Movement at Tel Aviv’s annual dance fest reflects a shaken nation

For 11 days next month, dancers from Israel and abroad will shake, shimmy, move and groove on stage in Tel Aviv, reminding the nation that even as it is convulsed by war and hardship, life does not stop moving.

The annual summer festival at Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater will include 20 dance pieces, including several Israeli premieres, outdoor performances, open rehearsals and film screenings about dance. Several events at the festival, which will run from August 6 to 16, will have free admission.

“The decision to hold the festival precisely now – when we are all in a turbulent reality, when the war is still reverberating and Israeli society is dealing with confusion and pain – is a clear position: we don’t stop,” said Anat Fisher Lebenton, CEO of the Susan Dellal Center. “We continue to dance, dream, move. This festival is much more than art – it is a statement, it is hope, and it is a reminder of the power of Israeli creation to touch, shake, and connect.”

The festival will host two international artists, Britain’s Julian Hamilton and Charlie Santegado from Austria.

The focus, however, is on the local dance scene, said organizers.

The opening performance will be the premiere of Suzanne Dellal artist-in-residence Michael Getman’s work, “Passion is a Lone Hunter.”

Other debuts will include “Take Off,” by Hani Sirkis, revealing the journey of a character who sheds her skin step by step, as Sirkis harnesses the medium of drag, a subject she has been exploring in recent years.

Sharon Valevski, another artist-in-residence at Suzanne Dellal, will unveil “speech-less,” her work about the search for leadership figures with humanity and courage.

Jerusalem Dance troupe c.a.t.a.m.o.n and its choreographer Elad Shechter will perform “Golden Gate 8,” a collage of movement and poetry that is intended to be a prayer in movement, a poetic vision for a future of reconciliation and healing.

Yossi Berg and Oded Graf will perform “Mid-War Dance Movements,” borne from their view of the fractures in Israeli society.

“Sunset” by the Adi Boutrous troupe will be performed in the Suzanne Dellal courtyard, appropriately enough, at dusk. Thirteen dancers will unfold a series of tableaus inspired by iconic images, showing scenes of violence, anguish, chaos, and the loss of control, all relating to Israel’s current reality.

Dance Tel Aviv is being held with the support of the Culture and Sports Ministry, the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, and the Suzanne Dellal Center.

This year’s festival is dedicated to the memory of Yair Vardi, the founder of the festival, who served for three decades as the CEO of the Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater before his death in May at the age of 76.