Boys / It’s All Good

Roy Assaf Dance (IL): Boys

press

“[…] Assaf deals with […] the question of reconciling visual ideals and reality. Every time his five dancers strike poses like heroic antique statues, the supposed soldiers sooner or later give up their upright positions and start to creep and crawl, heads bowed, across the floor. At first appearing aggressive, they jostle and cavort, but in the end seem more like clumsy clowns. They let their trousers down and almost stumble over their own feet. It is comical but, thanks to Assaf’s finely tuned movement language, never ridiculous.”
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 September 2017

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Young Israeli choreographer Roy Assaf made his festival debut in 2006 with his first independent work. In 2013, he gained first place in Hanover’s international choreography competition. This year, he is presenting his quintet “Boys” for the first time in Germany at the festival: Performed by five excellent dancers, the piece uses a winning blend of a little pathos and a lot of humour to explore different aspects of masculinity. Familiarity and friendship, rivalry and aggression are all perceptible in the various, powerful constellations, which the choreographer skilfully breaks up to make way for each new one. In this almost hour-long production, Roy Assaf’s dance deconstructs conventional ideas of manliness, turning gender clichés upside down with a remarkably light touch and opening the audience’s eyes to new possibilities.

Rotem Tashach (IL): It’s All Good

press

“[…] Of course it isn’t all good, and of course Tashach knows that. But we have art, and that can make the world a better place and – stop! That is precisely the misconception he is addressing. What a clumsy approximation Géricault’s ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ is, Tashach suggests, when compared with a beautifully lit photograph of fighting on Israeli-occupied territory. And where would ‘Game of Thrones’ be without real-life scenes of torture as inspiration? No, nothing beats the real world… And dance? Oh that, the performer remembers, and quickly does a back-flip across the floor. It’s all very wicked but very, very clever: The question of whether art is no more than an end in itself or can actually make a difference cannot be asked too often. […]”
Neue Presse, 5 September 2017       

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With “It’s All Good”, Israeli choreographer and performer Rotem Tashach brings to the festival a profound but highly comical evening looking at politics in the performing arts and the real world. In this satirical lecture-performance, bubbling with wit, he uncovers some unexpected coherencies behind ploys such as the sale of politically charged events as fun entertainment. Drawing on his own academic experience in the fields of fine art, art history, and interactive telecommunication, he presents a volubly commentated slide show, underlined with emphatic physical gestures, and contrasts low-brow culture with the intellectual version promoted by the authorities. With this performance, Rotem Tashach invites the audience to join him on an inspiring mental parkours.

(approx. 90 mins. incl. an interval)

cast & credits

Roy Assaf Dance (IL): Boys

Choreography: Roy Assaf
Dance: Avshalom Latucha, Oz Mulay, Tomer Pistiner, Kelvin Vu, Geva Zaibert
Assistant to the Choreographer: Ariel Freedman
Costume Design: Doron Ashkenazi
Light Design: Omer Sheizaf
Music Editing & Arrangement: Reut Yehudai
Music: Perez Prado, Jean Sibelius, Bob Dylan, Gustav Mahler,
Takagi Masakatsu, Richard Wagner, Reggie Watts, Uri Caine, Ryoji Ikeda, Charlie Chaplin
Artistic Advisors: Yair Vardi, Tal Yahas

Production: Tmuna Theatre, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Culture

Rotem Tashach (IL): It’s All Good

Text / Choreography / Performance: Rotem Tashach
Lighting Design: Amir Castro
Artistic Advice: Yair Vardi, Tal Yakhas, Nava Zuckerman
Music: Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill

Production: Rotem Tashach, member of the Israeli Choreographers Association

With the support from the Israeli Embassy.