It takes two

Inbal Pinto’s latest creation is ‘Fugue’.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Updated: APRIL 18, 2018 17:58
Inbal Pinto’s latest creation is ‘Fugue’ (photo credit: ROTEM MIZRAHI)
Inbal Pinto’s latest creation is ‘Fugue’
(photo credit: ROTEM MIZRAHI)
In music, a fugue is a composition that consists of two or more voices using the concept of imitation in different tones or pitches throughout the creation.
And so, renowned choreographer Inbal Pinto’s newest creation for the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company, Fugue, is the presentation of two voices – her own and that of musician Maya Belsitzman. This new dance premiered last weekend and will begin its journey in the coming months in Tel Aviv before fanning out to other areas of Israel and abroad.
Since the beginning of her career, Pinto has created dozens of different worlds. Her fine esthetic and dynamic movement language have made each whimsical and majestic creation unforgettable and easily distinguished. Drawing on memories, nostalgia and group relations, Pinto’s choreographies are accessible while still maintaining the utmost artistic level.
For most of her career, Pinto collaborated with former partner Avshalom Pollak. The two created the broken-down circus of Oyster, the shape-shifting snow globe of Shakers and the black dredges of Trout together. In recent seasons, Pinto and Pollak went separate ways, bringing about Pollak’s Slug and now Fugue. This change most certainly marks a new era for the company.
Cellist and singer Maya Belsitzman has also spent much of her creative life working alongside a male partner. Together with drummer Matan Ephrat, she has performed around the world.
For both women, this collaboration afforded an opportunity to try out new methods, to allow a new voice into the creative process and to take new risks. During the rehearsal process, both described moments in which one side – either the dancers or Belsitzman – would improvise and the other would follow. Though they had never spent time in studio together, there was an immediate, palpable synergy in the room. In such a way, much of the material for Fugue was generated.
The inspiration, as Pinto describes it, came from a look back at a lost time: “We imagined a banquet hall that was in use somewhere, sometime in the 1920s. We observed the emptiness and imaged what once was there and is gone…how the abandoned space dons memories, like a forgotten resonance chamber that continues to play from the past… an internal echo that becomes, in an instant, a tremor, a vibration that folds into it a life that is restored in the eyes of the beholder.”
Fans of Pinto’s will immediately note the starkness of the colors and props in Fugue. Where previous works have twinkled with soft hues, Fugue strikes hard with deep, blood red costumes.
‘Fugue’ will be performed on May 2 & 3 and June 4, 5 and 6 at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv. For more information, visit www.inbalpinto.com.