About
In a Black, Black Land deals with the despair and the nightmares of a society that lives in an ominous reality – a reality that brings forth the dreams of fear and horror from the unconscious.
The work has its roots in the world of fairy tale, where horrifying events take place, but their ending, so it seems, is happy – or at least an opening.
As children, we learned by means of the fairy tales to cope with our existential fears. Here, they are a source of inspiration, from which we may learn to disentangle the knots of the great, unbearable anxiety, to break it up into smaller, bearable pieces.
And perhaps, like in rituals of exorcism, the evil spirits may after all be driven out, and there may be hope for an unexpected ‘happy-end.’
Partners
By: Noa Dar
Dancers: I'layah Shalit, Assaf Schatz, Nachson Stein, Maya Brinner, Shira Rinot, Oded Graff
Singing and Acting: Iyar Wolpa
Original Music: Uri Frost
Texts excerpted from poems by: Nurit Zarhi, Zali Gurevich and Michael Grubman
Set design: Michal Shamir
Costume design and props: Einat Nir
Lighting design: Keren Granek
Producer: Na'ama Kutner
World Premiere: Israel Festival, Jerusalem, June 2003.
Duration: 55 Min.
Writing
“This is the best Israeli dancing I’ve seen this year, and one of the best post-modern works I’ve ever seen.
In A Black, Black Land is a pure manifestation of a post-modern dance language.
Each one of the movements seems, simple and natural, and they lack the synthetic line of the modern dance and the ballet; those are not “dancing movements”. And yet, in order to perform this sequence of movements, one has to be a skillful dancer who got rid of any mannerism and studied dancing aesthetics.
“In a Black, Black Land” is also an impressing musical achievement: the modern music by Uri Frost is an important element in this work, which Dar response to it in a sensitive and sophisticated way.”
Gal Alster, “Time Out – Tel Aviv” June, 2003
"In “In a Black Black Land” there is an interesting tension between aggressive patterns and parts of softness and tenderness which the wonderful dancers finely express with their body.
It’s an excellent group, joined by the actress Iyar Wolpe, in a beautiful and emotionally charged text."
Elyakim Yaron, "Ma'ariv", July 2003
“Noa Dar's In a Black, Black Land displayed the imaginative way she uses the stage, the complexity of her physical work, the width of her dance vocabulary, and the earnest efforts she allots for intellectual content.”
Ora Brafman, Jerusalem Post, June 2003
