• The Flying Karamazov Brothers tour to Israel. If you haven’t seen them or have never heard of them, check them out. Lead by founding member Paul David Magid, The Flying Karamazov Brothers are going to bring a lot of crazy good times to the country. Their wacky antics include juggling, comedy, freaky tricks and music. In fact, all four of the so-called brothers are apt musicians. They have rigged their bowling pins to make percussive sounds so that their juggling is actually a kind of musical instrument. They will be here from June 10-17 with performances in Jerusalem, Modi’in and Holon.

• Fresh Paint. Now in its fifth year, Fresh Paint is a nomadic contemporary arts festival. Each year, the organizers choose a new, off-the-beaten-path location to showcase the works of local artists. Art buff or not, this is one of those not-to-miss events that is full of good vibes, handsome folks and lots of inspirational materials. Fresh Paint 5 will take place from May 15-19 at the New High School on Shoshana Persits Street in Tel Aviv. This is the clip from Fresh Paint 4:

• The Talooy Bamakom Festival. Part of Tel Aviv Art Year, this festival is all about site-specific performance. Events will overtake public buses, a storefront, the municipal building, an elevator or a coffee shop during the three days of this festival. All performances are free and open to all audiences. The festival will take place on May 17, 18 and 19.

• Oyster by Inbal Pinto Dance Company. As a kid, like many ballet-practicing little ones, I fell in love with The Nutcracker. The ballet was full of magical creatures wearing these beautiful costumes. It swept me away to a different world. Though I will never again experience that first performance, the closest I have come was the first time I saw this breath-taking piece. It has been running for more than a decade, I’ve seen it five times at least and yet every time I see that Inbal Pinto is presenting Oyster again, I feel compelled to go. The company will perform at the Suzanne Dellal Center on May 24 and 25 (matinee and evening performances).

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are many elements that contribute to the ephemeral sheen that magically powders a grey t-shirt into being an integral part of street culture in UO. One is a weird kind of nostalgia for whatever childhood memories you may have. At present, those include cassette tapes of the Clash and plastic novelty cameras. Tomorrow, who knows? Flip phones and Bjork, maybe.

Another aspect is the rebel chic energy given off by UO’s graphic department. What other store offers the opportunity to buy a shirt that says “Don’t Mess With Texas” right next to “Pugs not Drugs” on top of a stack of Biggie Smalls tops? Just about everything in the world has been either ripped on or gratuitously loved in Urban Outfitter’s t-shirt section. No one is safe.

Not even the Holocaust.

Screen shot from Urban Outfitters website

Recently, the store updated its website to include a particularly questionable garment designed by Danish label Wood Wood. The vintage yellow color wouldn’t have caused a stir on its own, but embossed with a hand-sewn Jewish star on the breast pocket, well, that turned some heads. The release of this t-shirt comes almost perfectly in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day. The website was immediately barraged with a slew of comments like: “Is this what I think it is? WTF?” and “This is mind-blowingly offensive!”

The shoppers were outraged. The newspapers got involved. Fred Dardick, of the Canada Free Press wrote:

In what can be considered yet another sign of the times that liberal ideology is elevating anti-Semitism back to mainstream acceptability once again, the international retailer Urban Outfitters is selling an item of clothing that can best be described as “Auschwitz chic.”

This isn’t the first time that Urban Outfitters has run into trouble for something it decided to smack on a t-shirt. The Navajo Nation actually took the company to court over a line of items with names like Navajo Hipster Panty and Navajo Flask. The Irish have also had their turn at bat against UO. Seamus Boyle of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America accused UO of defaming the Irish people. The Irish case was supported by a group of Congresspeople, who wrote a letter to protest the St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia.

(Read: Anger Over St. Patrick’s Day Items: MyFoxNY.com)

Looking over these horrified customers’ responses, I can’t help thinking back to the myriad garments I’ve seen in Urban Outfitters. Years back, they were the first mainstream American store to sell keffiyehs. Hoards of hipsters jumped at the chance to wear the beautiful, ethnic accessories. Did those kids intend to make a political statement with those scarves? Did they even know that in some places those scarves are considered political? My guess is, on the whole, no.

