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(Sahar Azimi in Come Feel.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

(This podcast was initially produced for Israel Seen, and the text is amended from my writing there.  You can subscribe to this podcast using the iTunes software by clicking this link to the podcast feed.)

In a festival with more than fifteen concerts – each of which features multiple works – dances are bound to blend into one another.  But when a work stands out in this context, you know it’s the real deal.  That’s what happened again and again with Sahar Azimi’s choreography at Machol Bamidbar (Dance in the Desert) in June 2008.  From the first duet I saw to the gasp-inducing solo for a woman from Bo Targish (Come Feel), and then to the poetic group piece Ze, Sahar’s artistic voice captured my attention and remained in my mind long after the festival was over.

Join us as we talk about Sahar’s early career as a dancer with some of Israel’s most famed companies, his more recent choreography, and the larger field of Israeli contemporary dance.

See below for more photographs from Bo Targish (Come Feel).

(Sahar Azimi’s Come Feel.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

(Sahar Azimi’s Come Feel.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

Other Podcasts on Dance In Israel:

• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination
• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor: An Interview with Dramatic Dancemakers
• Interview with Yair Vardi: A View from the Top
• Renana Raz: Choreographing Israeli Culture and Beyond
• Shlomit Fundaminsky: A Conversation on Improvisation and Israeli Life

Related Links:

• Sahar Azimi’s bio (in Hebrew)
  

*This post was made possible thanks to a Fulbright student grant funded by the U.S.-Israel Educational Foundation and hosted by the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.