Batsheva Dance Company.JACOB'S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, summer dance concert series held annually near Lee, Mass., in the Berkshires. The site, originally an 18th-century farm, was purchased by the American modern dancer Ted Shawn in 1930, and three years later it became the home of his Men BECKET beck·et n. Nautical A device, such as a looped rope, hook and eye, strap, or grommet, used to hold or fasten loose ropes, spars, or oars in position. [Origin unknown.] Noun 1. , MA JULY 28-AUGUST 1, 2004 Watching Sharon Eyal's Love is like shaking a snow done. First there is the chaotic blizzard, then organized patterns emerge, and then the flakes come to rest and only a quiet scene remains. Performances of this stark and unsettling un·set·tle v. un·set·tled, un·set·tling, un·set·tles v.tr. 1. To displace from a settled condition; disrupt. 2. To make uneasy; disturb. v.intr. piece marked the first time that Eyal's work has been presented outside of Israel, where she is well known as a dancer and choreographer. Less than a year ago, this protegee pro·té·gée n. A woman or girl whose welfare, training, or career is promoted by an influential person. [French, feminine of protégé, protégé; see protégé.] Noun 1. and muse of Ohad Naharin was named associate artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company The Batsheva Dance Company is a highly respected dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel and founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild in 1964, after whom it was named. Ohad Naharin has been its in house choreographer since 1990. . Love is an evening length work, though it appeared here in a shortened version, where it was the perfect companion to Naharin's more varied and joyous Deca Dance. Naharin's preference for reconfiguring bits of his vast repertoire into a perpetually transmuting vaudeville is irrefutable--audiences are won over quickly and leave wanting more. Here, he included most of his austere Black Mille, a powerful quartet based on Paul Celan's holocaust poem, "Deathfugue." Naharin makes his impact using straight-to-the-heart music and spine-tingling unison phrases from his reckless dancers. Eyal prefers to show them as conflicted, if not isolated, individuals. With a red floor, a stage stripped of curtains, and all 14 dancer dressed in Dalia Lider's simple black turtleneck shirts and trunks, Love is without doubt mole Bauhaus than baroque. There were no props or sets, and within the first five minutes Eyal had offered all of her emphatic movement vocabulary in a series of complicated cascades from the full ensemble (which included herself) huddled upstage. Each dancer delivered a lengthy episode characterized by flailing arms, a supple spine and contracting torso, and strong, turned-out legs. It was chaos and spectacle at once, and soloist Noa Zouk zouk n. A popular dance music of the French West Indies, combining African drumming styles with influences from American and Caribbean popular music. stood in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of it in a wide, parallel second position, thrusting her pelvis repeatedly with a despondent de·spon·dent adj. Feeling or expressing despondency; dejected. de·spon  dent·ly adv. expression on her face. Aggressive gestures invaded Love like curious punctuation, suggesting that those who enter the arena of love are doomed to frustration. Eyal's dense choreography recalls Cunningham's chance methods, Karole Armitage's sexual aggression, and aspects of Naharin's blissful body politics. In the end, Love is original and bleak, a playground where nobody smiles but nobody wants to leave the game, either. FOR MORE INFORMATION www jacobspillow.org www.isradcentersf.org (click on "culture") |
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