Dancing on water and the black water of “oil” Trout looks at a society’s transformation.
Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s latest dance piece, Trout, which will be performed at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv for one week only (December 5 – 12) reveals yet another aspect of the creative pair’s ongoing relationship to nature: intense, direct, yet neither naïve nor simplistic.
Created during an artistic residence in Stavanger, Norway with music created (and performed live) by the Norwegian group The Kitchen Orchestra, it would be misleading to describe Trout merely as a work that is performed in water.
Trout evolved through the process of working in a particular environment, and the effect of that environment – human, natural, industrial and creative – can be seen in the work itself.
Pinto and Pollak made several extended visits to Stavanger, becoming acquainted with the people and landscape in the process.
Trout is a response to the impact of nature on the artists, and on the life in Stavanger itself. Surrounded by water, for years a poor area dependent on fishing, in the past thirty years it has undergone a major transformation and become a major supplier of oil – as reflected in the “black water” that appears in Trout.
One aspect of this transformation has been the wealth that it has brought, enabling the transformation of a former brewery, Tou Scene, into the thriving arts center where Trout was created and performed in 2008.
Yet there is a complexity to this picture and darker aspects to this prosperity.
In coming into each project with an openness and desire to explore and change, Pinto and Pollak create a sense of environmental awareness in their work which encourages audiences to examine their relationship to their own surroundings, imbued with a sense of wonder and discovery.
To alleviate any concerns about excess use of water – the pool is only 2 centimeters deep, just enough to create the visual and physical effect.
Tickets (170 NIS): 03-5105656, discount for Third Ear members 03-6215226. An interview with Pinto and Pollak can be read on Midnight East.
Photo credit to Asaf Ashkenazy
More on the environment and dance:
Vertigo Dance Studio and Bodyways Create Enviro Dance Festival for Shavuot
Vertigo Dancers Get Their Green Groove On
Dancing at the Dead Sea
Author: Ayelet Dekel
Ayelet was born in the sixties and the words “peace,” “love” and the “environment” still give her a thrilling rush of adrenaline and the desire to do something. Although she is not always sure what to do… it often involves words or images on a page. She studied literature at Harvard and works as a freelance writer in Tel Aviv, her articles have appeared in Haaretz and Time Out Israel. The body as an intersection of motion, thought, presence and emotion forms the focus of her drawings which are often inspired by dance. When she is not writing, drawing or drinking coffee, she can be found walking under a heavy backpack. She can be reached at Ayelet (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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