"Israeli dance has become an ambassador representing Israel's beautiful face, and its continuous presence on the stages of the world has gave Israel the title of "empire of dance” (from the website of the Israeli Ministry of Culture).

 

The Zionist project is also a physical project. Researches well described the pioneer’s body, that was integral to the establishment of the state. If so, why do we tend to tell this story through the mediums of poetry and plastic art, and less through the medium of dance? It seems that dance is actually in the center of this plot. The 'dancing body' is the first and foremost to teach us something about a new nation that wants to install a new body.

 

Dance is the best ambassador of the State reveals five moments in the history of dance in Israel, through a special form of performance lecture that will combine theory, discussion and live dance performance. From the Hora Dance of the establishment of the state period  to the Hora of Ohad Naharin, we will ask about dance styles that were erased from our history and dance styles that were not seen on our stages. We will explore dance as a site of identity politics and the its potential to liberating from it. We will follow the ways in which dance replicates social order and the way it tries to resist it.

 

Finally, we will ask: Why does the Israeli sovereign of the 21st century embrace Israeli dance? How did dance become such an outstanding ambassador? Perhaps we will discover that dance as an ambassador is actually taking part in developing the conditions for a new act of resistance.