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ration and based on that he chose this man as his coworker in staging Joy. The music written especially for the play draws inspiration from the classical symphonic music with electronic overtones that develop towards techno and soul. in this piece, Yungman uses verses from the Persian poet Rumi and gives significance to the words precisely according to their tone or energy they create. He does not emphasize the text but uses words simply as one instrument more to express emotions. Three women and a man, three shapes and a voice, create a dance that holds a great deal of sadness and an equal portion of optimism. Dance, by itself, simple, strong, modest and emotional. A CONVERSATION WITH YOSSI YUNGMAN Question; The title Joy was taken from a poem by a Persian poet Rumi, who lived in the Xlll century, and the text of the poem can be heard several times during the performance of the your work. You are one of the members of the movement for creating theatre picturesqueness, and yet for this piece you have chosen words and literary text to express imagination which is the centre motif of the piece. Yossi Yungman: I leafed through a book of poems by Rumi and in it found excerpts that seemed to have been written for dancing or a dance piece. The line "We are dust blown up into shapes", for instance, provoked in my eyes an exact description of a dance composition for stage. I have gathered those excerpts, systematised them and created a new text from them. The title Joy is placed here not only as a narrow notion of a word and revelry but as a much wider and more complex notion. It is revelry, it is sadness, it is something which is alive, it breaths and quivers with excitement Two people who have seen this piece told me: 'So much sadness and so much optimism", The power to grasp those two emotions, to unite them, that is Joy to me. The text, however, appears only in the last third of the play, it is not the centre and it is not the force that moves me. I utilise the text as one of the elements of the play's form, as movement is, or music and lighting. In that part there is no talking or feats and Rumi's text does not serve as a narrative. Question: You sit in the rehearsal room and dialogue with a medieval Persian poet, while the outside there is intifada (the militant armed Palestinian movement which has been fighting Israel in various ways since the year 2000), occupation, unemployment and, according to the instructions from the rear command, it is necessary to connect into a defence system. Joy is your way to react to reality and change it or to run away from it? Yossi Yungman: For me, when guns roar, the muses do not keep silent but scream. They come to me and wake me up in the middle of the night I

accept the news as everybody does and react to what is happening, but not conventionally, Most people live in paranoia and hysteria - from the A-bomb, from the attacks, from the financial state. I try to change reality by creating a piece that succeeds in awaking emotions. The modern reality tries to bring us death and paralysis and here my work - that disquiets with joy, broad music and positive energy - can change reality far more than most people who listen to the news all day and do nothing. If I have succeeded to bring a person away from the television screen and to pass on to them, from my heart tremors of love and excitement, then I have succeeded in changing reality. Question: In Joy you are not performing as a dancer, you have changed your phase? Yossi Yungman: Concentration in choreography gives me wide opportunities and power to not act wise and not to worry whether I will perform. It perfects and elevates me significantly. When I danced in my pieces it was not for egoist needs or greed to be on stage. If it was up to me, I would have said goodbye to the stage a long time ago, but I haven't done it for a very prosaic reason and absolutely not for any poetic reason; the budget would not allow fees for dancers. I had softened Yossi the dancer to perform for Yossi the choreog-

rapher. At the moment I am stimulated by all outside factors and I am happy that it has been made possible for me to try out in this. However, I have not worn myself out from performing in no way. I intend to dance into my old age and, as a dancer, I simply do not feel the need for another task or for a challenge. Question: Tell us something about how it works. Do you come to the rehearsals with a written choreography, comprehensible and precise, or do you improvise in working with the dancers? Yossi Yungman: It changes from play to play. As for Joy, 1 came to the rehearsal with a tight concept in mind, with suggestions for specific moves, movement phases and composition, and I instructed the dancers in dance art I did not come to an open rehearsal and say: 'come and let us improvise and see where it takes us'. But also, when I come to a prepped studio, everything is created and born anew simply by way of contact with the dancers. Question: Considering you are a dancer yourself, do you influence the dancer performing your choreography - to do it in a manner you would have? Yossi Yungman: During rehearsal, I perform the steps as an example, but only to teach movement language. I use my body, but the dancers do not imitate. They are supposed to adjust my movements to their needs. In the first contact with the dancers they may follow me, but further on everything is focused on them. They do not dance Yossi - I am but an inspiration. Interpretation is a blessed thing. I do not want robot dancers. Apart from the dance itself, everything else aside, we strive that they perform different from me.