The Orly Portal Dance Company invites you to a fascinating dance experience connecting the individual and tribal, past and present, East and West, R'bina (that is the Moroccan sorrow & woe) and Blues, through vocal, musical and movement rhythms that unite audience and stage

Swiria

Premiered March 2016

"20 years of dance and Russian discipline could not straighten my sagging shoulders".

These words, spoken in her father's tongue, Moroccan Darija, open the new piece created by choreographer Orly Portal, taking us on a magical journey between the old port city of Essaouira and the new world.

Dancers, the women circle, portray a unique interlocking of both tenderness and strength where each muscle is ever-present, masterfully producing melodic phrases which naturally correlate with the music of Gnawa spiritual rituals as well as the beat of Gil Scott-Heron's spoken-word poetry.

In the gap between one R'bina to the next, the song of the heart is released from the diaphragm to the extremities, and as if breaking the fourth wall there is a sense of a trance-formation all around.

A pause.

"Emptying my soul to dance in the space created, for now…"

Choreography: Orly Portal
Dancers: Orly Portal, Ella Greenbaum, Keren Zohar, Roni Shachar, Ortal Atzbaha, Michal Inbar, Yael Halfon
Music: A combination of Gnawa music, spoken-word poetry by Gil Scott-Heron, and contemporary Moroccan and electronic music, including: Alla by Nass Marrakech
La Ilah Il AIlah by Hamid El Kasri
On Coming from a Broken Home (1); Me and the Devil; I'm New Here; Ur Soul and Mine; Parents; Where Did The Night Go; I Was Guided; New York Is Killing Me; Running; The Crutch; I've Been Me (Interlude); On Coming from a Broken Home (2)
by Gil Scott-Heron
Music Production & Editing: Nadav Barnea
Video Animation: Yoav Brill Lighting Design: Nadav Barnea Costume Design: Anna Krushcheva

Orly Portal choreographer, dancer, dance teacher, movement and voice therapist,
and founder and director of the Orly Portal Dance Company is a dedicated explorer of the human movement. With over 25 years of study of the natural movement of the body she has developed a unique dance language incorporating contact improvisation, Feldenkrais, and belly dancing. Further refined by the insights she derives from folklore tribal dance her approach is respectful to the physical, mental and emotional shape of the dancer.

Portal graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and continued her professional career as a principal dancer with the Kol Demama Dance Company (integrating dancers with and without a hearing impairment) and the Batsheva Dance Company. She co-founded the Improvisa Ensemble and toured the world collaborating with many performance artists including vocalists and musicians such as Timna Brauer, Omar Faruk Tekbilak, Shai Dayan and Ilanit Tadmor.

Expanding her understanding she studied authentic Arab music at the Bar Ilan University, learned the dances of Berber and Gnawia tribes in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and trained to become a therapist and teacher of the Feldenkrais method. Alongside her professional stage career she has developed two unique practices – the therapeutic belly dancing practice and ATM - Awareness Through Movement practice - based on Feldenkrais and improvisation. Portal works across very different dance realms in Israel and worldwide exploring links that are yet to be further discovered.

The Orly Portal Dance Company
Established in 2009, the Orly Portal Dance Company implements the distinct dance language developed by acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Orly Portal, moving along the fine line between the ancient and the new.
This spectacular women circle featuring dancers of various ages and professional backgrounds brings forth the personal as well as the communal in a splendid performance of skill incorporating singing and instrument playing.
Introducing a tangible contemporary insight based on elements of the traditional Eastern folklore dance and the continuous in-depth study of the human body and movement, the company presents an impressive repertoire of intricate and authentic original dance creations:

Swiria Inspired by Moroccan Gnawa folklore this choreography was created to a combination of Gnawa music, spoken-word poetry by Gil Scott-Heron, and contemporary Moroccan and electronic music. Premiered March 2016

Rābia Inspired by Rābia al-Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya, a female Sufi mystic from the 8th century, this choreography was created to Persian-Sufi music. Premiered August 2012

Between the Worlds A coproduction with the Mediterranean Andalusian Orchestra of Ashkelon. Inspired by the tradition of Moroccan Berber tribes this choreography was created to classical Arabic music. Premiered August 2011 3 Creations - Lilat Hub, Gnaweya, Between the Revealed and the Concealed Inspired by the ecstatic lyrics of the great 13th century Persian poet, Rumi, this choreography was created to Sufi-Persian music. Premiered July 2010


"…Those years…have become not only a journey of discovery of her Moroccan roots, but also the formation of an original dance performance which is inspired by the oriental dance. The integration of her wide background in Western dance, her North-African roots and a lot of artistic honesty, hastened the coming of the spring in which Portal is blossoming."
- Ruth Eshel, Ha'aretz Magazine