US performers dismayed after Acre Festival gets the hook

Dance group leader: I feel heavy hearted...What better way could there be to bring people together?

By DAN IZENBERG
dance 88 (photo credit: )
dance 88
(photo credit: )
Marylee Hardenbergh and Jenny Moore are sitting in the dining room of the Arkkotel in Acre, uncharacteristically with time on their hands. A few minutes earlier, a hotel official had shown this reporter a loose-leaf folder filled with cancellations for Succot following the municipal council decision to cancel the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theater in the wake of Jewish-Arab riots in the city. Hardenbergh and Moore were also victims of the city's decision. They had come all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota to stage what they described as a global site performance, which is also the name of their organization. "We create outdoor site-specific performances," explained Hardenbergh, the artistic director. "We choose an outdoor site, hire a local composer and dancers and mold the performance around the site." In the case of Acre, the two women, who are dance therapists by profession, chose a site just outside the northern end of the Old City, using the beach, the sea, a fishing boat and the massive city wall jutting into the water as its props. "We never use lighting," Hardenbergh added. "We studied the sunset very intensively to make sure that it would serve as a backdrop without creating a glare. In fact, we called the Israeli consulate from Minneapolis to make sure we knew when Israel reverted to winter time." The performance, which includes an original musical score and dance, was timed to last 25 to 30 minutes and was to start at exactly 4:30 p.m. and end at 5:05 on the first day and 5:07 on the second, precisely at sundown. Hardenbergh and Moore had also arranged that the music for the performance would be broadcast on Radio Al-Shams so that the performers, some of whom were located about 700 meters from each other, would all be responding to the same sound at the same time. One of the main themes of all the work of Global Site Performance is to create harmony between man and his environment and among the performers themselves. Although most of the organization's roughly 25 creations have been conducted in the US, they have also performed in Russia and in Sarajevo. In fact, in Sarajevo, the performance was held two months after the end of the Bosnian war in the bombed-out parliament building. The dancers included Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims. In Acre, too, Hardenbergh and Moore had hoped to hire Jewish and Arab dancers but ended up with mostly Arabs. However, for one segment of the performance called the "wise women," which involved older women, they insisted that at least one be Jewish, and hired a dancer from Haifa. On Friday, after the outbreak of the riots, the Jewish woman insisted on attending the regularly scheduled rehearsal at the beach, in an entirely Arab part of the city, despite the ostensible danger. Hardenbergh and Moore, the administrative director, have been working on this project for more than a year. Last November, they visited Israel for the first time, chose the site for the performance and hired the musical composer and the dancers. Three weeks ago, they returned to Acre to turn their vision into reality. Having put in 10-12 hour workdays since returning here, they were in somewhat of a state of shock over the festival's cancellation. The dance was not part of the formal festival offerings. It was to be a fringe performance, free of charge but, obviously meant for and dependent upon an audience that would appreciate their show. Nevertheless, they tried not to show their disappointment and displayed good cheer mixed with sadness rather than anger at the news of the cancellation. "I feel heavy-hearted," said Hardenbergh. "We've read that this festival is only for Arabs, that the only ones who profit from it are the local Arab merchants. Meanwhile, the Arabs say it's such a 'Jewish' thing. So I'm perplexed about whose festival this really is. Then I hear the mayor has decided to cancel it while the minister of culture, who puts up so much of the money for the festival, wants it to go on." "I, too, feel heartache for the city," added Moore. "What better way could there be to bring people together? I understand the need for security but it doesn't feel right that a few people can decide what will be. What are your telling them - that if they burn down a few houses, they can ruin the festival." The women console themselves with the thought that some of the local passersby who had watched their rehearsals told them they had begun to perceive the site in a new way. Global Site Performance is a non-profit organization. Hardenbergh and Moore raise money for their shows on an ad hoc basis from donations. They have already used up all the money they collected for the Acco project. They will have to raise more if they want to come back and perform it later on. They are determined to do so, but they don't know exactly when. The cancellation is still too new for them. On Monday, for the first time since they arrived, they cancelled the rehearsal scheduled for that day. Now they are discussing when to fly home.