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The confession of the mythological dancer: "I miss people my age, I'm quite lonely" | Israel today

2022-12-22T09:18:25.830Z


The criticism of the attitude towards the elderly population ("They don't know how to take care of the elderly here") • The reflections on age ("I was offered plastic surgery and I refused, I accept the changes that have occurred in me") • And dancing as a healing factor ("There is optimism in my work") • The veteran dancer Renee Scheinfeld opens up


When was the last time you were moved by a song?

"About a week ago, I listened to a lecture by Kobi Midan, my son-in-law, about Hanoch Levin. He took the song 'What does the bird care,' a song we all sing since childhood, and completely changed me. I felt like I saw the words themselves, and my heart just fell. The last sentence says ' What does a bird care if it sings or stays silent' - and the word 'care' gave me a blow. The next day, following the lecture, I changed my entire approach in my lecture. I had a desire to touch people, not to lecture, educate or teach them, to beat them with knowledge and morality - But to touch their heart. What does the bird care? The word 'care' is so painful and true because we care. I care terribly."

When was the last time you celebrated a birthday?

"This week I turn 84. Now everyone is excited, the band is celebrating me and so is the family, which is nice. But I don't take it so seriously."

how old do you feel

"I feel the changes with age all the time. For example, in creativity, which is a point I am very happy about. I feel incredible creativity. Regarding the body, everything related to pain and fatigue or laziness - there is a little, but not in everything related to the profession. I told myself and my dancers After the last performance at Tel Aviv University, where the audience went crazy, which is exactly what I've been looking for all my life. I've always aspired to reach this level and these data of the dance, these possibilities. Childhood, infancy, matriculation and maturity are just preparation for the advanced age.

"In the field of dance, we are taught that at the age of 22 you can already go home; right, a young dancer lifts her legs higher than me, so what? When I danced Bach and Chopin and spoke gibberish and danced with a garbage bag and


a huge parachute, only then did all the practice I had come true."

When was the last time you flew?

"I don't feel like flying anymore. I see a suitcase and I vomit from too much travel. I've been all over the world: Japan, India, Korea, China and Thailand. Recently I've been six times, year after year. I'm fed up with the West. The most interesting place I've ever seen in my life was in Korea. About a decade ago I performed in a village of artists called 'The Laughing Stones', which is located on a mountain. The entire village was inhabited by artists who cared for the land, cooked and practiced art. We lived with them in bungalow tents. It was the magic of a place, a different world and a different mentality. I lived there for about two weeks. We performed outside on the sand, And when it started to rain, I panicked and they didn't. They accepted nature as it is, and I said to myself: learn from them. The rain stopped, they took care of the soil - and then I continued to perform as usual."

When was the last time you won an award?

"I won the Rosenblum Award (2020) and the Darling of Tel Aviv Award (2019). Society does not respect the old man in Israel, it throws him out. The mentality is against the third age, so any movement in his favor is exciting. It excites me when people decide to give me an award because Many of my colleagues are chosen for this, kicking the best of them out. I miss people my age, I'm quite lonely, but I have a lot of work. I'm busy but I don't have friends at this age, each to himself or already in nursing homes."

Do you meet your peers there?

"I perform a lot in nursing homes, and it's difficult. I've recently been to two nursing homes. In one, everyone was in wheelchairs, sleepy, with nannies close by. Everything is shiny and shiny there, but behind it was a sense of an unpleasant end. I said, 'Wow, me and them in the same Gil'. A week after I performed at another nursing home. The audience was amazing, I received letters and books, I touched people deeply.

"Seeing old people my age in wheelchairs and suffering from diseases is not an easy thing. Western society does not know how to take care of the elderly. It is a nursing home ghetto. Why can't children take responsibility for their parents? I want to be at home always, as long as I can, but it is clear to me that I I don't know what will happen. I haven't solved the problem yet."

When was the last time you spent time with your children and grandchildren?

"We meet every week. I'm lucky, tap-tap-tap. We meet at our house or at my daughter's, or at a restaurant."

What kind of mother were you when they were little?

"I was probably a fine mother because the children turned out like this. All in all, it was not easy to combine a career with dancing. They had a great father who helped and supported a lot, and I think I was a good mother, it's hard for me to say. My husband is a very significant part of my career. Love also has a lot It's

possible to fall in love again.


"I had a nanny for the children, and the dances with the band were at convenient hours, I was lucky.

