The Clowning

Inbal Pinto, one of Israel's more talented and inventive young choreographers, and her partner Avshalom Pollak have put together a new comic fantasy dance that has ample elements to ensure another crowd-pleaser of the kind that brought them international recognition. The two are responsible for the design of the stage, costumes, wigs and the arrangement of the musical collage, resulting in a unity of styling and articulate surroundings entirely attuned to their meticulous dance vocabulary.

The first scene revealed a stage that was walled in between two diagonal barricades of cardboard boxes with numerous hidden doors that enabled the dancers to enter and exit unexpectedly. The troupe of a dozen dancers, dressed in stylised off-white long-johns, lay on the floor, each with a black bowler hat placed on their midriff while a soft, warm light was directed at their upper body. This integrated colour effect with its subdued monochromatic palette, maintained throughout the work, stood in surprising contrast to most of Pinto‘s previous creations which were characterised by her uniquely brazen use of colour. The troupe of dedicated dancers created a fantasy world bordering on the surreal, ...