Kamea Dance Company Performs The Passion of Matthaus 2727

Kamea Dance Company performs choreographer Tamir Ginz's new work to the sounds of J.S Bach's Matthaus Passion at the Suzanne Dellal Center.

The show first opened in a massive production in Germany with over 100 musicians, dancers, opera singers and chorus members together on the same stage.The music was performed by the Wuppertal Kantorei Barmen-Gemark choir and the L'arte del Mondo orchestra. The production made great echos with the audience as well as the media and was very well received.

The current performance will be accompanied by a score which was recorded specifically for Kamea Dance Company by the original ensemble.

Ginz is the second choreographer in dance history to take on this piece. As a son of holocaust survivors he struggled to accept the message of the piece, but at the end of a 2 year work process during which he explored the New Testament and Bach's masterpiece, he found his own interpretation to be expressed in his choreography.

Ginz's ballet occurs in the future, in the year 2727, 1000 years after Bach's mass. Ginz imagines broken people searching for a messiah to rescue them, longing for love and encouragement. "I'm happy to have been given the privilege to work on a piece which was the toughest challenge of my career and to find closure with my identity as a Jewish man and the son of holocaust survivors." Says Ginz. Ginz uses his work to build a bridge between the religions and peoples of the world, saying the Jesus is any-man, and he comes back to be one of the people. Bach's Jesuit myth becomes universal and timeless.

The birth of this production is a story of closure for the son of a holocaust survivor - choreographer Tamir Ginz, and the son of a death train driver's son - choir chairman Arno Geralch, who found his closure by asking Ginz to choreograph the piece. Geralch's father told his son about the time he spent being forced to drive the Death Trains by the third Reich.He made his son swear that when the war was over he would devote his life to build a connection between the Jewish people and the German people and atone for the horrors of the holocaust.

The production was born after Bayer pharmaceutical company accepted the request for financial aid in creating a large production to Bach's masterpiece from the Wuppertal Kantorei Barmen-Gemark choir. The company's orchestra was attached to the choir, and together they sought to create a path for peace between Christians and Jews by emphasizing the messages of love and peace in Christianity and the casting out of hate toward Jews which was inflamed by the story of the myth. This was the message with which Kamea Dance Company was requested to collaborate with.
Kamea is one of the leading dance companies in Israel, based in Beer Sheva - the twin city of Wuppertal.

Matthaus Passion is considered one of Bach's greatest masterpieces, as well as one of the most significant pieces in the Christian world. It tells the story of the Crucifixion and the betrayal of Judas Iscariot as described by Christian mythology, stories which intensified hatred toward the Jewish people for centuries.

Kamea Executive Director: Merave Zimand
Music: J.S Bach
Matthaus Passion Conductor: Werner Ehrhardt
Costume design: Limor Dror
Set Design: Adam Keller
Lighting Design: Yaron Aboulafia
Producer: Bayer AG, Germany
Dancers: Eldar Elgrably, Ofek Admoni, Lorris Eischinger, Jonatan Bukschtein, Sagi Baleli, Tom David, Noa Dahan, Alma Lauer, Lou Landre, Rona Lerner, Peter Starr, Noam Ephron, Einav Kringel, Eliot Thompson.
Understudies: Adi Avitan, Roni Sheps

Kamea Dance Company is one of the central voices in the Israeli dance field. They are inviting the audience to an aesthetically fascinating experience with a variety of thrilling creations.It was started in 2002 as a collaboration between Daniella Schapira and Tamir Ginz, aimed at being the resident dance company of the Bat-Dor Dance Center in Beer Sheva. Tamir Ginz, the company's artistic director and choreographer, creates the pieces which constitute the central part of the company's repertoire. His work is characterized by a unique personal language which is based on classic as well as modern techniques and which challenges the members of the company with its intensity. Ginz creates a rich world on the stage and draws the audience into it.

The company consists of 14 dancers from Israel and the world, each of them bringing their unique personality and virtuosity which they bring to the stage.Kamea has garnered much success touring in famous festivals in Europe, South America, China and India. The company nurtures a young audience of dance enthusiasts by creating performances specifically for youths and children. The company performs pieces by some of the world's leading choreographers alongside pieces created by Israel's young choreographers and creators. The company's dancers participate in educational projects, teaching in schools, studios, workshops and master classes around the country. The company is a loyal ambassador of the city of Beer Sheva, performing dozens of shows in Israel and around the world. The company's dancers live in Beer Sheva and consist of an inseparable part of the city's cultural community.

For tickets and further information visit Kamea Dance or call 03-5105656.
The show includes full nudity, admission ages 16 and up.
Duration: 70 minutes with no recess.