Can we blame UO for marketing political or offensive slogans? Yes. Can we blame the idiot consumer for buying and wearing them? Yes.

Because although Urban Outfitters makes us feel like we’re rebelling against some oppressive “man” or system, the truth is that they have made a killing on mass producing a blend of trendy unconventionality. While we buy their overpriced clothes to feel special, thousands of other special folks are picking out the exact same hip uniform, making it just as banal as a pair of khakis and a white t-shirt. And the kicker here is that the yellow tee that has ruffled so many feathers costs $100.

Have they taken it too far or is taking it too far the new thing?

Big names in this year’s program include Nawel Skandrani Dance Company of Tunisia, The Royal Flemish Theater, Suzanne Miller and Allan Paivio Productions and Francesco Scavetta.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the past several days, international dance artists have taught workshops in the facilities of Sarayyet Ramallah- First Ramallah Group, the festival’s host organization. These workshops will continue throughout the festival. Sarayyet Ramallah is responsible for a wide range of activities both in Ramallah and beyond. The organization initiated the Masahat Network for Contemporary Dance, which includes Maqamat Dance Theater in Lebanon, Tanween Dance Theater in Syria and the National Center for Culture and Performing Arts in Jordan. Sarayyet Ramallah also runs the Sarayyet Ramallah Dance Troupe, the youth company, Danadeesh Dance Group and the Ramallah Dance School.

Sarayyet Ramallah’s mission statement:

To contribute to the building and development of a strong civil society in Palestine through the development of the children, youth, and adults’ skills in the scouts, sports, arts and culture fields while using the scout codes, democracy, citizenship and tolerance as guidelines for an educational approach.

Over the course of the coming three weeks, companies from Europe, North America and Asia will make their way to Palestine to perform, mingle and most importantly, be present in this event. A number of studio showings and presentations of local choreographers’ work will be held throughout the festival. Another anticipated event is the second annual Dance and Society Conference, which will host leading dance presenters and company managers from around the world such as Farooq Chaudry of Akram Khan Company, Annie Bozzini, founder and director of the Choreographic Development Centre Toulouse in France and Murille Perritaz, director of Reso-Dance Network in Switzerland. Workshops on production, dance photography and dance film will be hosted during the conference. The festival’s program also boasts screenings of major dance films such as Wim Wenders’ Pina. 

While looking over the Facebook page for the 2012 RCDF, I thought of something that German choreographer and teacher Peter Pleyer said to me in an interview. “Dance is international, multicultural integrational. In Berlin, where I work, nobody talks about nationality or borders. People talk about cultural differences but you can have those within a nation. There is something about the physical meeting. It’s a very big tool for integration. If that’s what we’re working for dance can help a lot,” he said.

The festival will take place thanks to the support of a number of organizations such as the European Commission, the Ramallah Municipality, A.M. Qattan Foundation, and the Prohelvetia Swiss Arts Council. The French Consulate General in Jerusalem, the French Cultural Centre, the Goethe Institute, the Netherlands representative office, and the British Council have also contributed to this year’s edition of the RCDF.

The festival’s artistic director is Khaled Elayyan. RCDF will take place from April 19-May 3.

On Monday morning of this week, a special committee was called in to discuss the recent turmoil surrounding Israel’s most successful reality television show: “Big Brother.”

It began two weeks ago with a letter drafted by lawyer and runner-up of season two of Israeli “Big Brother,” Saar Sheinfain. Two years after leaving the house, Sheinfain decided that he had a score to settle with the production staff to the tune of NIS 2.5 million. He demanded payment within days and assured Keshet Broadcasting that failure to dole out would prompt immediate release of sensitive details about their show.

When Keshet refused to comply, Sheinfain kept his promise, publishing a huge spread in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper about the psychiatric medication he was urged to take while taking part in the second season of Big Brother. Keshet responded publicly during their broadcast of the current Big Brother season the following day, saying that the contestants of the show are treated by medical professionals including psychologists and psychiatrists when the need arises. These meetings are fully confidential, as all patient-doctor encounters are by law, and are in the interest of both the individuals and the production.

This outburst has brought to light the longtime rivalry between Yedioth Ahronoth and Keshet. For years, Yedioth’s Noni Mozes and Keshet’s Avi Nir have been at each other’s throats in a communications battle.

