BLUE ZONE
Premiere: Israel Festival 2020, Jerusalem | Artistic Director: Itzik Giuli
Blue Zone develops and deepens the artistic-social agenda of choreographer Galit Liss, who has been exploring the aesthetical physiology of the mature body and locating it within the realm of contemporary dance for the past 15 years.
With an ensemble of non-dancer women between the ages of 67-82, the work examines the experience of maturing and growing old through the body, and offers a new – but possible – movement in the performative and public sphere;
a movement that challenges the common image of the dancer's body and existing social and political perceptions.
The performers reveal the collective biography embedded in their bodies, originating from social and national ideas associated with Israel's formative years, mainly Zionism, a masculine ethos that equated nation-building with body-building and shaped the notion of Israeliness as collectivity. Throughout the performance, the women dismantle the values and images they were brought up on, moving between Ethos and Eros, while making room for the individual body.
In Blue Zone, past and present are situated side by side; the deconstruction of collective ideas and presentation of a movement that challenges the elderly body raises questions regarding loyalty, identity, place, and home.
Video Trailer: Oren Mansura | Music: Avi Belleli | Graphic Design: Nurit Branda
Creation and Choreography: Galit Liss
Co-Creator: Orit Gross
Performers (in alphabetical order): Smadar Carmon, Sara Dagan, Smadar Elad, Orit Gross, Terry Kischinovsky, Nurit Limor, Ada Naggar, Zipora Ram Fink, Orna Schur, Dorit Shaharabani, Halina Shamshinas, Naomi Yahel, Vered Yatsiz
Dramaturgy: Nataly Zukerman
Music: Avi Belleli
Stage Design: Iris Mualem
Costume Design: Maya Bash
Light Design: Rotem Alroy
Sound and Mix: Marco Tomasin Milevsky
Vocal Coaching: Michal Oppenheim
Performance Manager: Noa Dar
Photography: Eli Passi
Graphic Design: Nurit Branda
International Relations and Production: Alina Feldman
Duration: 60 minutes
The piece is supported by Mifal HaPais (Israel Lottery Council for the Art), the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts Tel Aviv, the Choreographer's Association, Kfar Saba Country Club, and Shamshinas Family.
Thank you to: Zahala Community Center, Tel Aviv
REVIEWS
“…Liss manages to crystalize a rare and desired simplicity for dancers, especially for bodies that have accumulated many habits over the years; The women in "Blue Zone" are free of mannerisms, and present a confident stage presence that is committed to the scenic image they create… in "Blue Zone", the performers do not "disappear" within the choreography. On the contrary, every move or sweat in their faces is fascinating when they realize the collective choreography that miraculously uncovers their personalities… When the lights are turned off, it is no longer Atlas that carries the world, but rather an old, small and determined woman".
Ran Brown, Haaretz, 16.9.20
"'Blue Zone' is a requiem for the 'Wall and Tower' (Homa u'Migdal) era… Liss and the performers offer a different wall, feminine and more humane, that displays the notion of collective solidarity motivated by powerful tenderness. This way, the work resonates with the current point in time during which women
are reclaiming their place in the space of their country".
Dr. Idit Suslik, The Contemporary Eye, 13.9.20
"The dancers of the Galit Liss' ensemble are mature, lushes and open hearted, free from self-righteousness and over-sophistication, they move between personal and national personal biographies,
granting the viewer a sense of elevation".
Anat Zecharia, Habama (The Stage), 8.7.21
"Blue Zone: How to dismantle the Zionist body and rebirth it anew. The work of Galit Liss, who has been collaborating with elderly women that are not professional dancers, offers a shaking movement mixture that deals with loyalty to the state and draw a line between the ageing body and the faltering national vision".
Joy Bernard, Portfolio, 24.7.21