the Alliance House on September 9, onto the site-specific “stage” that would be the stomping ground for Meet Me in the Market, a performative tour of Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market inspired by Jackie Kennedy, the impact was amplified exponentially.Read more
When I think about the many times in which I have said, “I felt bad so I…” I realize that we program girls and women to use these words in the exactly wrong way. We should never do anything because we “feel bad.” If you feel bad it means something off is happening. It means someone is asking you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Instead of going along with it because you feel bad, a red flag should go blazing into our consciousness. “I feel bad” or “I feel uncomfortable” should be a clear sign to cut and run or, at least, to proceed with extreme caution.Read more