The choreographers of the Amuta in Jaffa for the Home Port Festival.  Photo by Dorit Talpaz.

The first hint that something big was happening in Israel’s concert dance scene was an e-mail from Yossi Berg and Oded Graf about their upcoming performance schedule.  One listing mysteriously said that the duo was presenting Heroes at the Jaffa port for a choreographers festival.  Choreographers festival?  In Jaffa?  Many dance festivals here are annual ones, and I didn’t remember anything like that from last year.

Next I started to see some Facebook events popping up, with choreographers including Hillel Kogan, Noa Dar, Shlomit Fundaminsky, and Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor inviting friends to attend performances at the port during March.   My curiosity grew as the number of choreographers involved increased.

Finally, Yasmeen Godder pulled me over before class one day and told me I should look into a very exciting, unprecedented event: the Home Port festival.  As I talked more with her and followed a few leads, I found out that this was, indeed, something big.

The Home Port festival was initiated by the Amuta (which translates as the Choreographers Association or the Choreographers Society), an umbrella organization for fifty-four independent choreographers who draw from styles as varied as contemporary dance, flamenco, and belly dance.  Working outside of the country’s larger companies, these established choreographers are responsible for much of Israel’s flourishing concert dance scene – and all of them will present their creations in thirty-three different concerts over the next four weeks in a hangar at Jaffa’s port.

The Home Port festival kicks off on Thursday, March 12 with what promises to be one of the most unique performances since I’ve arrived in Israel.  The organization’s choreographers have assembled a special marathon of forty-four solos to celebrate the opening of their festival, and the evening will also include a reception and two lively musical performances.

In fact, nearly every concert in this series will also feature a musical act.  The association invited Levontin 7, a well-known music venue, to participate in the festival, and many of the bands or artists that perform at the club will also appear down in Jaffa.

I’ll be attending many of the performances at the Home Port festival, and I look forward to writing more about the events here on Dance In Israel.  If you’re in Israel during the next month, I hope you will have a chance to check out the festival yourself!

Schedule of Home Port Festival in Jaffa

Most of the information online about the Home Port Festival is in Hebrew, so I have roughly translated the choreographers’ names and some titles of works along with the performance times below.  Please note that I have only included the choreographers and not the rotating roster of (wonderful, diverse, talented) musicians who will perform at the concerts.

• Thursday 3/12 @ 7:00 pm – Opening Night Celebration – Marathon of 44 Solos
• Friday 3/13 @ 9:30 pm – Oded Graf  & Yossi Berg’s Heroes; Noa Shadur’s Hunting Rabbits in the North
• Saturday 3/14 @ 9:00 pm – Aviv Eveguy’s Animus and Dimona
• Tuesday 3/17 @ 9:00 pm – Yasmeen Godder’s Singular Sensation
• Thursday 3/19 @ 8:00 pm – works by Ilanit Tadmor, Abigail Rubin, and Noa Rosenthal
• Thursday 3/19 @ 9:15 pm – works by Mimi Ratz Wiesenberg, Silvia Duran, and Tomer Sharabi
• Friday 3/20 @ 9:30 pm – Noa Dar’s The Sweetest Embrace and Arnica
• Saturday 3/21 @ 11:00 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Dina Telem
• Saturday 3/21 @ 8:00 pm – Tel Aviv Dance Company in Tokyo Oranges
  
• Saturday 3/21 @ 9:15 pm – works by Yoram Karmi/Fresco Dance Company, Neta Shizef, and Tami & Ronen Yitzhaki
• (Cancelled due to rain) Monday 3/23 @ 8:00 pm – Idan Cohen’s Joy Ride, My Sweet Fur, and The Year of the Fish
• (Cancelled due to rain) Monday 3/23 @ 9:15 pm – Nadine Bommer’s Manimation
• Tuesday 3/24 @ 8:00 pm – Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Post-Martha
• Tuesday 3/24 @ 9:15 pm – works by Sharona Florsheim and Nadar Rosano
• Wednesday 3/25 @ 8:00 pm – Arkadi Zaides’s Meeting Brian Wash
• Wednesday 3/25 @ 9:15 pm – works by Hillel Kogan, Talia Paz, and Anat Shamgar
• Thursday 3/26 @ 7:30 pm – work by Smadar Emor
• Thursday 3/26 @ 9:15 pm – works by Michal Herman, Anat Katz, and Oren Nachum & Or Narin
• Friday 3/27 @ 12:00 pm – work by Sally-Ann Friedland & Galit Lis
• Friday 3/27 @ 9:30 pm – Nimrod Freed’s Flies in Peepdance
• Saturday 3/28 @ 10:30 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Nima Yacoby (Voyage Box)
• Saturday 3/28 @ 12:30 pm – family-friendly performance by choreographer Nima Yacoby (Cinderella’s Dance)
• Saturday 3/28 @ 8:00 pm – Elina Pechersky
• Saturday 3/28 @ 9:15 pm – Ronit Ziv’s La Femme 1, La Femme 2
• **NEW DATE** Sunday 3/29 @ 8:00 pm – Idan Cohen’s Joy Ride, My Sweet Fur, and The Year of the Fish
• **NEW DATE** Sunday 3/29 @ 9:15 pm – Nadine Bommer’s Manimation
• Monday 3/30 @ 9:00 pm – Shlomit Fundaminsky & Itay Yatuv’s TICKING/Improformance
• Tuesday 3/31 @ 9:00 pm – work by Ofra Idel & Robby Edelman
• Wednesday 4/1 @ 8:00 pm – Renana Raz’s Motel
• Wednesday 4/1 @ 9:15 pm – works by Maya Levy, Odelia Kuperberg, and Sally-Ann Friedland
• Thursday 4/2 @ 8:00 pm – Rikudnetto Dance Group’s Conversations
• Friday 4/3 @ 9:30 pm – Alice Dor-Cohen’s A Little After the Middle
• Saturday 4/4 @ 11:00 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Anat Danieli (The Four Seasons)
• Saturday 4/4 @ 8:00 pm – works by Ilanit Tadmor, Gilat Amotz, and Dafi Altebab
• Saturday 4/4 @ 9:15 pm – works by Maya Stern, Dana Ruttenberg, and Tamar Borer & Tamara Arda

Visit the Dance In Israel Events page for listings of each concert along with a Google map of the location at the Jaffa port (Nemal Yafo 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo).  To get to the hangar, descend from HaMigdalor Street to the port.   There is parking in the area, and several buses have stops on Yefet Street, relatively near the site.   You’re advised to wear layers since the hangar can be a bit chilly.  Want a little something to drink?  The hangar is outfitted with a bar and cafe.  Enjoy!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Home Port Festival: History in the Making for the Choreographers Association

Dance In Israel Articles about Members of the Amuta

• Close Encounters Series: Yasmeen Godder
• Dancing Through the Intifada: Yasmeen Godder’s “Strawberry Cream and Gunpowder”
• Renana Raz: Choreographing Israeli Culture and Beyond
• Viewing an Israeli Vision with Diasporic Eyes: A Look at Renana Raz’s “We Have Been Called to Go”
• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor: An Interview with Dramatic Dancemakers

Many members of the Amuta are mentioned in my articles about the Curtain Up and International Exposure festivals.  I will also be publishing more articles about members of this organization in the future, so please keep following the website!

Related Links

• Amuta (Choreographers Association/Choreographers Society) website
  
• Home Port schedule (in Hebrew)
• Dance In Israel’s Links page – with links to the websites of many members of the Amuta
• Levontin 7