Zisele is a dance. But it’s also a comedy.
This original dance-comedy unfolds on the theatrical stage. The performance takes us on a journey through time. Starting with the mother-daughter bond, it unravels a web of relationships. Zisele, with a fresh, enthusiastic, yet traditional perspective, describes this relationship without using words but through the immediacy of music and dance.
Zisele – A Comic-Dance Performance
Beit Lessin Theatre
Director and Choreographer: Moria Zrachia
Set Designer: Maya Peleg
Costumes: Moria Zrachia, Neta Blumenthal
Music: Chava Albertstein, Barry Sisters
Lighting: Hadas Luz
Cast:
- Dikla Hadar
- Noam Katz/Emily Maghnagi
- Kineret Limoni
- Einat Segal-Cohen
- Michal Shay
- Keren Shinuk
- Ravit Yaakov
- Lydia Zazon
- Matan Zrachia
Zisele is a dance. But it’s also a comedy. This original dance-comedy unfolds on the theatrical stage. The performance takes us on a journey through time. Starting with the mother-daughter bond, it unravels a web of relationships. Zisele, with a fresh, enthusiastic, yet traditional perspective, describes this relationship without using words but through the immediacy of music and dance.
Zisele marks Moria Zrachia’s debut as a choreographer. The performance is based on the story of her mother, Hemda (Zisele), who lived in Israel in the 1960s as the only child of Holocaust survivors.
It’s a female-led production, focusing on the complexity and different facets of mother-daughter relationships. The father figure is left out to emphasize the central role of women in the Jewish family. There is only one male figure, a boy, who is called upon to submit to the female-dominated society in which he lives.
Renowned Israeli composer Chava Alberstein provided the music for most of the performance. Her music is enriched by songs from the Barry Sisters, creating an intriguing blend of modern and traditional elements. The “diaspora Yiddish” represented by the Barry Sisters creates a musical feast as it mixes with the “ethnic Yiddish” represented by Chava Alberstein.
The cast includes five actors and four dancers. By attempting to dissolve the boundaries between dance and theatre, creating an unexpected yet natural coexistence, the young artists ignite interest in Yiddish culture.