Dive in!...
It is only natural that in a religious country where uncertainty lurks around every antiquated corner, many rely on tangible elements when trying to reach the Holy. We hold onto tactile materials to help transcend beyond our apparent existence–pushing back against this fluid world by obsessing over concrete materials common to mankind. One such material is the human body: how it works, breathes, adapts, and reacts to everyday situations.
Dance embraces our material makeup, helping everyone involved connect and open up the body to a more immediate reality through cultural, ceremonial, traditional, and artistic practices. This month's Diver Festival–a three-weekend contemporary dance festival taking place in venues across Tel Aviv and Jaffa–addresses materialism through the theme Matereality. The term fuses the 'material' with 'reality' in order to acknowledge that "the body is always embroiled in the actuality of the human psyche and social reality it signifies."
From late-August to mid-September, Artistic Directors Ido Feder & Moshe Shechter Avshalom dive into the ongoing conversation about 'matereality' through workshops, lectures, screenings, discussions, heated debates, celebrations, and more. However, the roots of the Diver Festival stem from powerful performances by Israeli and European dance companies. Here are the weekend highlights.
Weekend #1 (August 31-September 9)
© Rania Moslam
Sons of Sissy by Simon Mayer (Austria)
Simon Mayer's newest group performance narrows in on a relatable theme in the Israeli sphere: tradition. Through folk dancing and traditional alpine music from Mayer's country of origin, four performers redefine and ultimately defy the action of pigeonholing. The "part weird folk-music quartet, part experimentally playful ritual dance combo" disrupts traditional Austrian male role models in their humorous, entertaining, sometimes nude spectacle.
August 31, 20:00. Habait Theater, 5 Noam Street, Jaffa
Weekend #2 (September 6-9)
© Martin Argyroglo
Loie Fuller: Research by Ola Maciejewska (Poland)
In relation to the festival's theme of Matereality, Maciejewska's show examines the limits of human agency and the agency of objects in action. The choreographer uses the act of sculpting as a metaphor to paint the relationship between humans (the sculptor) and non-humans (the sculpture). Loie Fuller: Research draws on two separate exercises to expose this relationship and try to make sense of it in a visible, more accessible, manner.
September 7, 19:00 & 21:00. Inbal Theater, Suzanne Dellal Center, 5 Yehieli St, Tel Aviv
Weekend #3 (September 13-16)
© Tal Haring
The duties of the HEART by Lilach Livne (Israel)
Israeli choreographer and performance artist Lilach Livne's striking piece paints a three-hour sensual portrait of transformation. In The duties of the HEART, the metaphysical flirts with the abstract, and visibility slowly dissolves into invisibility, then eventually reemerges into the tangible world