Over the course of the weekend, following the printing of Yedioth’s article, another former contestant came forward with similar claims about Dr. Ilan Rabinowich and his pills.

Meanwhile, Sheinfain has continued to pursue the issue. He has filed a lawsuit, suing Keshet for handicapping him with psychiatric medication.

The debate quickly took over Internet forums, evoking harsh criticism of Rabinowich and the production. The culmination of the query took place on Monday morning in the Israeli Knesset.

Controversial as the story is, it was surprising to see politicians mix with celebrities in the Knesset’s meeting.

The first thing that caught my attention was the pride with which the Knesset members assured the audience that they do not watch the show. As if to say that this program, which receives an average of 44 percent rating, is beneath the noble politicians of the parliament. Maybe the fact that the rating is so extraordinarily high points to the cheap nature of the content. Or maybe it is the opposite. In either case, I found it hard to accept the opinions of individuals who were called in to discuss an issue that they openly admit to know nothing about. If these “experts” don’t watch the show, how can they deem what is and is not appropriate? Think what you want about the show, but when you come in for a special meeting about it, a meeting that will influence the future of the program, you should at least do your homework.

For most viewers, Big Brother is a skeleton in the closet, a guilty pleasure, like Twinkies and Britney Spears. Just as hipsters do not self identify, Big Brother lovers will rarely admit to watching the show. I have interviewed dozens of local artists who go on rants about the death of culture, marking the Big Brother as the flag of destruction. The catch is, in slamming it, they give the show a hint of legitimacy. Its size and ratings make Big Brother, whether we like it or not, a part of culture and a part of this society.

The concept of Big Brother is not an Israeli invention. In fact, it’s a Dutch format owned by a company called Endemol. The format has been purchased throughout the world in tens of countries. It is an open social experiment that has caught the attention of viewers across religious, socio-economic and national lines. And yet our leaders feel entitled to call it “trashy, pornographic and cheap” – but, lest we forget, they don’t watch it. That sounds to me like a bunch of judgment based on prejudice, not knowledge.

The next thing that caught my attention in this debate was the claim of the disgruntled housemates.

 

As Erez Da Drezner explains in this interview, he was given pills by a psychiatrist who didn’t offer any information about the side effects or nature of the medication. No one tried to hide the fact that housemates were taking pills. That’s the catch. In the Big Brother house, there is nowhere to hide. There are cameras everywhere, including the bathroom, yuck. Following the second season, Goel Pinto made a documentary about his stay in the house in which he states openly that he was treated by a psychiatrist and given medication. The difference is that Pinto is at peace with his choices while Sheinfain and Da Drezner feel they were deeply wronged.

Last time I checked, being handed a pill doesn’t mean you have to swallow it. And being offered to take part in a reality show doesn’t mean you have to accept. People made choices here, choices that put them in an unfavorable light and possible physical harm.

As Ran Telem, Programming Director of Keshet, told the Knesset committee, “people meet themselves in this show and that’s where the conflict comes in.”

For Keshet, putting people in a fish bowl that is a veritable cash cow comes with heavy responsibility. On one hand, Keshet claims to have the best intentions in their hearts and on the other, they are happy to let the blame trickle down to the tenants and the psychiatrist. In the same meeting, Elad Kuperman told the Knesset that they are television people. “I do what I am good at, which is television,” he said. Kuperman assured the committee that all areas outside of his expertise are handed over to professionals, including Dr. Rabinowich. The subtext here is that they brought the horse to the water but it’s not their fault or responsibility if the horse died of lead-poisoning while drinking.

It sounds to me like this psychiatrist was perhaps a bit too willing to be a candy dispenser and that the housemates were a bit too eager to hand their responsibility for their own physical and mental health over to someone they had just met.

“Shut your face!” retorted the supposed perpetrator.

In these moments, which happen about once every other class, I remember that childhood can really suck sometimes.

Being the responsible adult in the room, I want to help diffuse this tension that has engulfed two of my students. I tell them that those comments are unacceptable, that they are part of a dance community that doesn’t tolerate that kind of behavior, that they are supposed to support one another. I want to think that my words will steer them towards a kinder, gentler interaction but within seconds, I see that they don’t. From my own experiences as a kid, I know that these wars are fought by the kids themselves and any attempt to soothe will most likely be brushed off, forgotten, as both sides search their minds for more powerful ammunition. Without making an extreme gesture, I have little hope of sorting out the aggression between these two girls.

