In this performance, which includes five different pieces, Itzik Galili symbolizes his
farewell of Noord Nederlands Dans/Galili Danse he will leave at the end of this year after twelve year of artistic direction. For the closing of a remarkable period the choreographer selected choreographies that mark important moments in his carrier. An intimate program showing once again that dance can move you within the deepest of your soul.
The group piece Until.with/out.Enough (1997), performed to music of the Polish composer Heryk Górecki, is rich of dynamic trails of strength and forms a whirly part of the program. It will be re-premiered on April 2008 with new costume and light design.
Galili made his international breakthrough with the ingenious The Buttefly Effect (1991), inspired by the book The Lover from Abraham Yehoshua, which captures the unpredictable ways of love, following the principle of the "butterfly effect", the name given to the extreme sensitivity of chaotic systems, in which small changes or perturbations lead to drastically different outcomes... In 1992 this piece won the public's prize at the International Competition for Choreographers in the Netherlands. The Sofa Scene (from Through Nana's Eyes, 1995) presents energetic dance with spectacular flying and throwing. A humorous and touching duet with a sofa and a twist.
Through Nana's eyes everything is possible; reality mixed with fantasy, grotesqueness, tears, love and loneliness. Nana is a symbol of the past who looks into the future saying: "it's alright, you can be..."
The harmonious merge of men and woman is translated in the tender, serene duet When You See God... Tell Him (1993); for Galili a self-requiem for his carrier as a dancer.
In Six, which premiered on November 2007, through an ever-changing architectural 'modernist' landscape bursts human energy, warmth and earthy passion. The dancers move incessantly, playing with form, structure and time - a visually beautiful work to mesmerize and carry you far away, a choreography in which the individual is forced to create a space within a moving space.
Itzik Galili
Tel Aviv born Itzik Galili was first introduced to dance through traditional Israeli folk dancing. On a friend's recommendation he introduced himself to teacher and former principal dancer of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Nira Paz. Following a relatively short time of study in ballet and contemporary dance Itzik presented himself at the Bat-Dor Dance Company. He worked with this company for 2 years and then moved on to the Batsheva Dance Company.
In 1989 Robert Cohan, the then artistic advisor of the Batsheva Dance Company, encouraged Itzik to attend the Gulbenkian - International Course for Professional Composers and Choreographers in the UK which he was directing.
In 1990 Double Time was created and Galili embarked into a professional art world of which he is now considered "a master of space and timing of bodies." (Michelle Mann, Dance Europe). This same year saw Old Cartoon winning the originality prize at the Gvanim Choreographic Competition and in 1991 Galili moved to the Netherlands and formed his own project based company.
The Butterfly Effect won the Public Prize at the International Competition for Choreographers in Groningen in 1992. In 1994 he won the Final Selection Culture Award (Phillip Morris), for exceptional talent and contribution to dance and culture in the Netherlands.
In 1997 he was nominated by the Ministry of Culture as Artistic Director of a newly founded and publicly supported dance company to be based in Groningen: NND/Galili Dance.
To date Itzik has built an oeuvre of more than 50 works showing a pioneering diversity - including Earth Apples (1992), Between L... (1995), Fragile (1997), Beautiful You (1999), For Heaven's Sake (2001), Mono Lisa (2003), ME (2004), Hikarrizatto (2004), Exile Within (2006).
As well as creating for his own dancers Itzik has created for and worked with many other companies including Stuttgart Ballet, Ballets de Monte Carlo, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Gulbenkian Ballet, Scapino Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
The performance is also part of the programme of the 2nd edition of Olandiamo?, festival of Dutch arts and creativity, organized by the Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence (NIKI) and the Cultural Office of the Netherlands Embassy in Rome, on the occasion of the 50 years of the activity of the Institute.
MEETINGS
2nd May, h 1pm - 4pm
Dance class with Galili Dance
For professional dancers
Under the direction of Itzik Galili
c/o
Max Ballet Academy
Via F. Landini, 9 - 50144 Florence
Info: +39 055 241 962
Only the registration is required, the class is free.
For further information:
FABBRICA EUROPA
Borgo degli Albizi, 15
I - 50122 Florence
Bengi Oya
cell +39 347 526 08 16
tel. +39 055 2638480
The tickets for the performance can be also purchased online through
