We went to see Ohad Naharin's "Field 21", a dance performance that first came out in 2011, but which has been renewed recently by a new team of dancers. Such performances are quite expensive, but around once a year, D likes to treat us to one, and we followed it with a nice meal in Tel Aviv's Sarona Park area.

The performance was interesting; quite abstract with hardly any appurtenances to go with the dance - no stage props, no storyline, little in the way of costume. The electronic music was fairly subdued. The piece is given to political interpretation but this is never overtly defined. One obvious cue is, towards the end, a prolonged screaming, coming from off-stage in the background, as if a woman is being tortured. This seems not to tie in with anything happening on the stage itself. In the context of modern Israel, it is very easy to interpret that. But there is also lots of humour and frivolity - the dancers seem not to take themselves too seriously. They do get endless possibilities to do their own thing - this dance is very expressive and permits the dancers great freedom, within strict parameters: this, apparently is the essence of the Gaga movement language developed by Naharin.

photos

Field 21 trailer