Arnica – reviews

"Arnica by Noa Dar becomes a fascinating touching dance evening, which succeeds to make these series of solo excerpts into a full complex, multi-layers creation that deeply touches the routes of dance and at the essence of the dancers' art, who flourish in this performance like the Arnica flower that produces the healing miracle remedy for their wounds. Thus, "Arnica" turned from being an individual private creation, to a performance that heals the spectator who yearns for his personal dance experience."

– Zvi Goren, "Ha'bama", December 2007

"Arnica excelled with an enchanting body language, beautiful performance execution and thrilling music. There is pleasantness in the dancing of the 3 dancers, in the differences between them, in the straightforwardnesstheyrelate to the music and space. It is impossible to lay a hand on what the threedancers bring from them selves to the stage, from the strength of their beautyand the frankness of their rich dance language."

– Gabi Aldor, "City Mouse Online", December 2007

"It is a deep dance of dancers with a life experience. Each solo is built thoroughly and it is possible to follow the clever moves in the development of the movement's scale… The performance execution arouses pleasure… The 3 dancers, including Dar herself possess a high quality technique. Dar, which was absent from stage for a few years, kept her ability and was renewed."

– Ruth Eshel, "Ha'aretz", December 2007

The best place to see Noa Dar's latest work, Arnica, is in her spacious new studio in Tel Aviv, an alley away from Ibn Gvirol street. This unpretentious production is modest in scale compared to her previous elaborate work Tetris with its physical and conceptual intricacies. Dar has composed this new evening as a string of miniature solo pieces, picked up from various works she created in the last decade and danced by three female dancers, including herself. Although she hasn't been on stage for years, Dar seems to be in excellent shape. In fact, she looked less contrived than she did years ago in her prime. She managed to portray her idiosyncratic language with great charm. Michal Mualem and Shira Rinott – fine dancers in their own right – contributed their own colors as interpreters of Dar's lexicon. Although the studio setting is less formal, with the dancers sitting on chairs while waiting their turn to dance, Arnica is meticulously choreographed. Dar's use of illustrative movements, which rely heavily on verbal texts of songs or on detailed subtext, is considered old fashioned. Yet in this retrospective context and form, it makes sense. And when she performed her solo, set to Tom Waits' song "C'mon up to the house," Dar was empowered, funny, devilishly daring and totally contemporary.

– Ora Brafman, "The Jerusalem Post", March 2008

"I already forgot how exciting a dive to a dance performance can be, it uproots the verbal dialogs and gives the stage to the body and the music to not only flirt with us, the spectators, but also to compel us to ask questions and to check for answers. It is possible to open a window to our souls and to touch places that stayed locked up most of the time, an enchanting performance!"

– Hani Davidor, "1909" Website, December 2007

The best place to see Noa Dar's latest work, Arnica, is in her spacious new studio in Tel Aviv, an alley away from Ibn Gvirol street. This unpretentious production is modest in scale compared to her previous elaborate work Tetris with its physical and conceptual intricacies. Dar has composed this new evening as a string of miniature solo pieces, picked up from various works she created in the last decade and danced by three female dancers, including herself. Although she hasn't been on stage for years, Dar seems to be in excellent shape.

In fact, she looked less contrived than she did years ago in her prime. She managed to portray her idiosyncratic language with great charm. Michal Mualem and Shira Rinott – fine dancers in their own right – contributed their own colors as interpreters of Dar's lexicon. Although the studio setting is less formal, with the dancers sitting on chairs while waiting their turn to dance, Arnica is meticulously choreographed. Dar's use of illustrative movements, which rely heavily on verbal texts of songs or on detailed subtext, is considered old fashioned. Yet in this retrospective context and form, it makes sense. And when she performed her solo, set to Tom Waits' song "C'mon up to the house," Dar was empowered, funny, devilishly daring and totally contemporary.

Israeli dancer and choreographer Noa Dar has a new achievement to add to her already stellar resume. Dar’s latest work, Arnica, will be showcased this coming October as part of Costa Rica’s annual International Arts Festival. The Costa Rica festival will boast three separate performances of Arnica, which has already debuted in Israel last December. This is the second time that Dar and her dance troupe have been invited to perform in Central America. Dar’s dance company was invited to perform at San Jose, Cost Rica’s capital city, during a world tour in support of their earlier work, entitled Tetris, in Santiago, Chile. This work is a unique collaboration with visual artist Nati Shamia Opher, examining social patterns by inspecting audience-performer-space relations.

Arnica, on the other hand is a far more densely introspective work. Dar describes it as a retrospective observation of the unique language she forges through movement, as well as an examination of the often violent clash between each individual entity’s inner world and their external surroundings. This unique performance piece collects and presents 17 short solos created during the last decade, and marks Dar’s return to the stage after an absence of nine years.

Arnica is performed by Noa Dar and two other dancers that have worked with her over the past few years: Shira Rinot and Michal Mualem. Dar is also joined in this performance, by musician Uri Frost who collaborated with Dar on her earlier works: "In a Dark, Dark Land” (Israel Festival, 2003) and Tetris (Acco Festival for Alternative Theater, 2006).

– Merav Yudilovitch, “Ynet”, April 2008