Shahar Hanin and Isak Chokron | Silence in a (Black) Box

For details and purchase: We decided on complete silence, to seek refuge within it, for it to be our ark. In attempting to crack the formula for atomic quietness, we found everything that makes noise or plays music. Four dancers, shouting and mute, live in a collection of exercises and dances with the open space. This work contains a collection of exercises and games transitioning from sensory regulation to excessive sensory stimulation, between absolute silence (of prayer, of death, and the forbidden) and the chaos it hides. The four dancers dwell in a twilight space, providing a safe haven between times. They need to understand what they can preserve from the old world, from the memories, from the remnants of culture left in the body, while adapting to the new rules being formulated moment by moment. ​In the black box, everything is forever etched in consciousness. Four dancers with different sets of desires try together to maintain the same frequency and preserve their freedom even when the body remains on constant alert. ​Silence in the box is a deep abyss for what is marginal and burning within us – far from the eye, yet containing primal chaos where everything is important to the extent that it isn't. The quest within the absolute silence generates radical listening. It is a sensitive space allowing hearing of every movement, amplifying the primal thoughts and fantasies behind the movements. The performance includes blinding lighting. Shachar Hanan and Isak Choucron are a creative duo and partners in life. Their creation translates fantasy into impossible tasks and especially associative concepts. They believe in very lively art and in learning through collaboration and creative friction with other dancers and artists. Hanan, born in Kiryat Yam, is a choreographer and dancer graduated from Thelma Yellin, the dancer training track, and the MODE program at the Kibbutzim College Dance School). He was a member of the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak dance company and since then a creator dancer with independent choreographers Ido Feder, Shaked Mokhiah, Or Marin, Or Saadi, and others, and even started his path as an independent creator in the 3|2|1 program at Suzanne Dellal. Choucron, born in Madrid, is an actor, creator, and artistic director (graduated from the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio and Kalim, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Arts Management from Sapir College). A member of the Smartut theater group, an independent performer who worked with Michal Smena, Oded Komemi, Achi Noam Mendelson, Marina Baltov Grass, and other creators. Works at the Schechter Center as a community manager and artistic director for various programs such as the "What Yes?" festival, under which “Asceticism,” a site-specific creation, was also presented by Choucron and Hanan together. Credits: Choreography: Shachar Hanan and Isak Choucron Dancers: Tamar Rosenzweig, Ella Eisman-Liber, Daniel Ben Ami, Shachar Hanan Lighting Design: Rotem Elroi Music: Quiet in the Box – Balagan (Lyrics: Yona Wallach); Now I Opened a Window – Riki Gal (Lyrics: Nathan Zach); The Nutcracker – Pyotr Tchaikovsky; Peer Gynt – Edvard Grieg; The Edge of Exhaustion - Phil Minton and Steven J. Fowler Artistic Guidance: Ayala Frenkel and Tools - Body for Choreographic Work, Yael Venezia Photography: Asia Skurik The performance was produced with the support of the Pais Council for Culture and Arts and the "Ba’Zman" grant from the Rabinovich Foundation, the Municipality of Tel Aviv, and was first presented at the "Jaffa to Agripas - K.T.M.O.N. Island" festivals in Jerusalem under the artistic direction of Elad Schechter and Tom Gornberg Yarkoni, and the "Harvest" festival at the Tools Center for Choreography in Bat Yam.