solo siento

about solo siento

the biggest discovery for me this time is arkadi zaides’ “solo siento”. arkadi was impressive also with batsheva ensemble’s piece “a way” last year. “solo siento” is filled up with strange lyricism. it is not eye-catchy movement but he has a special talent and sense to let his body talk, which is exactly what i call “good quality”. there is a certain tendency in japan so called non-dance expression which doesn’t move body with the excuse of avoiding depend on conventional dance technique, however this idea is empty if the dancer doesn’t have a body as arkadi zaides has. this logic of not depending on technique can be realized only when the dancer can let his body talk as arkadi does. we will see the bloom of his talent near future.

takao norikoshi ,“dance magazine”, mar 2006, japan

the most outstanding new talent this time was “solo siento” by arkadi zaides who jumped to join the festival last year, too. “solo siento” was a solo dance with a strange costume that he was wearing shirts in his legs. it looked cynical at a glance but at some moments, he daringly opened his body from inside. at the late half of the performance, the vision of his fall onto the floor in slow motion, created a very unique poetic sentiment.

takao norikoshi “asahi shimbun”, feb.2006, japan

a film projector bright light casts part of zaides’s figure with color and shapes, while they appear, burst or just glimpse out of the total darkness.
zaides’s frantic body language creates a fascinating duet between his body parts and his own black giant shadow which appears on a white curtain behind. his strong statement finds its peace in the corner of the stage, and being replaced by the enchanted video created by his co-creator shira miasnik. the video , follows after the naked body of zaides from different, sometimes irrational angels. the thrilling metaphors brought out in this video, sometimes remind a millipede or grasshopper.
the video completes the first part of the piece as an independent spotlight, which lights what we saw “there” and reinforces the feeling that zaides makes a ripe step from the abstract movement language, which characterized his earlier works, to the figurative and the real.

zvi goren, habama, november 2005, israel

darkness. arkadi zaides is entering the stage and places himself in a position, which exhibits how physical closedness can stress one spectator, and openness can stress another at the same time. the music, minimal and monotonic, starts to move him when for a sudden he transforms himself, the cynical closedness is changed by a childlike innocence; his hands are thrown into the space, he is half naked, not perfect but defiantly filled with passion. between him and the screen behind, light and shadow are creating a playground, aggrandizing the figure, which casts shadow on him, making us to forget that the shadow is his. suddenly he falls and lies on the floor. the screen behind him terns from an optical illusion into another even more enormous illusion. the video art shows a close up of him, totally naked, falling and sinking into the ground again and again. for a sudden he rises and then falls again. this time his body looks perfect. in the end, the battle on stage and the battle on screen are synchronized and he is being left on the floor, helpless. darkness again. end.
the piece solo siento lasts only 15 minutes, after which you want to jump on the stage and hug zaides, for daring to expose himself and his fears in such a direct and real way.
we are willing to find the honesty and the directness of zaides expression in each dance piece.

avital lavi, time out tel aviv, november 2006, israel

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