Jerusalem Dance Theater Company Performs

‘The Great Deep’ at MOTJ

July 29, 2024

The Jerusalem Dance Theater Company performed part of their new show “The Great Deep” for an audience of senior citizens at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem on July 29 who visited the new exhibit “From Darkness to Light.”

 

The Great Deep, choreographed by Hanoch Ben Dror, the company’s artistic director, uses duality to tell the Biblical story of the Flood of Noah with the tragic events of October 7 and the subsequent Swords of Iron War.

“When the attack was taking place I was already thinking about the show,” he said, sharing that the choreography takes inspiration from a philosophical approach called “the Iridosophical Worldview,” allowing to draw the comparison between the flood and the current day.

Throughout the show, symbolism such as Hebrew letters falling from the sky – depicting rain – accompany the abstract moves by the company’s dancers.

Ben Dror, who has held positions at many of the leading dance companies in Israel both as a dancer and choreographer, describes the comparisons more, saying “In Noah’s time humanity is killed and Noah and his sons have to start a new world.”

“Today, many things have come to an end – they can’t go on as they were – and we need a new beginning,” he said.

“The work finishes with hope for a new future and new beginning… that many things can’t continue as they were.”

Ben Dror is quick to point out that just because we are entering a new period, “it does not mean conflict ends, it just means a change of conflict.”

This is because, as he says, “Humanity always changes through encounters with conflict.”

Ben Dror adds that the performance showcases Noah as someone who works to “shed his boastful and deceptive outer garments, standing humbly before the naked truth of subsequent understanding. Human beings can love him more or less but cannot judge him. He is true to himself and like the flame of a candle of the soul. By thus correcting himself man contributes to the balance of the whole.”

Photos: Michal Riss

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