Noa Dor | Strange in 26

For details and purchase 'Weird' was born in 2000 from curiosity to know what goes through the mind of an audience member in the darkness of the hall during a performance, decoding hidden codes, and trying to bridge between attraction, reluctance, and a yearning to be part of the event. In collaboration with the writer Yosef El Dror, the audience's thoughts emerged and created a thoughtful dialogue rich in humor, asking the audience for a split and synchronized attention between the dancers' total physicality, the thoughts heard about it, and his own hidden experience. After a quarter of a century, from a reality that has changed along with different sensitivities and expectations - 'Weird at 26' examines the current relationship between audience and performers and the impact of time on dance and creation. With performers Moshe Shechter Avshalom, appearing for the first time in 'Weird', and Michal Moalem, who returns to the role she performed in 2000 - a living laboratory is created that explores motifs of memory, reconstruction, and change, positioned between the fleeting and the current. 'Weird at 26' is transferred to an intimate studio space without barriers in a setup that offers audience and performers partnership in a mutual and one-time exploration of the "weird" happening between them. "The contemporary version by Dor takes the foundational questions of the original performance and strips them to a modern, minimalist, and exposed reaction. Dor presents an incisive mirror reflecting the current state of the medium. The choice clarifies to us that dance, as an art that vanishes at the moment of its occurrence, is in constant danger of extinction and is exposed even more so in an accelerated and alienated era. However, precisely because of these, “Weird at 26” becomes a manifesto of survival, clarifying that we need dance now more than ever." Joy Bernard, Creative Writing, 23/6/26

Partners in 'Weird at 26': Created by: Noa Dar | Text: Yosef El Dror | Performers: Michal Moalem, Moshe Shechter Avshalom | Video and soundtrack actor: Gal Zeid | Appearing in video: Assaf Schatz, Alaya Shalit, Maya Briner | Sound and video editing: Talia Ben Aem | Costumes: Rosie Canaan | Show management: Talia Berda | Lighting: Hagi Shlomov | Stills: Tamar Lem | Graphic Design: Dorit Telpaz | Media: Letizia Bolo | Premiere: 13.2.26, within 'Friday at Aura': Suzanne Dellal Center, Artistic Direction - Naomi Perlov. | The performances are supported by the Lottery Council for Culture and Arts.

Noa Dar - dancer and choreographer, operates in Tel Aviv within 'Noa Dar Dance Group' which she established in 1993. Over the years and in collaboration with artists from various fields, she has developed a rich body of work that includes performances in a wide range of forms and spaces. Her works focus on the contact areas of the body with the web of its physical, social, and political environment, and since she returned to perform, her body has become another arena for examining concepts such as memory, temporality, and transformation. Her works 'EretzYeshoveHadoom', 'Come Lie Down', 'Alert', 'Inventory', 'Nah-Nah', 'Skin', 'We', 'Arnica', 'Tetris', 'Weird', 'Children's Games' and many more, have been presented in festivals and major stages in Israel and worldwide. Among the prizes awarded to her are the Ministry of Culture's 'Young Choreographers Award', and 'Ensemble Performance Award', the 'Rosenblum Prize for the Performing Arts' from the municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 'Dance Creation Award' from the Ministry of Culture, and the 'Landau Prize for Arts and Science' from the Lottery Council for Culture and Arts.