With kids, it’s easy to assume that the fights are a passing phase and that they hold no real emotional water. But, ask any adult and they’ll probably be able to remember being on one side or another of the bullying coin.

At their age, I was the victim of a very mean, manipulative bully. She, along with her two lackeys, one of whom was my ex-best friend, made a point of ruining my life for three whole years. They excluded me, spread rumors behind my back and dumped the contents of my desk three times a week, along with many other hideous things that kids do to each other. Years later I realized that her torment didn’t stay locked in the hallways of my grade school. It followed me through life, haunting me like a monster in the closet.

Bullying is a very hot topic right now. Around the world, a handful of tragic suicides have brought the dangers of bullying into the forefront of the educational system’s attention. Luckily for me, at the time that I was bullied, there was no online expression for the harassment. My predators used the telephone to torment me after school hours. Today’s bullies post on Facebook.

Just this week, a Channel 2 program about bullies, featuring the story of David-El Mizrahi, was aired in Israel. At fifteen, Mizrahi committed suicide. His Facebook page was left open with horrifying comments made by his fellow students. After months of investigation, the two students who had tormented Mizrahi were found not guilty. Though they incited him publicly to commit suicide, their actions were not deemed outside of the law.

This sad tale shows the ways in which technological advancements have made bullying so much more unbearable. In my day, the humiliations at school stayed between me, the bully and whoever happened to be around at the moment. Now, tensions between students can go from zero to 180 within days. The snide comments, threats and put-downs are public, laid out for anyone to see. I can’t imagine the fear Facebook puts into the hearts of kids today.

Incidents like Mizrahi’s, which reach suicide, bring this long-time problem into our consciousness. However, it is always going on. Whether we are aware or not, school can be a tough arena for children. Kids prove over and over that an appetite for cruelty is often part and parcel to youth.

Mizrahi’s school also managed to wriggle free of taking responsibility. “I’ll never know what each kid is going through,” said the principle to Mizrahi’s mother.

Mizrahi’s parents, along with the parents of several other kids whose lives were disturbed by classmates, shared their feelings of helplessness. How could they have known that their child was being bullied? What could they have done?

I asked my mother how she knew I was having a hard time at school. “You cried every morning,” she said. “You refused to go to school.”

My parents turned to the principle and teachers who spent their days with me. Nowadays, thanks to a hopefully permanent rise in awareness, many schools have strong “No Bullying” policies. Back then, the school preferred to turn a blind eye.

They refused to take responsibility and suggested that my parents try to speak to the parents of the accused students.

“They refused to hear it,” said my mom. They said that they had never had problems with their daughter before and that it must be my misunderstanding. I don’t know how they thought that an eleven-year-old could misunderstand having the chair pulled out from under them and falling on the floor to the sound of the rest of the kids’ giggles. But, whatever, ignorance is bliss.

In the end, the responsibility falls on the parents on both sides. Always. Had my bully’s parents stepped in, life would have been a lot easier for us. But they had no way of knowing that their sweet daughter was a psychopath. And this is where I find the biggest problem in the whole issue. It’s easy to point the finger at the parents of the kid being thrown in the dumpster, at the bully doing the throwing, the kids supporting him and the teachers that look the other way. But where are the parents of these kids?

Statistics show that bullies are most often kids whose home lives are unstable. Their acts of aggression emerge from a need to feel in control. If we are willing to blame everyone surrounding these acts of violence in school, surely we can’t leave out the parents of the guilty children.

The student who is being victimized begins to act differently, to be depressed, his or her grades drop and the parents become aware that there is a problem. The parents, if they are alert, take notice and act.

But what about the bully? The bully displays far less symptoms of distress. I imagine that my bully had no pause when packing her lunch bag. She was at ease at school, happy to spend another day as queen of the class. But didn’t anyone ever tell her that dumping someone’s desk is unacceptable behavior? That tripping someone is wrong? The parents of the mean kids are just as responsible and just as necessary in correcting their actions. That said, with no change in behavior, how are parents supposed to know that their kid is a bully?

