Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak's latest work Shaker, is so beautiful and touching, that it hurts, like a poem that strikes the right chords.
By ORA BRAFMANballet shoes 88(photo credit: )Shaker (Premiere)
By Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak
Beit Lessin
March 20
Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak's latest work Shaker, is so beautiful and touching, that it hurts, like a poem that strikes the right chords. It's definitely one of their best theatrical dance works ever. It is a mature and cohesive creation that comes through as pure, unscathed, with no extra frills or exaggerated visual efforts. Yet it maintains the characteristic rich imagination of its creators that thrives on the theatrical and surreal.
The work contains the illusion of innocence which invites you to enter a make-belief magical world with its alluring beauty and mystery, like a shaker - that glass ball full of snow flakes that swirls when shaken.
The stage was covered with small white flakes and with its grayish backdrop, austere lighting, sounds of wind blowing and the right music, it produced a sense of Nordic landscapes. Pinto and her partner had designed the lighting, set and costumes as well as the musical collage that ranged from an aria by Purcell to Japanese covers for pop of the Fifties. It's always a pleasure to see the different elements fall into place and served to layer the work in subtle ways.
The group sections as well as few trios were innovative and occasionally produced new insights into Pinto's inner world. The world on stage and the toy's world both reflect the craving for a protected, contained fantasy that can take one on an imaginary journey that is very real in emotional terms. Watching Shaker had a cathartic effect.
