Interview Series: Noa Dar
 |
DEBORAH FRIEDES |
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.
