Skin, Noa Dar’s recent work, is described by dance critic Tal Levin as a “brave step, a challenging and uncompromising piece. It is a study in movement which examines the body’s physical and metaphoric boundaries, stimulating thoughts about borders, territory and the delicate layer that serves to protects us just as it exposes us to potential harm. Thus, without prettifying anything, Dar traces the choreography of our lives in Israel.”
“Skin” explores the body’s inner space and its surfaces that make contact with the outside world. The body is put at the center of a research laboratory whose aim is to delve into the body’s various layers. The permeable walls of bodily space, its physical and emotional components, are examined in relation to exterior space and in reaction to the presence and contact of others.
In “Skin,” spectators are seated around the ring on which the performance takes place. A thin piece of cloth delineates the border between performers and spectators, allowing them to be mutually exposed.
“‘Skin’ is a bold and expressive work. The dance scenes are powerful, interesting and charged, products of a shared point of departure that is dynamic, even ecstatic. Like sword-to-sword friction, skin-to-skin friction generates sparks. The dancers are pushed to the very edge of their ability and do excellent work, accompanied by Frost’s powerful music which adds another layer beneath the visible one.” (Ora Brafman, DanceTalk)
“‘Skin’ is undoubtedly a brave step. This is an experimental work which is both challenging and uncompromising. It is a study in movement that investigates the body’s physical and metaphoric boundaries, stimulating thoughts about borders, territory and the delicate layer of skin that serves to protects us just as it exposes us to potential harm. Thus, without prettifying anything, Dar traces the choreography of our lives in Israel.” (Tal Levin, Citymouse Online)
“Hands and legs are spread wide, taking pleasure in maximizing the bodily surfaces that make contact with the air. Later on, in contrast, the body collapses to the floor, cruelly beating and flattening itself. A strong quiver takes over one dancer, as though she yearns to shed her skin.
A duet begins when two dancers, attentive to the vibrational energy of the skin, gradually close the space between them. They then proceed to invade each other’s territory, embracing one another as strongly as they can, as though skin yearned to dissolve into skin.
There are scenes where each one protects his own skin, his territory; scenes of violent, skin-to-skin clashes. The dancers are good, with great physical abilities, and they take no mercy on the body, as they perform so very close to the spectators.” (Ruth Eshel, Haaretz newspaper)
“Dar takes skin as a metaphor for protective boundaries that can be subjected to endless aggression; the analogy is clear but in placing the audience around the performance ring in which the four dancers spar in brutal, unrelenting combat, Dar creates a clear division between performance and reality that abstracts the violence without compromising its visceral charge.” (Nicholas Minns, Writing about Dance)
