Lifelong search for family

Dancemakers performs a Holocaust work at Chutzpah! 2003.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Award-winning choreographer Serge Bennathan brings the compelling and innovative The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch to Chutzpah! The Lisa Nemetz Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts next month.

Joseph Finch tells the story of a German violin-maker who, after searching for 53 years, finds the daughter from whom he was separated following their liberation from Auschwitz at the end of the war. The story takes place in Germany, Prague, France and Toronto, where he finally reunites with his daughter. He is 83 years old by the time he knocks on her door.

Based on a real-life event that happened in France few years ago – where a brother living in France was reunited with his sister, who was living in Russia, where she had accidentally been brought after the war – Bennathan told the Bulletin that he "had to write this story."

For Bennathan, the most compelling part of Finch's tale is that Finch was forced by historical events to conduct a lifelong search to find his daughter. Bennathan also wanted to deal with the subject of the Holocaust.

"I thought a lot about bringing a vision of the Holocaust [to the stage], and as a creator it was a challenge that I wanted to face," said Bennathan. "I did not think about if I was using dance or another art form, because it is a challenge in any way you want to talk about it. And we need to talk about it in this beginning of a new millennium, as we go further and further from the events themselves and the witnesses are disappearing."

Joseph Finch premièred in November 2000 at the Première Dance Theatre as part of Harborfront Centre Dance 2000-2001: World Moves. It is one of seven works for which Bennathan has been nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performance.

Born in France, Bennathan trained in Paris in classical and modern dance before working professionally with Roland Petit's Ballet de Marseille. Prior to his arrival in Canada in 1985, he directed his own company in Cannes for four years. He has been the artistic director of Toronto-based Dancemakers since 1990.

When creating a new work, Bennathan said he conducts research for up to a year and a half before he enters the studio and starts working with the dancers and the creative team, composer, set and costume designers and lighting designer.

"For Joseph Finch, during this period I wrote the story and did important research through reading and talking," explained Bennathan. "During all this period I am working alone and I feed myself with what I think it is that I want to talk about. All that means is that when I start with the dancers, I only work physically, not even telling them what it is about. I choreograph in silence, I let all the information that I gathered during my research period to resurface and guide my physicality.

"Parallel to this, I work with the composer," he continued. "I do not let him see the physical work right away. Instead, we talk, and I want the music coming from our discussion and the emotions that it creates and not from the movement. The music must be another metaphor for the story and not a support for the dance."

Dancemakers was formed in 1974. The company performs in and around Toronto, nationally and internationally. Highlights of the company's international engagements over the past decade include the Joyce Theatre, New York City (1996); Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa (1996, 2000, 2002); and Teatro Alfa, Canada Capital Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil (1999). Most recently, the company toured to Cagliari, Sardinia and Cannes, France, with The Satie Project, Bennathan's newest creation, which was inspired by his admiration for the music of French composer Erik Satie and for pianist Eve Egoyan who recently added Satie to her repertoire.

Joseph Finch is at the Norman Rothstein Theatre March 1, 6:30 p.m., and March 2, 8 p.m. Sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, tickets are $22. The show contains some nudity.

The world of dance

This year's Chutzpah! festival features several other dance troupes in its Feb. 22 to March 9 run at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC), including the local community's Shalom Dancers, who offer a program that reflects the group's repertoire of both traditional and contemporary folk dance. They take to the second stage at the JCC on Feb. 23, at 2:30 p.m., and admission is free for their performance.

As well, Resident Dance returns for its second Chutzpah! year. Choreographer Judith Marcuse has created a new work for dancers Gioconda Barbuto and Graham McElvie. Beverly Bagg-Freidlander will perform a pas de deux with dancer Edmond Kilpatrick in a choreography by Charla Genn, accompanied by Pat Covernton on piano and Jo-Anne Pezzaro on voice. Tara Cheyenne will perform a new solo entitled The Beckoning, by Sophie Yendole with music by Marc Stewart and costumes by Alice Mansell. And also on the program is Daniel Conrad's dance film Subways: Five Variations on a Theme by Rilke, which is based on the poem "Der Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke and explores a human response to being trapped. Resident Dance takes place Feb. 24 and 25, 8 p.m., in the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Tickets are $16.

Then there's Digitize, an unconventional multimedia installation and performance where video, dance and sound intermingle on the screen and in an interactive performance. Featuring Montreal-based artists Pamela Schneider, Dylan David Wagner and Melissa Weigel, the audience will be given the opportunity to create a choreography with live dancers. Digitize's performance is sponsored by Celebration 2010. They perform in the Zack Gallery Feb. 23, 4:30 p.m., Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Feb. 26, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Feb. 27, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. and March 1, 6 p.m. Tickets are $8.

Just for Chutzpah!

The Vancouver ensemble SWARM explores the potential of experimental percussion and will perform an adaptation of a traditional Hebrew song created especially for the Chutzpah! festival. Founder/director Bill Wallace has created instruments out of oil drums, sewer pipes and other recycled materials that function as set design, orchestra and props all rolled into one. The performers will jump, spin and kick their way through an invigorating performance Feb. 23, 3 p.m., and March 8, 8:30 p.m., in the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Tickets are $16. Check out www.swarmweb.com for more information.

Show-stopping youth

Showstoppers features a troupe of young performers, ages 13 to 15, from the JCC's Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! musical theatre summer program. Featuring a repertoire of music including Broadway and movie musicals, the group is directed by Perry Ehrlich with choreography by Valerie Easton.

For their Chutzpah! performance, Showstoppers will be joined by guests Lisa Ehrlich, 2001 grand prize winner of the National Youth Talent Search and Shaw Star Discovery at the PNE; Shira Elias, winner of the CTC Best Actress Award for her role in Once Upon a Mattress; and Advah Soudack, who recently appeared as Chava in the Vancouver Playhouse production of Fiddler on the Roof.

There are two shows on Feb. 26, at 6:45 and 8:30 p.m., in the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Tickets are $14.

A revival of Yiddish

Pianist Marilyn Lerner and singer Dave Wall are at the forefront of an international revival of Yiddish poetry set to music. On their CD Still Soft Voiced Heart, they combine their musical personalities with the words of several 20th-century Yiddish poets, including Avram Reisen, Avram Sutskever, Zisha Landau and Peretz Miransky.

Lerner and Wall join Chutzpah! Feb. 27, 8 p.m., in the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Sponsored by Linda Belzberg and Mark Knechtel, tickets for the show are $16.

Corporate success?

The Piverton Monologues offers a glimpse into one man's journey up the corporate ladder. A dramatic physical comedy starring actor Donald Adams, Piverton places the audience in close proximity to the character, who takes them on a journey to different locations within the JCC. Performances begin in the centre's Dayson Boardroom. They take place Feb. 23, 26, 27 and March 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9. All shows start at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $14.

For more information about Chutzpah! 2003, call 604-257-0366 or visit www.chutzpahfestival.com. Tickets for all performances – with the exception of opening night – can be purchased from the Festival box office at 604-257-0366.

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