A Cultural Winter for Children: Come Spend the Cold Seasons at the Suzanne Dellal Centre with a Wealth of Performances and Dance Works

The premieres of “That’s How It Is” by Maayan Libman-Sharon, “Wonder” by Gil Karrer, “Mashal” by Gal Baruk-Gorfung, and “This Is Where Songs Grow” by the Train Theater. For ages 4 and up.

Maayan Libman-Sharon | “That’s How It Is”

Post-performance talks with the dancers

An intimate, playful, and magical performance that blurs the boundary between stage and audience, inviting parents and children to share an experience of movement, stories, and play. The work creates a shared encounter in which the stage and audience become one vibrant, breathing space. It breaks down the distance and brings viewers into the experience. Through movement, text excerpts, and short stories, different perspectives emerge—that of the audience and that of the dancers—and from the encounter between them are born moments of play, curiosity, and close connection. In this way, a shared, open, and welcoming experience is created for children, parents, and anyone who comes to be together.

Maayan Libman-Sharon is a Jerusalem-based choreographer, artistic director and mentor, and a member of the Choreographers’ Association. She holds an M.Mus. in dance, specializing in choreography, and a B.Dance from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She is a yoga teacher and also holds a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy. She lectures in choreography at Adama Dance Center in Sderot and at HaKvutza School of Dance, Tel Aviv–Jaffa. Her works have been presented on various stages, including Raising the Curtain, the Israel Festival, the International Dance Week of Machol Shalem, the Intimadance Festival, the JISDF Solo Festival, the Moscow Museum, the Israel Museum, the Tower of David Museum, Gallery 1927 in Athens, and more. Libman-Sharon has participated in various residencies and festivals in Europe, including the Zagreb Dance Center (ZPC), SE.S.TA Centre in the Czech Republic, the JSKD Dance Center in Slovenia, Vale da Grila in Portugal, Tanztendenz Munich, the SoloDanceAnkara Festival in Turkey, and more.

Choreography: Maayan Libman-Sharon
Creator-performers: Yulia Mizhetskaya, Uri Dicker, Eyal Bromberg
Music: Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, Winter
Dramaturgical consultation: Itzik Giuli
Musical and vocal consultation: Uri Dicker
Styling: Maya Reshef
Production: Irit Eilat
Photography: Asya Skurik

Gal Baruk-Gorfung | “Mashal”

Where a tortoise and a rabbit meet, strange calculations take place. It is a place where arithmetic and geometry meet dance and body language on a blank sheet of paper. One tortoise will teach one rabbit that he already knows a great deal, while she herself will discover that dance contains all the numbers and shapes she loves. They will measure how they move closer and farther apart, argue until they reach an agreement, and try to understand why easy questions can be so confusing. Through a variety of situations and examples, using dance, words, colors, and sounds, the work encourages children to develop their curiosity and intuition in arithmetic and geometry.

Gal Baruk-Gorfung is a creator, dancer, and researcher in the field of neuroscience. He is a graduate of the dancer-training program under the artistic direction of Naomi Perlov and Ofir Dagan, and holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and psychology, with an emphasis on neuroscience, from Tel Aviv University. Baruk-Gorfung works at the intersection of art, technology, and education in various settings: he has worked as a mathematics teacher for all ages and levels and dreams of integrating the study of body language and movement into the education system. His most recent work, Fusion, also created with Adi Goral, was presented at the Israel Festival 2025. He continues to work with creators including Lior Zalmanson, Mor Shani, and Neta Barzilai. Gal currently lives in the United States while undergoing cancer treatments, but continues to create and seek humanity in different fields.

Creator: Gal Baruk-Gorfung
Director: Adi Goral
Performers: Ela Isman, Eviatar Omesi
Assistant director: Lia Goldman
Video: Noam Tzafati
Lighting: Oded Kommi
Costumes and set: Gal Baruk-Gorfung
Photography: Asya Skurik; AI processing was used
Thanks: Shmarit Golan Cohen, Tel Aviv Culture Da Vinci, Dr. Idit Soslik, Guy Kerem, Nimrod Labershtein, Shagi and Anat Baruk-Gorfung
Special thanks: My sister, Ela, who taught me how difficult and rewarding teaching can be

Gil Karrer | “Wonder”

A space of wonder and discovery, where movement, shape, and rhythm create a playful, mysterious world in which every moment reveals something new. Wonder invites children and parents into a world of curiosity and discovery, where anything can change. Through movement, shapes, and rhythm, a playful space unfolds onstage, where the dancers explore, build, and dismantle new worlds. Shapes change, the rules sometimes turn upside down, and the audience is invited to discover together with the dancers what happens when imagination and movement meet. This is a movement-based performance full of wonder, humor, and imagination, inviting children to be curious, ask questions, and enjoy the magic of discovery.

Gil Karrer began his career with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s young ensemble and Vertigo Dance Company, and has worked with many independent creators in Israel. Since 2016, he has worked as an independent choreographer, creator, and performer, and leads master classes for diverse audiences in Israel and around the world. Since 2018, he has worked as a choreographer for the Menashe Regional Council, initiating various projects, foremost among them the establishment and leadership of the Menashe Dance House. Karrer has created works for companies, festivals, and universities, including the Pforzheim Theater Dance Company in Germany, Ensemble Ka’et, and the Performing Arts Festival in Malta. He has won choreography awards at dance competitions in Hanover and Copenhagen, the Ministry of Culture Performance Award, the Encouragement of Creation Award, and more. In his works, he explores refined and present movement that seeks physical, human, and intimate expression.

Choreography: Gil Karrer
Dramaturgy: Anat Tzederbaum
Original music: Joanna Bramley and Ed Chivers
Set design: Nora Gromer
Rehearsal direction: Alexandra Shmork

Ruth Hof | “This Is Where Songs Grow”

How is a song born? Two poets at the beginning of their careers set out on an inspiring journey through books, following Hebrew poetry. Along the way, they encounter three poems by beloved poets: Leah Goldberg looks through a window and sees a white flower that is not from here, remembering how she, too, once came here from a distant place—Hyacinth Song; Ehud Manor writes The Cypress Alone out of longing for a cypress he saw outside his window as a child; and Miriam Yalan-Stekelis walks around with a big question—“How do you write about love?”—from which the song Danny the Hero is born. The play reveals the creative process and the exciting, painful, and meaningful stages it encompasses.

Written by: Ruth Hof
Cast: Matan Levi, Lior Roi / Netanel Rapoport, Leah Yunger
Set and props design: Keren Dembinsky
Music: Sharon Gabay
Costumes: Yola Igra
Lighting: Netanel Rapoport
Production: The Train Theater, initiated by and in collaboration with the National Library of Israel

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