Archive for interview
June 5, 2008 at 9:34 pm · Filed under dance, interview, DEBORAH, israel, Adama, Liat Dror, Nir Ben Gal
Liat Dror. Photo courtesy of Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal.
When I arrived at Adama in Israel’s Negev Desert for my second visit, I dropped my belongings in my assigned tepee and readied myself for my first class with Liat Dror. Her warm smile made me feel at ease as she led the class - Adama’s pupils, company members, and visiting photography students - through gentle individual and group exercises. Immediately afterwards, I sat down with Liat to learn more about Adama and her approach to dancing in a healthy way.
Want to know more? Hear my conversation with Liat Dror, see more photographs, and link to Adama’s website through Israel Seen.
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/06/05/he-said-she-said-part-ii-liat-dror-of-adama-speaks-to-our-deborah-friedes/j)
Read my previous entry about Adama on The Winger at http://thewinger.com/words/2008/adama/.
Listen to my conversation with Liat’s partner, Nir Ben-Gal, at this link to Israel Seen.
Enjoy! I’m actually heading back to Adama tomorrow morning for Machol Bamidbar (Dance in the Desert), a 3-day festival of classes and performances with choreographers and dancers from all over the country. Heaven!
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
April 22, 2008 at 8:39 pm · Filed under dance, choreographer, choreography, interview, DEBORAH, israel, Noa Dar, kibbutz
Publicity for Noa Dar’s Tetris
Noa Dar’s Tetris (photo credit: Tamar Lam)
Audience members below the platform in Noa Dar’s Tetris (photo credit: Tamar Lam)
I had spent many evenings taking contemporary dance classes with Shlomit Fundaminsky and Inbal Aloni at Noa Dar’s studio in Tel Aviv, but when I entered the building one night for a performance of Noa’s Tetris (pictured above), it was as if I had walked into another world. When I viewed Arnica a month later in the more traditional environment of Tel Aviv’s Tmuna Theater, I not only saw Noa’s range as a choreographer but was struck by her powerful presence as a performer. After screening more of her work on DVD, I knew I had to meet the woman whose name graced the space where I so frequently took class! We set up a meeting, and at long last I met Noa in her studio for a stimulating conversation. During our interview, Noa reflected on the development of her movement vocabulary, the evolution of her repertory, her choreographic process, and the relationship of her work to her upbringing on a kibbutz and to the larger Israeli society. It was a really rich discussion that, for me, further illuminated her well-crafted choreography while shedding even more light on the surrounding contexts of Israeli dance and Israeli culture. I hope it will open your eyes as well!
Hear our conversation, see more photographs, and link to Noa Dar’s website (which includes video clips of many of the works she discusses!) at Israel Seen.
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/04/22/deborah-interviews-israeli-choreographer-noa-dar/)
You can also subscribe to the Israel Seen podcasts through iTunes.
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
April 9, 2008 at 10:29 pm · Filed under dance, choreographer, choreography, interview, gender, DEBORAH, israel, Renana Raz, folk dance, debka
Publicity for Renana Raz’s Kazuaria
Publicity for Renana Raz’s concert Hebrew Labor
Renana Raz in We Have Been Called to Go, shown recently in the concert Hebrew Labor
Renana Raz is a relatively young choreographer, but she has already developed a unique artistic voice and an impressive body of work. Prior to interviewing her, I viewed a DVD of her repertory and attended a high-energy performance of Kazuaria, which was inspired by and incorporated elements from the Druze debka dance. After our conversation, I couldn’t wait to see We Have Been Called to Go, which like Kazuaria weaves folk dance - in this case, Israeli folk dance - into a decidedly contemporary concert dance framework. When I finally saw this work, I stayed up much of the night writing in my blog about it!
Before arriving in Israel, I wondered if choreographers were dealing with specifically Israeli subject matter in their work. Nearly seven months into my time here, the short answer (and there is a long one!) is that the vast majority of Israeli contemporary dance presented this season has not featured explicitly Israeli characters, situations, or symbols. The two pieces by Renana that I mentioned above are some of the only works I have viewed which place the Israeli context center stage. I’m happy to say that they captured my attention not only because of this distinction but also because of their fine craft and compelling performance.
Renana’s repertory stretches beyond the Israeli context even when she is expressly exploring it, and we talk about this in our conversation. But - just as I gained some insight into Israeli society by watching Kazuaria and We Have Been Called to Go - you’ll get to learn a bit about Israeli culture by listening to her talk about these dances!
Hear my interview with Renana, see more pictures, and link to videos at Israel Seen
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/03/05/deborah-interviews-israeli-choreographer-renana-raz/)
Read a post about my experience watching We Have Been Called to Go at my website.
