Choreographer Carolyn Carlson, has carved a name for herself in the dance world due to her numerous dance-theater works that display an acute sense of timing, humor and spark.
By ORA BRAFMANbatsheva dance 88(photo credit: )Israel Festival: Carolyn Carlson
Inanna
Sherover Theater
May 29
Choreographer Carolyn Carlson, has carved a name for herself in the dance world due to her numerous dance-theater works that display an acute sense of timing, humor and spark. But Inanna is not one of the highlights of her career. The Israel Festival invited only three foreign companies to perform here this year, and should have been more careful in making this particular choice.
The ensemble of seven female dancers from the National Choreographic Center Robaix Nord-Pas de Calais were meant to decipher the feminine mystique and expose the social codes that continue to limit and confine women.
The work is full of symbolism, and attacks multiple issues in an effort to show the complexity of female existence. But the choreography is on the banal side, lacking the innovating dance vocabulary that was present in many of Carlson's previous works.
The production enjoyed original music by Armand Amar, songs by Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen, as well as fine stage and light design. However, Inanna needed a more focused dramatic core to accommodate Carlson's skills.
