{"id":2366,"date":"2009-11-29T02:19:15","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T09:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2009-11-29T02:21:35","modified_gmt":"2009-11-29T09:21:35","slug":"curtain-up-2009-niv-sheinfeld-and-oren-laor-big-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=2366","title":{"rendered":"Curtain Up 2009: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor – Big Mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The three of them are walking, marching,\u00a0in studio A at the Suzanne Dellal Centre: Niv Sheinfeld, Oren Laor and Keren Levi rehearsing the first segment of Big Mouth<\/em>, which premieres Monday, November 30 as part of the Curtain Up<\/em> Festival. The room is so silent I can hear the rhythm of their bare feet on the floor. Although there is no music, the traces of familiar movements create melodies in my mind: Shavtem Mayim, Zaddik KaTamar. Vestiges of Israeli folk dance move through their steps, while the triad formation sends my thoughts right back to boot camp, which, as it turns out, is what the artists intended.<\/p>\n

Big Mouth<\/em> explores the relationship of the individual to collective and to structure \u2013 the tension between the desire for independence and the surrounding framework \u2013 such as family, religion or nationality, which supports, enables and at the same time establishes limits and constrictions. In conversation with Laor and Sheinfeld it appeared that the concept is mirrored in the evolution of the work itself, which began as a solo for Keren Levi, an independent dancer\/choreographer based in Amsterdam, and evolved into a trio, in which Sheinfeld and Laor represent the framework surrounding Levi.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Mouth\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The current work presented a departure for all three collaborators. Sheinfeld and Laor have created several works together: Pigs<\/em> (2005), Jorona<\/em> (2006), Duets<\/em> (2007) and Post-Martha<\/em> (2008). Although both have performed in different roles within many of these works, one was always on the outside observing and directing. In Big Mouth, both are within the structure of the dance, performing the entire time, which has given them a different perspective and challenge to work with. Another new element in this piece is Laor\u2019s role. An actor by training, Laor is the dramaturg for their collaborative works while Sheinfeld choreographs, and until now, his performances in works like Jorona<\/em> or Duets<\/em>, have been dramatic. Yet in contrast to these previous works, which are closer to dance-theatre, Big Mouth<\/em> is a more abstract, movement-based work, in which Laor is participating as a dancer. For Levi, working on Big Mouth<\/em> represents a different sort of move altogether, one which relates thematically to the dance.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Mouth\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Levi, who was a member of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and the Batsheva Ensemble, has been living and working in Europe for the past 12 years. Territory<\/em>, her first full-length piece (co-production of DWA Dans Werk Plaats, Grand Theatre & Monty Antwerp 2004) won the BNG prize for the most innovative work touring the Netherlands through the Nieuw Theatre Maker Series 2005-6. Faceless<\/em>, her second full-length piece premiered in the \u201cSomething Raw\u201d festival in Amsterdam 2006, and was followed by the duet Couple-Like<\/em>, which is currently in its 3rd season on tour. Levi\u2019s latest piece, The Prize Piece<\/em> (BNG prize commission) was performed in the \u201cSomething Raw\u201d festival in February 2009. Having developed an individual path far from Israel and the local dance scene, in this work Levi returns to her roots in more ways than one \u2013 Levi and Sheinfeld went to high school together for seven years in Sulam Tzor, a small community in the north of Israel.<\/p>\n

Laor emphasizes however, that their work is \u201cnot just about Israel, but we did choose a place we are familiar with, and we know how it works on us. In art this is the whole complexity, you always represent yourself, but you also represent something else at the same time. The minute Niv suggested to take and break apart folklore dances and Keren was swept into this, but what I saw was, it\u2019s very nice to do this, it\u2019s very nice movement, but what I saw was faceless people and nationalism. This is what unifies people into a group, it takes away all sense of personal expression from them. I was looking at images of folk dancing on youtube \u2013 you see a group, dancing, very nice\u2026\u201d Sheinfeld completes the image: \u201chappy, colorful clothes.\u201d Laor continues, \u201cThe way that national movements try to unify people\u2026they usually don\u2019t do it by force, they do it in very pleasant forms, but someone who tries to push out will find himself very lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Mouth\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the opening movements of Big Mouth<\/em>, of which Laor says: \u201cI don\u2019t believe how hard it was to learn, if you think of anything else you lose your place. It\u2019s like learning a safe combination with 40 numbers,\u201d the trio also revealed a few select moments from the end of the piece, which have an entirely different feel. Sheinfeld and Laor surround Levi with an all-encompassing embrace, as Sheinfeld later described to me: \u201cShe doesn\u2019t touch the floor. We cradle her and don\u2019t give her freedom. She doesn\u2019t stand on her own two feet.\u201d\u00a0 The two continue to speak in tandem as Laor says, \u201cWe make everything pleasant for her and deprive her of her independence.\u201d Sheinfeld continues, \u201cThe individual can choose whether they are sentenced to be lonely or not\u2026or find another structure to work in.\u201d Laor warns, \u201cIt\u2019s the same thing [referring to alternative structures], be careful what you wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diverse elements \u2013 from Kleist\u2019s play \u201cPenthesilea\u201d (the Amazon queen torn between love and nation), to the Eurythmics and the popular Effi Netzer\/Yossi Gamzu song \u201cWe Were Called to Go\u201d were part of the discourse that accompanied the process of creating Big Mouth. While not necessarily present in the final version (Eurythmics out \u2013 Effi Netzer in), the influence of the underlying process can be seen in the movement. Sheinfeld relates that although ultimately \u201cwe don\u2019t develop it with Keren, Kleist developed a third gender that has both masculine and feminine qualities.\u201d Yet a trace remains as Sheinfeld describes Levi as a \u201cdancer who doesn\u2019t want to be beautiful in movement. She wants it to be functional.\u201d When asked how this is expressed in the current work, Sheinfeld explained that much of her movement in this piece comes more from the center of the body, rather than from the edges, \u201cnot to ornament the movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Mouth\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talking about their work with Levi, Sheinfeld and Laor reflect the tension at its core between freedom and structure, saying:<\/p>\n

Laor: We worked a lot through improvisation.<\/p>\n

Sheinfeld: And also through building schematically. I don\u2019t think you can survive without a framework.<\/p>\n

O: We had to create a structure so that she would have freedom.<\/p>\n

At the end of our conversation, the questions still remain. As Sheinfeld says, \u201cWe are not giving an answer \u2013 that is the conflict.
\nWithin the frame work you have a tendency to forget everything. We want to raise the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performances:
\n30.11, 4.12, at 21:00, 12.12 as part of \u201cInternational Exposure\u201d at 11:00
\nSuzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv, 03-5105656, www.suzannedellal.org.il<\/a><\/p>\n

13.12 at 20:00
\nRebecca Crown Theatre, Jerusalem Theatre, 02-5605755, www.jerusalem-theatre.co.il<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credit: Gadi Dagon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The three of them are walking, marching,\u00a0in studio A at the Suzanne Dellal Centre: Niv Sheinfeld, Oren Laor and Keren Levi rehearsing the first segment of Big Mouth, which premieres Monday, November 30 as part of the Curtain Up Festival. The room is so silent I can hear the rhythm of their bare feet on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}