The next morning, Batsheva Ensemble, along with everyone else, awoke to a reality in which live performances were no longer possible. For the coming months, Girlanda was placed on the shelf.
“During the dress rehearsal, we were all getting messages about the impending closures,” says choreographer Talia Beck, whose work HHH is one of five in Girlanda. “Then, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there was a period in which we thought that everything was going to reopen. The company decided to move the performances to their studio, Studio Varda, so we went back to rehearse, adapting the lighting and everything to the new space. We redid everything,” she says over coffee. Just after getting all their ducks back in a row, theaters were closed once again, and again, Girlanda was put on hold.
Beck, 40, is one of the most interesting voices in Israeli dance today. She is a graduate of the Thelma Yellin High School. She has danced with Vertigo Dance Company, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollack Dance Company and with choreographers Yasmeen Godder, Netta Yerushalmi, Ella Rothschild and Asher Lev. Her body of work includes Saudade, Maatzama, Botany of Desire and W. In all of Beck’s works, the character and abilities of the performers guide the creative process. “It’s all about the dancers for me,” she says.
Like most professional dance companies, the Batsheva Ensemble offers dancers a yearly contract, meaning that casts change during the summer months. For Beck, this provided an extra challenge. “I had chosen to work with all of the men in the company. We had a very intimate process and I based the work entirely on the material they brought. When they came back after the summer break, I had new dancers and three of the people I had during the process weren’t there anymore. I had to decide how much to open up for changes. I was sad about those who left but the new dancers were very special. They each brought something unique to the work,” she explained.
Now, with the vaccinations in place and culture reopening, the Batsheva Ensemble is finally confident that Girlanda’s time has come. For the third attempt, the company has decided to return to its ‘Plan A’ and hold the performances on the stage of the Suzanne Dellal Center.
“We have a few rehearsals before the shows. The dancers remember everything perfectly, which is incredible seeing as it has been months since our last meetings in the studio,” says Beck.
For Beck, who was never a company member in Batsheva, this journey has been momentous. “For my entire life, the Batsheva building was there, in my mind. It was this place that I wasn’t part of but it had a presence in my mind. I don’t come from Gaga so the invitation to create a work for the Ensemble came as a bit of a surprise. I would go to rehearsal every day, punch the code into the keypad at the entrance to the building and think, ‘wow. This is amazing.’ I feel very lucky.”
Beck’s HHH will be joined in Girlanda by Content by Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof, VIP and Dora by Nadav Zelner, Hold Me by Nava Frankel and Etude # 2 and Stoning and a Trip by Noa Eshkol, restaged by Mor Bashan. The costumes for the evening were designed by Anna Mirkin and lighting design was done by Avi Yona Bueno, aka Bambi.
Girlanda will be performed at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv on April 21, 22, 23, 25 and 26. For more information, visit www.batsheva.co.il.