Parades And Changes

The Israel Festival is proud to once again host the Vertigo Dance Company. We have been closely watching Vertigo since it was established in 1992, and are repeatedly astounded by the company’s original language, which has garnered significant appreciation both locally and internationally. We are equally taken by the company’s innovative collaborations and unique work, which combines art-making with socially and environmentally engaged activities. In recent years, these activities has expanded to form an impressive enterprise, which includes the dance school in Jerusalem, the ecological art village on Kibbutz Netiv Halamed-Heh, the Israel Lottery Culture Lab in the Mateh Yehuda region, and “Power of Balance,” a program that creates encounters between handicapped and non  handicapped dancers.

This year, the festival hosts a contemporary version of the groundbreaking work by pioneering dancer Anna Halprin, who worked alongside choreographers such as Meredith Monk, Trisha Brown, and Merce Cunningham in bringing about the postmodern dance revolution of the 1960s. In this production, which shocked viewers when it was first performed, Halprin uses musical scores and improvisation to explore how ordinary tasks can be transformed into dance, creating what she describes as a “ceremony of trust” designed to reveal dance as a medium of close contact. Vertigo’s work process was guided by Halprin’s approach: “We look at the space, the cast, the social conditions, and ask: What will work here, now, with these performers?”

* This project is a collaboration between Anna Halprin, Noa Wertheim, Miguel Frasconi, and the Vertigo Dance Company.

*This collaboration was made possible by Anna Halprin’s Doris Duke Impact Award and grants from the Alexander M. and Jewish Philanthropies of the Jewish Community Federation,Tamalpa Institute Art Corps, Planetary Dance Committee

Artistic Guide and Mentor: Anna Halprin | Artistic Director: Noa Wertheim | Original Music: Morton Subotnick | Lighting Design: Dani Fishof – Magenta | Costume Design: Rosie Canaan | Drummer: Ilya Magnes | Vertigo Company Dancers: Eyal Vizner, Micah Amos, Tomer Navot, Marija Slavec, Sian Olles, Nitsan Moshe, Ron Cohen, Itay Peri, Yael Cibulski.