Kamea presents: RAGE by Tamir Ginz, Suzanne Dellal, June 9

A sizable group of dancers stand still under cold white light. Original music by Avi Balleli rocks the stage with its rhythmic high decibels. One can see that the dancers are loaded with emotion waiting to erupt. They run all over the stage as their contained energies got loose. They jump wildly, roll on the floor, and soon challenge their mates..

Similar scenes will be repeated throughout RAGE. Ginz explain in the brochure that he tried to touch on various facets of violence that unsettles our lives. While this point was made clear, Ginz enriches the work with scenes outside the perimeter of the leading emotion of choice with a touch of surreal juicy scenes. In one, he depicts a duel fought with long white fluffy feathers by two fencing sword players dressed properly in white. Soon, the mock weapons serve for playful erotic touches, erasing any sign of rage.

There were a couple of other scenes, which probably intended to suggest more artistic diversity on the verge of the absurd, yet there were other more endearing moments, that were truly surprising. The first on the least was an old recording of a poem recited by the illustrious poet  Lea Goldberg, which she published in the early fifties, called "Mechora Sheli".  She wrote about her spiritual homeland with deep emotion but with powerful sharp criticism which can only be matched by the late playwright Hanoch Levin. Her text overshadowed the dramaturgical subtext of that evening. For that reason, resorting to other old rather mundane tunes later, was not necessary.

Another scene which was redundant was a styled simulated rape scene masquerading as dance, highly needed more sophisticated handling. Moreover, it was overstretched and ended in a farfetched manner, introducing an element of parody, at the wrong time.

Musing overnight about RAGE, one can certainly remember with appreciation the cadre of twelve fine dancers, particularly a few male dancers which stood out. Within the last few years, Beer Sheva based company became stronger and diversified, which is a good sign for the future. In this particular work the company choreographer Tamir Ginz had developed his choreographic crafts particularly in the larger scenes, which were well handled. Some of the finer, more imaginative ones were performed along the back wall, which contained captivating geometric discipline with relatively disciplined energy, adding deserved finesse for the evening.