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Munich

Noa Eshkol, Noé Soulier
A Suite of Dances – A Day in the Studio

by Annette Embrechts

She is by far the least known choreographer in the growing repertoire of the Berlin-based Dance On Ensemble which comprises dancers aged 40 and over. Under the direction of Ty Boomershine, the ensemble dedicates a dance-history series to the work of luminaries such as Merce Cunningham (1919–2009), Martha Graham (1894–1991), Mathilde Monnier (b. 1959), and Lucinda Childs (b. 1940). In the latest edition, which premiered at Julidans festival in Amsterdam, Dance On focuses on the Israeli choreographer and textile artist Noa Eshkol (1924–2007), known among dance experts for her precise system of movement notation: the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (EWMN).

Together with architect Avraham Wachman (1931–2010), Eshkol developed an analytical, objective method for precisely recording—on paper or via computer—every form of human or animal movement in space and time. Her rigorous, formally structured, geometric works function more like dance exercises (often performed to the beat of a metronome) designed to feed the notation system. Now, for the first time, dancers outside the Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group (founded in 1954) are performing her works.

The two-part program A Suite of Dances – A Day in the Studio begins with five dancers performing excerpts from Eshkol’s metronomically accompanied work Theme and Variations. These include pieces such as Jacob, Rachel and Leah, Duet, March, and Minuet from the early 1960s, as well as Fugue from the early 1970s. They are brief exercises characterized by calm, minimalist lines—such aswindmill-like arm movements or clenched fists. They are over in a flash.

In A Day in the Studio, French choreographer Noé Soulier (born 1987 in Paris)—director of the Centre national de danse contemporaine d’Angers since 2020—responds to Eshkol’s work through pure movement. While an introspective female voice muses on the dying plants in her apartment, the dancers—initially two, then three, and finally all five—execute precise movements. They seem to be measuring the confined space of a spotlight beam while simultaneously breaking it open to make room for a stronger emotional resonance and a reorientation. The spoken text gradually transforms into music. The accomplished dancers imbue every line with deep feeling. Interesting, yet also rigorous and a bit dry.

Further performances in Munich, Tanzwerkstatt Europa, Muffathalle, 11, 12 Aug.;

www.jointadventures.net
www.dance-on.net