Negotiating the new arenas for misbehaving is a difficult parenting task. It isn’t enough to wait for parent-teacher conferences to hear how one’s child is behaving in school. Facebook pages, emails and text messages need to be monitored. Communication needs to be a goal no matter what state the kid is in.

The end of my story, which was much more positive than David-El’s or many other kids, came with an intervention from my dad. Furious at the school’s denial of the problem and desperate to help, my dad waited for the next assault. Low and behold, she pulled the chair out from under me again. The next morning, when my dad dropped me off at school, he made a stop in our classroom. I don’t really remember this event but, as my mom tells it, he told this girl that the next time she messed with me, she’d have him to answer to. That was the end of if. She never came near me again. After all, no eleven year old would dare take on my six-foot-three wall of a father. She must have been terrified.

Though I don’t wish for any kid to have a face-off like the one with my outraged dad, I feel lucky to have parents who made my pain their business.

Under this law, first time offenders will be sent to an educational program while second time offenders can be sentenced to up to six months for visiting prostitutes. This law follows the ‘Nordic model’, which was pioneered in Sweden and has since been adopted by many European countries.

Until now, prostitution has been legal in Israel; however, the de facto practice surrounding this issue is very complicated. The Hotline For Migrant Workers released a publication entitled The Legalization of Prostitution: Myth and Reality that was very helpful in my quest to understand the law on this matter.

It reads:

Israel inherited from the British Mandate a model based on the partial criminalization of the sex industry. Prostitution and its consumption were not criminalized (with the exception of the clients of minor prostitutes), and criminalization was applied only to pimps and brothel managers.

In reality, several “tolerance zones” for prostitution exist around the country. In these regions, which are usually poor areas on the outskirts of major cities, the police turn a blind eye to the sex industry. In this way, both the legal and illegal sides of the business go unnoticed or intentionally ignored.

If this law is passed by the Knesset, the entire industry, which brings in an estimated revenue of NIS 2 billion a year, will be further pushed into the gutter of society. Though the law does not officially criminalize the act of selling oneself, it places the consumer outside of the law. Thus, the government’s direct target is not the prostitute but the clients. However, prostitutes will nonetheless be the ones most dramatically affected by the legislation.

Ever since I caught wind of the new law being put into motion in Israel concerning prostitution, my mind has been ablaze with questions. As someone who has not followed prostitution laws before, I have been sent adrift in a labyrinth of opinions since taking interest in the matter.

The more time I spend with this topic, the more nuanced it becomes for me. First of all, I ask myself: what is the goal of this law?

Is the goal to protect women? To stop them from being forced into compromising situations associated with sex work?

Is the aim to stop men from paying for sex and force them to find more creative solutions for their desires?

Do Zuaretz and her supporters believe that this law will bring about the end of prostitution in Israel? If so, does anyone think that is remotely possible?

I think the main point of contention regarding this issue is: does Israeli society believe that the act of paying for sexual acts is inherently wrong?

If the government deems prostitution unacceptable, their interest should be to eradicate the industry. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

This is a topic that wears many masks.

There is such a negative haze surrounding prostitution it’s hard to understand what we are trying to fight. Is it really the act of selling and buying sex or the inherent connection to abuse that is so repellant?

It is no secret that prostitutes are victims of brutal attacks by customers. Many of these women are addicted to drugs and have no other means of providing for themselves. One of the many statistics going around is that 40% of men who visit prostitutes are married. And here we have three distasteful side effects: extramarital relations, drug abuse and violence. However, these unfortunate issues are not at the heart of this debate, nor should they be. What should be discussed is if pushing prostitution into the margins will make it stop or just make it more rife with all things evil.

I don’t believe that working women of this country will be deterred by this law. Rather, they will be forced to find ways of surpassing it that will further compromise their safety.

If the goal is to protect the women operating within this world, making everything about their livelihood criminal only increases the chance that they will get involved in or become victims of other outlawed activities.

Who does this law actually serve? The people directly affected by it or the rest of the population who will sleep a bit easier knowing that the government is “dealing with this uncomfortable issue?”