The fact that Bat-Sheva Rothschild decided to establish the band 'Bat-Sheva' and invest so much money in Israeli art is my luck.

If she hadn't been there, I don't know where I would be today."

Do you consider yourself a feminist?

"I didn't define myself that way, but I probably was. Not out of rationality, out of war, while doing the thing itself. My mother thought that I wouldn't have children, that I wouldn't get married and that I wouldn't have a family, and I said, 'Yes, I will have and yes I will marry.' All the stars of Martha Graham (renowned dancer and choreographer, one of the pioneers of modern dance, Shaz) with three children, and it was natural that I did it as well, but it was difficult and not easy.

And yes, I have come a long way in my profession."

When was the last time you were worried?

"I'm a chronic worrier, everyone laughs at me in the family. When my grandchildren run amok, I worry that someone's shoulder will dislocate, and I'm very worried about the situation in Israel, but I put it aside. I tell myself 'art or die'. It's not my job to fight or shout. The job Mine is to touch people, develop art and believe in art.

"I think art will always find its way. You can perform in a studio in front of 30 people. I don't need big halls, and I don't believe in big shows."

When was the last time you watched a Batsheva band show?

"I watched the '2019' show and I want to see 'Momo', the band's new show. I am very proud of the band, of which I was one of the founders. It was not easy, it was like founding a state. There was a great vision and Batsheva's desire to prove to the world that the Jews , both in science and in art, are worth a lot. We worked very hard to establish a troupe that would succeed. There were many difficulties and also jealousy, but today I feel great pride that Ohad Naharin, the troupe's artistic director, took it upon himself and he makes great dances. In the dance I created, 'In my room - summer 2020', which deals with the Corona period, I break walls and conventions, use tables and chairs and move between the seasons of life."

When was the last time you made an external change?

"A decade ago, someone told me to do plastic surgery, but I don't believe it. When I see women on TV who have had surgery, it looks ridiculous. Maybe there are some who do well, but many times it looks like a mask and the lips are swollen, they all look the same for a

second.


"I accept the changes that have happened to me in my dancing as well.

For example, that I can't jump like before.

I believe in changes.

I don't always like them, but it's human.

I'm not always happy, but I wouldn't want to stay young either.

I don't want to go back to another age, to the past.

What do I have to return?

I've done that already, enough.

When I see a pregnant woman, I feel sorry for her."

When was the last time you got addicted to something?

"Recently I became addicted to junk food. All my life I was on a diet, I ate salads, sucked on candy and smoked cigarettes, and now I eat badly. I started with croissants in Paris, and I am punishing myself or the situation, because I continue to eat croissants... since the beginning of the corona, strong things have happened of doubts, questions and dilemmas. I'm a bit rebellious, but this is also the age at which you can rebel. I've never been like that. I was a very disciplined dancer, so it may be that now everything erupts.

"When concerts were canceled during the Corona period, it worried me, I was angry when I found out that I was dependent on the audience and people. Corona had a great impact on many things for me - physical and mental. Martha Graham told me: 'You didn't choose dance, dance chose you,' and to this day I feel that , and today even more so. My dances are healing because there is optimism in them. At the end of every dance everything is great. True, there are problems in the beginning and in the middle, there are conflicts, but at the end there is the knowledge that tomorrow I will dance as well."

When did you first feel famous?

"There was a performance of Anna Sokolov's Lyric Theater in the 50s, maybe the 60s. The America-Israel Cultural Foundation sent great teachers to Israel, and one of them, Anthony Tudor, who was my teacher at Juilliard, came to the performance. My performance in the dance 'Dreams' In which I had a big role, and every moment fell to a dancer and another dancer. It was a symbolic moment, regarding the Jewish people. In the hall sat the great Tudor, and I was the star and I walked on stage and performed this difficult role.

He approached me at the end of the show and said: 'As soon as the screen opened, I knew you were a star.'

That was very strange for me to hear.

I didn't answer him at all."

Renee Scheinfeld

Renee Sheinfeld (84), dancer, choreographer and creator.

Married, mother of two and grandmother of five.

She developed a unique dance language and was recognized as "one of the most important dancers of our generation" (The New York Times) and "the queen of Israeli dance".

She is the founder of the "Bat Sheva" dance troupe and author of about 40 original dance works, many of which have become milestones in Israeli modern dance.

Winner of the David violin awards and the A.M.T.

This month is putting on new premieres, "And maybe" and "In my room", at the Suzan Dellal Center on January 6 and 7.

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Source: israelhayom

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