After a long tenure with the Batsheva Dance Company, where she was initially the muse of Ohad Naharin and later the associate artistic director and house choreographer, Sharon Eyal is now an independent artist projecting herself onto the international scene. In addition to choreographing for various ensembles—such as the Norwegian Carte Blanche, which was also seen at Oriente Occidente last season, and the American Hubbard Street Dance Chicago—she founded her own company, L-E-V (Heart in Hebrew), in Israel in 2013, along with her husband, Gai Behar. In reality, the artistic team is much larger; L-E-V is a true family: with them is the creative percussionist and DJ Ori Lichtik, who composes all the music for the performances and is a founding figure of the Israeli techno scene, the designer Ma’ayan Goldman, responsible for the timeless 'second skin' that envelops the bodies in all of Eyal's works, and light designer Avi Yona Bueno. This family has shaped and given life to a distinctive aesthetic that starts from an intense and vigorous choreographic style and a stage setup that freezes physical differences to highlight personalities. Skin-tight monochromatic jumpsuits, unisex lipstick, and garters worn by men make the company an androgynous mass that is somewhat cyborg-like yet very human, engaged in a kind of tribal rite with a coldly contemporary aesthetic that Eyal and Behar immerse it in.
House, the performance we will see at the festival, was originally created for the Batsheva Dance Company in 2011. Remounted for seven dancers from L-E-V (with a cameo by Eyal herself) and doubled in duration, the piece does not change its essence: it tells of human relationships, family, and couples in a house dominated by a strange delirium. With increasing tension, the award-winning duo Eyal and Behar leads the audience into a domestic rave, subtly aggressive and inclined toward trance.