(photo: flickr / jepoirrier)

Looking at this morning’s brand new train strike, it occurs to me that the managers of Israel Railways feel the same way. If I had a nickel for every time the train stopped running, I’d have a whole bunch of nickels. In fact, the rail has recently trumped Car2Go as the most complained about form of transportation in my life.

This morning, like many mornings since I began working outside of Tel Aviv, I woke up to the familiar panicky feeling of a potential train strike. Kind of like the promise of a snow day but not at all fun or pretty. Despite a court order to keep the trains on their tracks, the worker’s committee has decided to stand their ground.

I, unlike many Israelis, depend on the train only twice a week. I ride from central Tel Aviv to Hod Hasharon and back in the afternoon to teach about one hundred girls how to dance. And somehow, I’m sure this is just paranoia, it seems that the angry train employees strike only on the days that I need to get to work.

It would be one thing if there were another option. But there just isn’t. The bus takes over an hour once it arrives, which means with waiting time close to two hours. And a taxi one-way costs about a quarter of what I earn. It also seems that the public is expected to just deal with the inconvenience. No compensation is offered to customers who find themselves unexpectedly without a mode of transportation. Even those who purchased monthly passes are hung out to dry.

With all of the commotion, the locomotion has become a kind of flighty boyfriend. You like him, but you can’t count on him to call. What should be a staple of every day life in this county has been demoted to a fair-weather trinket, a bonus service on lucky days.

No one will deny that the Israel Railways workers deserve suitable conditions and fair pay; however, all they seem to be producing is headaches, lateness and animosity towards themselves and their cause.

Mohammad Bakri in Tel Aviv last September (photo: Keren Manor / Activestills)

In response to Desmond Tutu’s call on the Capetown Opera Company to cancel their 2010 tour in Israel, director Michael Williams said, “arts and academics are never the right place to boycott.”

These words jumped into my mind this week as I read of the organization Im Tirzu’s demonstrations against actor and director Mohammad Bakri, and the urging of Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat to ban Bakri from Israeli stages.

At present, Bakri is in rehearsals for an interpretation of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s 1936 play, The House of Bernarda Alba, which will run at Tzavta Theater. The participants in this production are Bakri’s theater students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv.

Since 2003, when Bakri released his film Jenin, Jenin, harsh criticism of the Palestinian artist has lurked around every corner. The film was about the events that took place during the 2002 clashes between the IDF and residents of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Time and again, Bakri has been questioned about his film Jenin, Jenin. The Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Bakri broke no laws in the creation of this controversial piece. And yet, for the past eight years, Bakri has been all but blacklisted in Israel.

“We are the people of Israel,” shouted the director and spokesperson for Im Tirzu during a televised interview. “And the people of Israel are tired of letting terrorists perform on Tzavta’s stage.” The organization is an extra-parliamentary movement dedicated to strengthening Zionist values in Israel. Among their many activities, Im Tirzu’s members have been known to spy on university professors who they suspect of subversion.

There is no controversy surrounding Bakri’s talent as a performer. And though his work in the past has been directly connected to the political situation in Israel, this play is not.

Tzavta is a government-funded theater, and Livnat and Im Tirzu thus believe that it is not an appropriate venue for Bakri’s work. It should be noted that The House of Bernarda Alba is not a Tzavta production, but rather that of an outside entity that is being hosted by the theater.

“You can’t interfere with art,” said Yankale Mandel, founder and director of the Israeli Union for Performing Arts, in response to Livnat’s statement, which essentially left the decision whether or not to give Bakri the boot to the directors of Tzavta.

As far as I am concerned, the folks at Im Tirzu can think what they want and demonstrate to their hearts’ content. It’s a free country. However, when the Minister of Culture and Sport decides to chip in her two (I would argue McCarthyistic) cents, then there’s a problem.

The House of Bernarda Alba is a story of an overpowering mother who oppresses and dominates her five daughters excessively. It seems poetic that the narrative in this play mirrors Livnat’s actions so perfectly.

If, in the state of Israel, we accept the interference of politicians in the art sector, the  imposition of censors and blacklists, we are lost.

