Stacey Menchel Kussell
By Stacey Menchel Kussell
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The Schmooze Arkadi Zaides Digs Deeper Into Dance
“There is a certain feeling of ‘in-between’ that you inherit as an immigrant. My life as an artist has expanded this feeling,” said Arkadi Zaides in an interview with The Arty Semite. “Living all over the world, performing and choreographing, it is hard to say what constitutes my home. My home is everywhere.” Zaides has…
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The Schmooze Two Choreographers Interpret the Shoah
“It is always controversial when someone makes a work about the Holocaust, especially when that person is not Jewish. It can bring up a lot of emotion and anger,” said Jonathan Hollander, director of Battery Dance Company, in an interview with The Arty Semite. This week two dance performances explore the experience of the Holocaust…
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Culture Hofesh Shechter Uses Dance To Unite People
In the opening scene of Hofesh Shechter’s “Political Mother,” a lone man stands onstage, clothed in a pared-down version of Japanese Samurai armor. Soft choral music sets in. The warrior lifts his sword and proceeds to slowly pantomime seppuku, the ritual of honorable suicide. The lights cut to black; the music screeches to silence, and…
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The Schmooze Tango Takes Flight in ‘8cho’
In Brenda Angiels’ “8cho” (pronounced “ocho”), the audience is transported to a smoky tango nightclub. The musicians on guitar, piano and accordion provide a steamy, fast-paced rhythm, while Viviana Finkelstein, a petite, blond bombshell, catches the eye of two competing suitors. The romantic drama of the scene looks familiar, but this tango is anything but…
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Culture Break Dancing Across the Green Line
“Hip-hop goes beyond race, religion or socioeconomic class,” according to Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris, hip-hop dancer and founder of Rennie Harris Puremovement, Philadelphia’s famed hip-hop dance company. “Whether you are from Philly or Cairo, you can connect with African-American arts, because they are about freedom.” His words had just been acid-tested by a month-long tour of…
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The Schmooze ‘Hora’ to the ‘MAX’ With Batsheva
Photo by Gadi Dagon Yaara Moses, like many other little girls growing up in Jerusalem, wore tutus, danced ballet, modern, and of course, Israeli folk dances. When she was 11 years old her mother took her to see Batsheva Dance Company perform Ohad Naharin’s “Anaphaza.” It was an experience that changed her life. “My jaw…
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Culture An ‘Oyster’ in Ohio
In the dazzling circus world of “Oyster,” Noga Harmelin dances the role of a tiny, acrobatic doll. With her delicate face painted white beneath a wig of unruly blond hair, she is a whimsical and tragic clown. She jumps, she gesticulates and she even floats (with the help of a harness) high into the air,…
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The Schmooze Terezín Legacy Endures Through Dance
Photo by Julie Lemberger “I am a child of survivors, so I think about the Holocaust every day,” said Carolyn Dorfman at the recent “In the Spirit of Terezín Artists” dance showcase at the 92nd Street Y. “My family’s trauma and triumph comes out in my dances. It is impossible to escape it.” Dorfman’s “Cat’s…
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