Here are a few words about the performances that have delighted festival audiences

6/7/2011

‘Heroes’ by duo Yossi Berg and Oded Graf consists of actually two different choreographies, which are not always shown together. They are however combined by the theme: interpersonal communication. The first part is about searching contact with the other man – about breaking the reciprocal reluctance, catching somebody’s attention. The second part is on being with the other person, who like you transgressed first barriers and now are checking each other, analyzing the depth of the relation. In the performance, communication has been shown as a primary need of a human being – getting to know the other person, understanding his/her behavior and choices, but at the same time showing him/her one’s own inside and achieving acceptance – these are basic needs of everyone of us. Founding the relation constitutes a sense of human existence – the presence of ‘the other’ absorbs and gives direction to one’s own actions. We connote communication mainly with language message – here it is constituted by motion, physical interaction. The importance of nonverbal communication in the creation of human relation is underlined. The only words that appear in the performance are lyrics of songs, which serve as a commentary to the current sequences. The only exception is when Graf performs “Happy together” – it can be read as a brave personal declaration dedicated to his stage partner. This is a limitary point when the character of their relation changes: the initial advances are finished, the play with open cards begins.

Graf and Berg use their bodies in a way that manifests their total acceptance of their physicality. Without any fear, they use self-irony, and pathos. In their dance they put different conventional gestures and mimics, which allow a quick understanding of the sequence. The unlimited freedom in moving between stylistics, emotions and amazing expression gives lightness to the performance. What surprises, is its freshness – this impression comes from a total engagement of artists in the stage ‘here and now’, their watchful presence makes their movement free of automated and routine.