Certainly, Arkadi Zaides holds a special place in the choreographic landscape of Israel, a country he settled in at the age of twenty in 1990 as an independent artist, having immigrated from his native Belarus. He occupies a unique position because translating the stark contradictions of Israeli society into bodies and onto the stage is not exactly the norm there. This is particularly true when it comes to witnessing the violence and hatred that fuel the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank on a daily basis. Yet, this is precisely what his latest solo work, Archive (2014, Avignon Festival), addresses—a burning testament to an internalized conflict that leaves no one indifferent.
Starting from a selection of video materials (almost 4,500 hours of footage) recorded by Palestinians who were provided with cameras by the B’Tselem Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Zaides composes the performance: a condensed view of Palestinian perspectives on Israeli settlers. The images depict only the actions (not always commendable) of Israelis. They play behind him as he selects them with a remote control, pausing on specific details. His body attempts to embody those scenes, merging with them. Viewers see soldiers launching tear gas, settlers burning olive trees, chasing sheep in Palestinian pastures, and throwing stones. The tension on stage becomes increasingly painful precisely because that dancing body is Israeli, and thus that conflict belongs to him. Zaides seems to tell us: “I am that soldier; I am that settler.” However, his aim is not to show us who the good or bad guys are but to create a third space of aesthetic mediation on stage where the body—imbued with gestures, both aggressive and joyful—courageously dives into the world and its lows.
Arkadi Zaides, a choreographer born in Belarus in 1979, immigrated to Israel in 1990 and currently lives and creates in Tel Aviv. He earned a degree from the Amsterdam Master of Choreography at the Theater School. Before starting his independent career in 2004, he danced with the Batsheva Dance Company and the Yasmeen Godder Dance Group, among others. In the last seven years of his work, he has primarily focused on the political and social situation in Israel/Palestine. He is one of the few Israeli choreographers who engages with the local political reality through his artistic practice and consistently works to stimulate critical debate.
