Shall We Dance
A one man show
Screenplay: Abigail Rubin and Yoav Bartel
Premiered: March 2010, Merkaz Habama (Centre Stage) Festival
Duration: 60 minutes
Eitan Harari, an aspiring dance leader seeking recognition, takes advantage of a dance he was brought in to lead as a substitute. He creates an innovative folk dance with the active participation of the audience with hopes of receiving acclamation in the Israeli dance scene.
As the dance develops, Eitan reveals his sources of inspiration — past experiences from his youth. As the dance further progresses, he starts to smell the success, but it is precisely then that his memories threaten to consume him and cast a shadow on the celebration.
Screenplay, directing and acting: Yoav Bartel
Directing and choreography: Abigail Rubin
Light design: Nadav Barnea
Music consultant: Yehezkel Raz
Photography/film: Oren Shkedi
Awards >
Show of the Year 2010
“A performance for the actor and the audience alike that is brilliantly executed, blurring the boundaries between stage and audience, and between the actor, real life and the stage”
Screenwriter of the Year 2010
“A young artist who, together with his wife, meticulously created a performance that looks improvises and cunningly pulls the audience in.”
Best Execution Award 2010
“The play ends and the audience isn’t sure if Yoav is a professional dance leader, or a professional actor, or both.”
Reviews >
“Bartel projects irresistible charm and energy. When the two worlds collide — one of joy and innocence that characterize group dancing, and the other of sadism and belligerence that characterize military service — we recognize a sad truth about ourselves and the world we live in, in which dancing is a product of pain and suffering, and not of joy or love.”
Shai Bar yaacov, yediot Ahronot
“Bartel appears as a compellingly entertaining character, and yet so human and intriguing… Rubin and Bartel together create something really special…”
Yuval Ben-Ami, Israel Hayom
“Bartel’s impressive equilibrium in movement and dance was achieved especially for the occasion, and the learning process shaped the characteristics of his excellent acting as the dance leader… Bartel, with a seductively infatuating smile, dances away Eitan Harari’s story with naivete and revelation.”
Tzvi Goren, HaBama
