Betrayal and divorce hasn't destroyed dancer/choreographer Tamir Ginz's belief in love.
By HADAS GOSHENthe naked truth 298.88(photo credit: Avshalom Levi)
Kamea Dance Company's director Tamir Ginz is not afraid to bare it all in his latest piece, The Naked Truth, sharing an intimate representation of the discovery that changed his life. Inspired by his own personal experiences of love and betrayal, the show is something of a catharsis for Ginz, who remains an advocate for love despite experiencing a devastating divorce.
"I called it The Naked Truth because I believe that in spite of the modern era of betrayals, sex constantly mistaken for love and relationships sold on the internet, the truth within us all is that love is monogamous and everyone truly yearns for a soulmate, for better or worse," Ginz said.
While the internationally acclaimed choreographer admits he may sound naive, his optimism has not always come easy. Two-and-a-half years ago, Ginz made an unexpected revelation about his relationship that hurt him deeply and is the basis for this highly emotional piece - his first premiere since the painful experience.
"I was heart broken, devastated and couldn't carry on; it affected my work. With this new piece, I found a way of coming back into my creative self, and from that I reached the point from which one looks back at life, looks into his soul and longs for truth."
The piece's 12 dancers from the Kamea Dance Company, which was founded in Beersheba in 2002 in affiliation with the Bat Dor Company, explore the rarity of love and the longing for truth and real romance between couples in a stream-of-consciousness mode. The Naked Truth works as a series of memories that Ginz describes as looking through a photo album of one's life, with little order and much messiness, whose guiding principle is a search for love.
Though The Naked Truth is based on Ginz's personal experience with relationships and deception, he brought in a team to develop a more universal story.
"I got in touch with an amazingly talented crew who saw The Naked Truth in a humanistic way, as a yearning for the values of family and love that inspired the makers of those old porcelain figurines. The designers felt a bond with these statues that people keep in their homes and adore because they are pretty and idealistic. They modelled the dancers after these broken figurines, because we are broken, fragile - which the dance represents."
With the help of artistic co-director Daniella Schapira, set design by Yael and Ray-Studio Artishock, costumes by Maor Zabar, original music by Merav Yosef Levi and lighting by Yaacov Baresi, Ginz was able to produce a tactile portrait of the modern couple.
"My aim as a choreographer is to affect the audience, to move them and make them feel for the piece, not just watch it. That's what's unique about Kamea, and what I'm trying to do as a choreographer. Audiences should come not just to observe; they should come to go through an experience," Ginz says.
The Naked Truth will premier at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Neve-Tzedek in Tel Aviv on Thursday at 9 p.m., with another performance Friday, August 10, at 10 p.m. as part of the Mahol Lohet dance festival there.
Rehov Yehieli 5, Neveh Zedek, Tel Aviv, (03) 510-5656