Read also:
Im Tirzu campaign: deciphering a wink
Rightwing group publishes Nakba denial booklet
Exclusive: The gov’t connection of rightwing group Im Tirzu
Israeli actors: we won’t perform in the settlements

In the program notes for Sharon Eyal and Guy Behar’s House, which recently premiered together with Yasmeen Godder’s The Toxic Exotic Disappearing Act, there were two costume categories listed. Designer of black clothes…so and so. Designer of nude clothes…somebody else. I took a moment to consider the amount of detail put into what is often a peripheral bit of information. And then the lights went up.

On stage was Sharon Eyal, dressed as the missing member of The Matrix, illuminated by the foggiest, most alluring light I’ve seen in ages.

House was, in my eyes, a love letter to dance. It was sexy, naughty, dirty, suggestive and delicious. The nearly nude dancers, each one fiercer than the next, moved like they had been sprinkled with magic powder. The work was built with group sections and interludes during which Eyal snaked across the stage like some kind of glorious fembot.

I have to admit, while I liked Eyal’s previous works for Batsheva Dance Company (Marakova Kabisa and Bertolina), I never really got them. They were neat, sure. You couldn’t deny that there was something very edgy and new about Eyal’s pieces. I loved the electronic music. I loved the risky feeling I got sitting in the audience. As if Eyal was leading me into some shady back alley of the dance world that I wasn’t sure I should be allowed to visit. There is something truly voyeuristic about watching her pieces. Like glancing through a keyhole at the girl next door while she changes. But with all that said, I didn’t recognize the real genius of Eyal until it hit me in the face while watching House.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The piece was deeply atmospheric. And at the same time, it read like a kind of homage to American modern dance from the 1960s. In this work, Eyal employed compositional tactics used by choreographers whose work looks like the Teletubbies next to hers. The clean lines, shifting formations and dynamics let me see dance as I want it to be, know it should be and don’t get to see enough. The pure joy of watching bodies moving in space was aloft in the audience on that night at Suzanne Dellal.

Sadly, House won’t be shown again in Israel until early May. However, Eyal’s previous work, Bill, goes up for an additional run in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. Bill is a quirky, unusual glance at our simultaneous desire to fit into society and stand out. The dancers are dressed uniformly with matching contact lenses and hair masks to boot. By removing the representation of individuality through costume, Eyal manages to bring out the subtle differences between them. So they aren’t “the girl in that floral shirt” but rather “the guy with those knife-like legs.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

In some way, this too mirrors the modern dance or even classical ballet world. In a corps de ballet, every dancer is outfitted with a matching tutu, diamond earrings and a tiara (if they’re lucky). The idea is to create a live backdrop of beautiful women swaying softly to the cello music. However, even with the hours spent on making sure each arm is at the exact same angle and each foot perfectly pointed, a trained viewer can pick out the rising stars from the mass. As my favorite ballet teacher always says, “the body doesn’t lie.” On stage, where no text can speak for it, the body tells its story whether it is instructed to do so or not.

In modern dance, the notion of individuality is essential. Breaking from the 91-pound weight limit and the everybody-looks-like-they-are-related casting, the modern dance community was founded on the idea that difference is bliss. An average contemporary company could be mistaken for United Colors of Beneton’s models with ease. Because of this, seeing a rising contemporary choreographer swap that variety with uniformity is shocking and a truly unusual sight to behold.

I wonder if Eyal read Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron during the creative process.

Bill will run at the Suzanne Dellal Center on February 8, 9, 10 and 11.

The film is a critical investigation of the IDF’s court system governing Palestinians. Through interviews with the judges that engineered and implemented the complicated web of military laws currently in place, Alexandrowicz asks many crucial questions about the occupation.

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“This is the hardest film I’ve made,” said Alexandrowicz shortly after the awards ceremony. “This is an amazing moment for me as a filmmaker, but it’s a film about a painful and unresolved subject. What you find out in the film, and in other films in this festival, is that upholding law doesn’t always lead to justice. It can even be used as a tool against certain segments of society. We have to oppose them, and if necessary we have to break them.”

Celebrating an equally exciting win at Sundance was director Emad Burnat for his film 5 Broken Cameras. The film was a joint Palestinian, Israeli and French production. “I can’t believe I’m standing here,” said Burnat. “This film was a gift from the beginning. It was a gift for me to go to this village building where I spent many years.”

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