Days of Jerusalem in Prague, held from June 13th to 22nd at several venues around the city, are the first-ever comprehensive show presenting the work of young artists from Jerusalem in the fields of dance, theatre, music, cinema and gastronomy abroad. The dance and theatre part of the Days of Jerusalem in Prague is held in the Nostitz baroque palace in Malá Strana. From June 13th to 16th, Elad Shechter with his colleagues from the dance company C.a.t.a.m.o.n. and Sofia Krantz perform two short pieces – the famous Glitter and Alpha Beta, featured in Prague as a world pre-premiere. In the second half of the evening Maya Yogel performs her solo choreography Almost a Mensch.C.a.t.a.m.o.n. Dance Group is a prestigious dance company that was created as a response to the lack of a firts-rate dance scene in Jerusalem. Its founder, dancer and choreographer Elad Shechter has worked in many of Israel's leading companies as well as in the USA and Belgium. His choreographies have been performed in Israel, Portugal, Italy, Germany and China, where he won the silver medal at the International Ballet and Choreography Competition in Beijing in 2011. C.a.t.a.m.o.n. Dance Group draws on the uniqueness of Jerusalem and a great inspiration it provides to its residents. Alpha Beta, a new piece in the C.a.t.a.m.o.n. repertoire is grounded in the biblical book of Alpha Beta De Ben Sira and based on the dance qualities of Elad Shechter and Sofia Krantz.
Glitter, a piece by Sofia Krantz is a dance trilogy, a daring attempt to find a thorough and clear physical language that communicates through metaphors, symbols and perfect geometrical shapes, such as "Tree of Life" and "Flower of Life" – symbols that have appeared in the course of history of Jewish and many other cultures alike.
Dancer, choreographer, instructor and performer Maya Yogel embodies in her performances the essence of both male and female elements. She has performed in duets, solo and ensemble choreographies all over the world, currently she teaches theatre dance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Almost a Mensch is a critically acclaimed solo etude, first performed at Intimidance 2012, it is a part of a trilogy dealing with the issue of suffering. Maya Yogel was inspired by cubist painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso, which has become a symbol of anti-war protest.
Nostitz palace is another venue of theatre performances: on June 14th and 15th from 8:15 p.m. Yael Rasooly performs a multi-genre visual theatre piece Paper Cut. Yael Rasooly has won several international awards and performed at festivals around Europe, America and the Far East. She is currently on a worldwide tour with the Paper Cut, last year she performed the piece also on the ship Tajemství bratří Formanů. In her work, Yael Rasooly develops theatrical language through various forms of theatre, art and music. She tells stories that oscillate between reality, fiction and memories. In addition to her theatre work she develops a singing career both in Israel and abroad. Her repertoire is varied and ranges from the Middle Ages to classical music.
In cooperation with the festival Tanec Praha, a male trio The Hill performs on June 20th from 8 p.m. at the Ponec theatre. Their dance satire has been inspired by the Hebrew song Givat Hatahmoshet, which tells the story of Jerusalem's military base Ammunition Hill, site of fierce fighting during the Six-Day War, which took place in 1967. Humorous, vital piece strives to represent the nature of Israeli dance in its own, peculiar way. The Hill will be followed by another performance – Two room apartment by Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor. An intimate male duet set in a "two-room apartment" reflects situations in the cohabitation of partners both in life and artistic production. The choreography is a remake of a piece of the same name by Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal from 1987, which was featured as a duet of a male and a female dancer at the Tanec Praha festival in 1991.
Entrance fee for all shows is free of charge except for those held at the Ponec theatre, where the admission fee ranges from 190 CZK to 290 CZK.
For an up-to-date programme of Days of Jerusalem in Prague, please check: www.dnyjeruzalemavpraze.cz
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species