Is flamenco Spanish? What is typically European, typically Israeli? And anyway — why does flamenco dancer Mijal Natan, who lives in Jerusalem, have a German passport? All these questions arise during the one-hour evening presented by dancer-choreographer Hillel Kogan as part of "Dance Exposure 2024" at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. The traditional showcase of Israeli dance, which is presented every December, took place online for the foreign participants – under the current circumstances, the only way to make the country's still vibrant scene visible to the world.
thisispain was created at the end of 2022. Already in its title, Kogan plays with the term "pain" inscribed in red capital letters on the back wall. After all, the duo Kogan & Natan aren't concerned with any Hispaniola legend, but rather with the diverse forms of pain, grief, and loss. Both of them are magnificent performers, their virtuoso zapateados are imbued with melancholy. Kogan, a trained ballet dancer, learned the art of performing in clacking shoes during her training. Mijal Natan, in contrast, "simply fell in love with dance," as she explains in one of her numerous dialogues.
