Choreographer Nimrod Freed. Photo by Eyal Landesman.
Nimrod Freed’s Peep Dance. Photo by Anatoly Michaelo.
Spectators at Nimrod Freed’s Peep Dance. Photo by Itamar Freed.
My initial encounter with Nimrod Freed was last autumn via e-mail. I first contacted him because he was on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, my host institution here in Israel. We met, though, at a different college with a focus on teacher training: Seminar HaKibbutzim in northern Tel Aviv. Not only does Nimrod teach at both of these institutions, but he also is the artistic director at Tel Aviv’s Beit Tami, a spectacularly located community center that is equipped with a few studios and a small performance space popular with independent choreographers. There he runs the Tami Dance Company, which currently brings together one actor with several dancers in dance theater works. As I learned about all of Nimrod’s roles during that first meeting at Seminar HaKibbutzim, I realized - in the very best way - that I had got more than I bargained for! Speaking with him gave me a much clearer sense of the institutional map of Israeli contemporary dance.
I also learned about Nimrod’s own career, from his beginnings in folk dance to his intensive study of concert dance, which was sparked by his involvement in an opera production of Samson and Delilah at age 16. His interest in dance theater developed after seeing Pina Bausch’s Café Müller , and subsequently, he studied acting and directing at Tel Aviv University. A class there with guest teacher Kei Takei proved to be a major turning point; indeed, soon afterwards, he joined her company Moving Earth in New York. Nimrod stayed in the U.S. for just over a decade, and during this time, he also formed his own dance theater company. It was an invitation to perform in the Israel Festival which paved the way back to his native country. Through his teaching of improvisation and pedagogy, his choreography, and his leadership at Beit Tami, he has contributed enormously to the vibrant Israeli contemporary dance scene - but even as he maintains a home base in Tel Aviv, he continues to work internationally. Nimrod’s company has toured to Europe and Japan, where he met Min Tanaka and picked up a butoh influence. Now he will return to New York with the Tami Dance Company for a performance of Peep Dance at Central Park SummerStage. Here’s a taste of Peep Dance to whet your appetite:
Peep Dance will share the July 26th bill with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, which will perform Rami Be’er’s Kef Kefim.
Bruchim Habaim LeKibbutz Ga’aton - Welcome to Kibbutz Ga’aton.
I almost didn’t make it to Kibbtuz Ga’aton today. After finishing my morning Gaga class in Tel Aviv, I found out that the train was not running from Hadera to Haifa, and I needed to get even further north. But as they say, when there’s a will, there’s a way! I caught a ride to the bus station in Tel Aviv, hopped a bus to Haifa, picked up the train from there to Nahariya, and then jumped in a cab to Kibbutz Ga’aton in the Western Galilee.
Why make the effort?
This wasn’t merely an outing to a beautiful part of Israel. Kibbutz Ga’aton is home to the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, one of Israel’s oldest and most renowned modern dance companies. When the taxi pulled up to the kibbutz and I saw this sign outside the company’s office, I exhaled and smiled. It took me several hours today - and more than nine months in total - but I finally made it here!
The kibbutz movement in Israel has undergone a lot of change in recent years. While the kibbutzim used to function in a socialist framework, with everyone working on the grounds and sharing income equally, many of these communities have abandoned the traditional model. On Kibbutz Ga’aton, which has changed with the times, the building which housed the old communal dining hall is being renovated - and new dance studios, such as this one, are being created. Company dancers rent housing on the kibbutz, and though in the early years they labored on the kibbutz like other residents, now they work full-time as professional dancers.
The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company was founded in 1970 by Yehudit Arnon, who moved to Kibbutz Ga’aton in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust and studying dance in Europe. Under her direction, the group - known in Israel as the “Kibbutzit” - performed works by leading Israeli and foreign choreographers. The company toured all over the world and has the posters to prove it!
As I followed the strains of piano music past these posters and into another set of studios, Yehudit - who still serves as the company’s artistic adviser - poked her head out of her office and invited me to watch a bit of the company’s ballet class. It was a wonderful surprise to meet her and a great treat to see the dancers warming up. But for what, may you ask, were the dancers preparing? It was 4:15 p.m. when I spied them doing petit allegro!
At 5:00, the company was scheduled to do an open rehearsal of Rami Be’er’s newest work, 60 Hz, which will premiere next week at the opera house in Tel Aviv. Rami was born on Kibbutz Ga’aton and, as Yehudit proudly told me, he studied dance with her when was a young boy. A former dancer with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, he has been its artistic director and primary choreographer since 1996.
I went next door with Yehudit to a small, new theater for the open rehearsal. Residents of the kibbutz and company staff members filtered into the space, and many of them came over to Yehudit to exchange warm hellos and hugs. We settled into front row seats and readied ourselves for the run of the dance - which, as with the other works of Rami’s that I have seen, combined highly athletic choreography with visually stunning sets and beautifully designed lighting.
Intrigued? See for yourself!
This 11 minute video gives some background on the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and the dance center at Kibbutz Ga’aton. There are clips of performances, rehearsals, and classes, as well as interviews with Rami Be’er, company dancers, and others.
And stay tuned, New Yorkers, because the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company is performing at Central Park SummerStage on July 26th! They’ll be doing Rami Be’er’s Kef Kefim, which I enjoyed at Suzanne Dellal in the fall. Here are some excerpts:
So save the date! I’m actually heading back to the U.S. for a bit on July 22nd, and I’m trying to figure out if I can make it to the SummerStage show myself; after 4 days out of the country, I may be feeling withdrawal from Israeli dance and this just might be the shot I need . . .
Link to Central Park SummerStage to learn more about the performance by the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, which will be on the same bill with PeepDance, an installation by Israeli choreographer Nimrod Freed.
Putting my pointe shoes on, on the plastic outdoor chairs. I think this is a first for me.
No heavy duty shoe scrapers here, so I scored the bottoms with some sharp scissors instead.
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