By Susan Josephs, Los Angeles Times Newsleter
Award-winning choreographers from the nation bring their innovations to UCLA.
Ronit Ziv doesn't believe in movement for movement's sake. Niv Sheinfeld considers postmodernism pass? and yearns for art to be less cynical. Idan Cohen is interested in the kind of work that others "only dare perform for the mirror."
Ziv, Sheinfeld and Cohen are all award-winning choreographers based in Tel Aviv. But for the last two weeks, they have been in residence at UCLA with Israeli American choreographer Barak Marshall, bringing a taste of contemporary dance from their homeland to students who auditioned to work with them.
As Judy Mitoma, director of the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance, said last week, "You don't get many chances to see this generation of Israeli choreographers in the United States."
Indeed, as an exporter of contemporary dance, Israel is probably still best known for the much-praised, Tel Aviv-based Batsheva Dance Company, founded in 1964.