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
April 5, 2008 at 10:19 pm · Filed under dance, theatre, choreographer, interview, gender issues, DEBORAH, israel, Niv Sheinfeld, Oren Laor
The publicity for Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Duets
Niv Sheinfeld and Sivan Gutholtz in “On a Matter of Life or Death” from Duets (photo by Gadi Dagon)
The publicity for Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Jorona
Oren Laor and Noga Golan in Jorona (photo by Gadi Dagon)
I hadn’t been in Israel very long when I first saw Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Duets, but even after many months and many, many more concerts, this piece remains one of my favorites. I was thrilled when Niv and Oren agreed to be my first interview subjects. Like true Tel Aviv-ians, we sat down at a cafe for an engaging chat in January. Since then, I’ve seen Jorona and a revised version of Duets, and I’ve also had the pleasure of running into Niv and Oren randomly around town. I wish you could be here to meet them in person and see their work, but I suppose the audio recording of our conversation and some YouTube videos will have to do for now. We talk about Niv’s training in dance and Oren’s background in theater, their collaborative creative process, their choreographic treatment of relationships and gender issues, and more . . .
Hear the interview, see more pictures, and link to videos at Israel Seen
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/02/24/deborah-interviews-niv-sheinfeld-and-oren-laor-dramatic-dance-makers/)
Read a post about Duets on my website at this link.
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
April 1, 2008 at 3:50 pm · Filed under dance, interview, DEBORAH, Yair Vardi, Suzanne Dellal Center, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation, Labanotation
Yair Vardi. Photo by Gadi Dagon, courtesy of Yair Vardi.
The Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv
The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (also called the Rubin Academy), in Jerusalem
My interview with Yair Vardi is actually third in the series I am podcasting on Israel Seen, but I decided to start with it here because it gives a great overview of the Israeli concert dance scene. After a notable career as a dancer, Yair Vardi became the director of Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Center, a gorgeous Lincoln Center-type complex with studios and theaters primarily used for dance. He also serves as the director of dance at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, one of the few institutions of higher learning in Israel that grants degrees in dance. Though these jobs and other advisory positions keep Yair very busy, he found some time to sit down with me and chat about Israel’s vibrant dance scene. If you want to know about the history and programming of the Suzanne Dellal Center, the curriculum in Israel’s premiere undergraduate dance program, and how Israeli contemporary dance compares to American and European contemporary dance, tune in at the link below! It’s worth listening to this just to hear how many performances there are at Suzanne Dellal each year (I’m not telling!) - plus if you’re interested in dance notation, there’s a little bit about Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation, which was developed in Israel and is taught at the Academy.
You can listen to my interview with Yair, see more photographs, and check out additional links at IsraelSeen.
Also, you can subscribe to IsraelSeen’s podcasts for free on iTunes. You may occasionally get a podcast on a non-dance subject, but who knows, maybe you will find it interesting!
Enjoy!
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
December 21, 2007 at 5:08 am · Filed under dance, Nutcracker, writing, critics, school, interview, TAYLOR
Two big things ended this week - Nutcracker, and my last full semester of college!
Nutcracker went really well. It felt great to be onstage after going a few months without performing and it reminded me how much I love it - the whole process, from the makeup to the rosin to the applause to the bows. Nutcracker has been a constant in my (and many other dancers’) life over the years and it truly symbolizes the Christmas spirit. And this was my first run of it as a “professional” so to speak, so it was extra special.
Speaking of Nutcracker, I did an article for ExploreDance.com on my ballet teacher retiring from her role as The Sugar Plum Fairy, one she has danced for over 30 years! Read it here.
And also, the fall semester is finally over! I’m officially one month away from graduating college - and am both extremely excited and somewhat nervous for the future. To this point I have always squirmed away from making the terrifying choice between continuing ballet or reverting to ‘real life.’ Luckily, at this turning point I’m still not giving up one passion for another.
The end of the school semester has been intense with work and finals and finishing up my work as Features Editor at our school paper. I completed my senior thesis on dance journalism after tons of work (I even got to speak with New York Times dance critic and fellow Winger Gia Kourlas!) and it seems to have paid off. I had submitted my abstract a while ago to Dance Research Forum Ireland, a conference for dance scholars and historians, and I recently got an email saying they accepted my project! It’s not until June and I’m not positive I’ll be able to attend yet, but it would be nice to have an outlet to share all that work…
On another note, this great new ballet site called Ballet Connections has started interviewing some dancers so that readers can hear their insights to the dance world, and they interviewed me. Read it here, and be sure to check out the other features on the site.
After a tough semester I’m glad it’s time for the holidays and the new year. My plans for 2008 include starting a new internship at The New Yorker magazine (SO excited for that), working a little bit with this contemporary company, doing lots of auditions, and continuing with grad school (among other things…). Busy as always.
Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and restful holiday! 
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
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