Saar Harari | Performance Space New York

Moopim

MOOPIM MOOPIM

Israeli choreographer Saar Harari and Actress Lee Sher craft a compelling coda to the critically heralded “Herd of Bulls,” in which explosive military movement was co-opted to inform one soldier’s journey through the emotional aftermath of violence.

Here, the company’s physical vocabulary implodes, occupying a mental territory torn by the duality of living a life of freedom in a place where others cannot. Underscored by the live accompaniment of composer Brian Prunka on the oud (a traditional Arabic instrument), writhing, undulating bodies unite and collide, ricocheting between manifestations of sensual pleasure, joy and tenderness to anger, fear and madness – engaging the audience in a riveting exploration of humanity and the right to dream.

Made possible in part by the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York.

Featuring: Ellen Cremer, Rossella Fusco, Saar Harari, Rachel Okimo, Brian Prunka, Lee Sher.

Photo by Justin Bernhaut

This show is a featured presentation in both the Impact Festival and The New York Musical Theatre Festival

“Intense emotions and quick-shifting physical states… Ingenious… They fall, rise and inch across the floor as if wounded, slipping through quick bursts of emotions, hunting.”
-The New York Times

COIL 2007 Special Performances:
Friday January 19, 2007 2:30 p.m.
Sunday January 21, 2007 5:30 p.m.
Free, open seating

Moopim 2006

MOOPIM MOOPIM

Here, the company’s physical vocabulary implodes, occupying a mental territory torn by the duality of
living a life of freedom in a place where others cannot. Underscored by the live accompaniment of composer Brian Prunka on the oud (a traditional Arabic instrument), writhing, undulating bodies unite and collide, ricocheting between manifestations of sensual pleasure, joy and tenderness to anger, fear and madness – engaging the audience in a riveting exploration of humanity and the right to dream.

Made possible in part by the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York.

Featuring: Ellen Cremer, Rossella Fusco, Saar Harari, Rachel Okimo, Brian Prunka, Lee Sher.

Photo by Justin Bernhaut

This show is a featured presentation in both the Impact Festival and The New York Musical Theatre Festival

September 27 – October 8, 2006
Wednesday – Saturday 8:30 p.m.
Sunday 4:30 p.m.
Additional Performances during the
COIL Festival 2007

Herd Of Bulls

Choreographer Saar Harari trained as a dancer in Israel until the age of 18 when he began his compulsory military service with the Israeli Defense Forces, eventually becoming a commanding officer of a special combat unit. Upon returning to civilian life he resumed his career as a dancer and put his military experience behind him, until now. Herd of Bulls uses the movement vocabulary of the military to inform this intense, muscular and visceral performance. On a bare stage with minimal sound, four dancers physicalize the internal struggle between love and violence of a soldier during conflict. Harari’s powerful, original choreography takes the audience on a journey through violence – the stillness, concentration, weariness, sadness, energy and the silence that comes after.

“The choreographer Saar Harari draws on his service with the Israeli Defense Forces for this new mixed-gender quartet. Despite the title, the movement is more a delicate martial-arts demonstration than a boot-camp drill or a military stampede. Its exploration of animal instinct ranges past the violent and murderous impulses of the body to the sensual and seductive.” As seen in THE NEW YORKER

“The modern-dance choreographer SAAR HARARI has drawn on physical instincts honed during his years as a commanding officer of a special combat unit of the Israeli army to create “Herd of Bulls,” a world premiere that opens on Tuesday at 8 p.m. for a one-week run at PS122.” As seen in The New York Times

“You imagine a soldier…miracles” -Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times. Click to read the full review, “In Soldier’s Violent Journey, Bodies Turn in Martial Fugue”

October 18-23, 2005
Tuesday-Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
Sunday Afternoon Discovery on October 23
$20($10 Members)