Dance-Movement-Prayer

Beit Avi Chai presents "Dance-Movement-Prayer": Contemporary dance meets tradition, religion, and prayer.

A joint project of Hama'abada (The Lab), the Israel Choreographers Association, and BEIT AVI CHAI.

Two evenings of dance focusing on prayer in the language of movement. The project connects between tradition and modernity and between sound and movement, creating original dances, each of which presents a different, personal angle.

The dances were created specially for these evenings, inspired by prayers from the three monotheistic religions-Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-and they express our connection to a higher power.

The events will take place at Hama'abada.

19:30 at the Bar:
VJ / Meeting with a choreographer

20:30: "The Essence of Prayer and People's Need to Pray"-a brief conversation with Rabbi Prof. Yehoyada Amir, Hebrew Union College

The dances: Each evening will include three 20-minute dances. The program for each evening will be announced close to the date of the performances.

God Bless You
by Nimrod Freed
This is the gist of the advice: a man should accustom himself to being alone for one hour every day, and he should know that in that place where he is alone, the talk that God has prepared for him will await him (Rabbi Nahman of Breslav).
God help us-the experience of solitude for one person trying to defeat fear.
A new dance for a loner, a dancer, an actor, and a pianist

Choreography: Nimrod Freed

Dance: Tami Dance Company - Itzik Gabay and Elinor Chertock / Live music by Erik Satie / Piano: Alexey Polynsky
/ Rehearsal management: Nira Triffon / Costumes: Inbal Ben-Zaken / Management, art, and set: Talia Bar- On Freed

Silent, Waiting, and Appealing
by Noa Dar
A dancer, a singer, and a violinist perform a work dealing with three canonical texts representing three extremes: religious, individual-secular, and humanistic-socialist: the Priestly Blessing, Natan Alterman's "Shir Mishmar," and Shaul Tchernichovsky's "Ani Ma'amin."
The texts touch on parents' fears and hopes for their children, with their complexity manifested in warnings, blessings, and dreams. The juxtaposition of the texts and the contemporary encounter with them explore the personal parental experience in its political contexts.

Choreography and dance: Noa Dar

The Secret of Oneness
by Smadar Imor
The Shema is the zenith of the moment of unity between God and the Divine Presence. The ceremony takes place in the upper worlds as a result of an act of prayer in the lower worlds. The

Zohar describes the preparations for a sensual, passionate, and wondrous wedding night. An original vocal and instrumental work for dancers and vocalists.

Choreography and directing: Smadar Imor / Dance: artists from the Resonance Ensemble / Music: Reli Margalit

One
by Alice Dor-Cohen
Three religions that believe in one God discover the similarities between them through the gestures, regularity, and repetitiveness that they all share, on a climb together up the Mountain of God.

Choreography: Alice Dor-Cohen / Dance: MEMA group / Music: Balkan Beat Box

Worship 2010
by Ofra Idel
A cynical, surrealistic journey between religious worship and worship of consumption, from addiction to sobriety and back. The road from preservation of the traditional ritual to creation of an alternative ritual.

Choreography: Ofra Idel

Begin-Ayalon
by Tammy and Ronen Izhaki
What do party-goers have to do with worshippers in the synagogue? What does uninhibited, dangerous movement have to do with canonical, regimented music? Where is the line between them?

Choreography: Tammy and Ronen Izhaki / Dance: Caet Ensemble


Tickets may be purchased from Hama'abada's box office [open Sunday through Thursday, 10:00-17:00, and Friday, 10:00-14:00, as well as two hours before the start of the show, by phone (02-629-2000/1) or through the website: www.maabada.org.il]