2021
Summer Snow is a work created for Batsheva Dance Company. Commissioned by the Mart Foundation for the Mart International Festival.
Set in a warehouse of emotions and objects, Summer Snow unravels a grotesque human image. The work consists of a series of surrealist scenes through which we discover the story of one character intertwined with the stories of others. The work raises questions regarding the physical and mental burdens that construct our reality and narrow our steps in it. What are the objects, memories, aspirations, and disappointments that activate us and to which we cling — as individuals and as a group? What is left of all these when life is shaken to the core?
The occurrences on stage intersect with each other, constructing and deconstructing a web of relationships ranging from mundane to chaotic, from harmonious to turbulent. The enclosed space on the stage, built of shelves, creates a dense and claustrophobic world, an isolated island. The outside penetrates in various ways, and the explosive emotional tension quickly escalates into images of dark violence, loneliness, and insatiable emptiness.
The shelves, which once contained objects of functional and sentimental value, are now an empty reminder, a vague memory, of what will ultimately vanish.
* The stage work Summer Snow is the first installment of an art project that will include three artistic products: a dance piece for the stage, an audio-visual sphere in a designated website, and a book of drawings.
Summer Snow is Rothschild’s first creation for Batsheva Dance Company. The work is co-produced with the Mart Foundation
Photos by: Ascaf
Credits:
Choreography: Ella Rothschild
Performed by Batsheva Dance Company Dancers, Season 2020/21: Chen Agron, Billy Barry, Yael Ben Ezer, Matan Cohen, Ben Green, Chiaki Horita, Sean Howe, Chun Woong Kim, Londiwe Khoza, Shir Levy, Ohad Mazor, Igor Ptashenchuk, Yoni (Yonatan) Simon, Hani Sirkis, Amalia Smit
Dramaturgy: Tal Yahas
Animation development of Puppets and Objects: Gony Paz
Costume Design: Inbal Ben Zaken
Stage Design and Props: Gadi Tzachor
Lighting Design: Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi)
Original Music: Gershon Waiserfirer
Additional Music: A Year Without Summer, Peter Broderick / Rearrangement: Gershon Waiserfirer
Puppets Designers and Makers: Gili Kozin Ulmer and Yana Malyshev
Text: Ben Green, read by: Londiwe Khoza