From Jaffa to Agrippas dance festival to take place at Mahane Yehuda

• Published date: 03 October 2021
• Author: BARRY DAVIS
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Jerusalem has been moving, albeit at varying tempos and with differing degrees of intensity, for millennia. That is the basic tenet at the core of this year's From Jaffa to Agrippas dance festival, due to take place at the Mahane Yehuda shuk October 5-7.

The title of the three-dayer spells out most of the geographical stretch, across the length of the shuk, wherein the artistic offerings will take place for the entertainment and, no doubt, compelling visual delight of Jerusalemites and out-of-towners of all ilks.

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The festival, which started out a full eight years ago, has evolved and morphed over time, and artistic director, dancer-choreographer Elad Schechter feels that the maturing process has done the event a power of good.

"There have been changes since we first started out," he notes, adding that is largely down to the shifting sands of urban reality and, naturally, the health and politically related issues that have impinged on our lifestyle over the past 18 months or so.

"This festival challenges the dance medium and, especially, in Jerusalem. And this tradition has undergone all sorts of changes. Reality in Jerusalem never manages to duplicate itself," he laughs. "Each year is something very different."

As one grows older, it is to be hoped we gain a better grasp on who we are, and what is really important to us. That can often involve a process of downsizing, and adopting a more crystallized take on the physical objects we accumulate – aka "stuff" – and how we apportion our energy.

That mindset was very much part of the thinking that went into conceiving this week's From Jaffa to Agrippas program. "This year's festival is much smaller and, I think, more focused. There were years when we put on lots of shows, and the festival was quite long. This year, due to the [coronavirus] circumstances, and also regardless of them, we felt we wanted something more precise and focused."

Perhaps that is also an existential order of the day. "I am basically just happy the festival has survived," Schechter says with a wry chuckle.

However, it is not only the relative longevity of the event – these days, keeping anything going, let alone a cultural project, for eight years is no mean feat – that has informed the way the festival agenda has unfolded.

While there is generally a concomitant learning curve which impacts artistic and...