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.
Adi Sha’al and Noa Wertheim of Vertigo Dance Company. Photo by Eyal Landesman.
Noa Wertheim’s Vertigo and the Diamonds. Photo by Miri Yanai Shimonovich.
Noa Wertheim’s White Noise which premiered this year. Photo by Gadi Dagon.
As I have traveled through Israel’s dance circles, I have run into Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al many times: at Vertigo Dance Company’s concerts at the Suzanne Dellal Center, at contact jams, and at a performance of Noa’s work on students from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. With their company, their school in Jerusalem, and their growing artist village on Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Hey, this dynamic couple is a powerful force in the Israeli contemporary dance scene. They’re also revolutionary in their community-centered and environmentally-conscious approach to dance. Join us as Noa talks about raising a family while directing a company, building the Eco-Art Village, choreographing the site-specific environmental dance Birth of the Phoenix, and engaging in “tikkun olam” - healing the world - through her work.
Hear our conversation, see more pictures, and link to videos on Israel Seen.
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/06/30/deborah-friedes-interviews-noa-wertheim-and-adi-shaal-the-directors-of-vertigo-dance-company/
A sign pointing towards Vertigo Dance Company’s studio on Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Hey.
Vertigo’s building.
Vertigo’s gorgeous, spacious studio.
A view from the studio - farm equipment and all!
It’s not often that you gaze out the window of a dance studio and see tractors with bales of hay - but during my visit to the Vertigo Dance Company on Sunday, that’s exactly what I saw. Located in Israel’s Elah Valley, Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Hey is home to the new Eco-Art Village, an intentional community of environmentally-friendly artists pioneered by Vertigo’s directors Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al. It’s an incredible place, but for now I’ll just leave you with these pictures and save the explanation for the interview to come!
When I was there on Sunday, I observed a rehearsal of Noa’s latest work, Ra’ash Levan (White Noise). The dance’s movement vocabulary - with influences from ballet, release technique, contact improvisation, and martial arts - kept me focused on the activity within the studio despite the temptation to look out the windows at the unfamiliar and beautiful surroundings. I returned to the Eco-Art Village on Tuesday for a school performance of Birth of the Phoenix. Premiered in 2004, Birth of the Phoenix is a site-specific work in which the company dances on a special dirt floor under a geodesic dome that is re-constructed for each show (the group has performed the work hundreds of times in Israel and abroad). Like White Noise, this work is extremely athletic with plenty of floorwork, soaring jumps, and partnering - and seeing the dancers throw themselves (at times literally!) into such full-bodied movement on a dirt floor was inspiring.
Here are a few photos to give you a sense of the setting for Birth of the Phoenix:
Me outside the geodesic dome for Vertigo’s Birth of the Phoenix
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!
