Also this issue:

Equal Movement Rights
A new project examines gender gaps in the dance field.
-Deni Kasrel

Razzle Dazzle
-David Anthony Fox

Faith in Freedom
-David Anthony Fox

Ghost World
-Janet Anderson

Lights, Camera, Inaction
-Susan Hagen

April 18-24, 2002

dance

Ronen Koresh

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a stare is born: Members of Koresh Dance Company, which has its 10th anniversary this week.

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ARCHIVES . Articles

Also this issue:

Equal Movement Rights
A new project examines gender gaps in the dance field.
-Deni Kasrel

Razzle Dazzle
-David Anthony Fox

Faith in Freedom
-David Anthony Fox

Ghost World
-Janet Anderson

Lights, Camera, Inaction
-Susan Hagen

April 18-24, 2002

dance

Ronen Koresh

a stare is born: Members of Koresh Dance Company, which has its 10th anniversary this week.

Whether you’ve witnessed his pulsating take on Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey (both companies he’s danced with) and the folk tradition of his native Tel Aviv or spied him hanging at La Colombe on Rittenhouse Square, you know choreographer Ronen Koresh. Koresh, soon 40, has been at the business of his own company and dance center for a decade, working with brother Alon and teachers like Rennie Harris, Terry Beck and American Ballet Theatre’s Elena Tchernishova. In 10 years, he’s received fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Pew Charitable Trusts, taught master classes at Elie Studio in Mito, Japan, and developed a repertoire of more than 40 pieces and interdisciplinary collaborations with composers Daniel Bacon and Eric Vincent, motion men like Brian Saunders and an ever-changing team of dancers.

City Paper: Stints in the Israeli army, training with your mother, dancing in regional folk troupes: How does Israel, and the culture of your youth, figure into your every day?

Ronen Koresh: My actions have urgency. Time is important to me. Life in Israel, you know, was not -- how do you say? Tomorrow is promised to no one. I think that makes you a lot more sensitive and aware of things that people in other societies tend to take for granted. ... Societies that are not under the pressures of living on the edge of existence. Take, for instance, the army. There are so many times when you think that you have reached your limit, only to find out that there is so much farther you can go. I think that army service tends to take the idea of "limitations" out of the equation. I feel that I have a very well-developed sense of self-confidence. Some people mistake it for arrogance. Self-confidence comes from being comfortable with yourself. Arrogance is more putting on a display, more from insecurity.

CP: Do you feel as if your work is ever political?

RK: Yes, at times it has political themes, but without judgment. I try to create scenarios that are left open to the interpretations of the audience. The Holocaust piece, Facing the Sun, had a tragic ending to it. We let the audience react emotionally to what they see. It's about a group of people who are denied their freedom, for no reason.

CP: What do you feel that, as a teacher and as a choreographer, you give that no one else can?

RK: My choreography is designed in a way that any statement I make, no matter how profound or complex, is delivered in a manner that most people feel connected to. I have the ability to create work that is thought-provoking as well as very appealing, aesthetically. I can relate to the average person, as well as [to] the intellectual. Choreographers think that if they want to make an intellectual statement, they must put it in a way that is unappealing. I basically hate dances that are ugly. I try to make my statements in a way that are accessible, and attractive, to most people. There are many ways to say, "I hate you," and you can say "I hate you" in a way that is elegant and beautiful and seductive, and you can say "I hate you" in a way that is ugly and crude.

CP: How does aging -- your own mortality -- figure into that?

RK: I find that, as a mature artist, my work has become a bit simpler ... more effective. Simplicity is the best -- better to address the ideas directly. You know, when you're young you try to sound smart, but when you're older you just say what you think.

CP: Quick. Tell me a secret.

RK: I would love to have very, very short hair for a day, and see if I like it.

Past, Present, Future, Koresh Dance Co.’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, Wed.-Thu, April 24-25, 8 p.m., $20-$30, Annenberg Center, Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900.




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