Possessing brings together artists Hadar Ahuvia and Shira Eviatar to collaboratively question their shared, inherited trauma of the Israeli nation-state, asking “How do we move together?” Ahuvia, unpacking Ashkenazi heritage in institutionalized Zionist folk dance, and Eviatar, recentralizing Arab/Mizrahi aesthetics in contemporary performance, incite dialogue around appropriation, legacy, and settler-colonialism. After conducting research separately, they come together to deepen their questions and application of their respective forms.

Their search unfolds in movements that recall ancestors’ and institutionalized celebration and mourning rituals—extending far past their respective bodies and histories. They invite community engagement as part of this first iteration of performance research.

 

 

 

This work is commissioned by Gibney Dance and supported by the 92Y Harkness Space Grant in Lenapehoking/New York, residencies at Studio Qatamon in Jerusalem/Al Quds, Yasmeen Godder Studio in Yaffa, a Rosh Pinah Residency in what was Al-Ja’una, and at Seminar Hakibutzim in Ramat Aviv/Sheikh Munis