Orly Portal | Al-Atlal -Premiere

About the show

“Give me my freedom, release my hands/ I gave (everything) and left nothing behind/ Oh, your chains have bloodied my wrists/ Why would I leave them and what is left for me in you?”- Ibrahim Nagi, Al-Atlal.

In the contemporary translation and in the voice of Umm Kulthum, the mother of the Arab nation, a cry is directed at a forsaking god.

In a time in which culture is being displaced, the muses are silent and the heart is heavy, the motivation to create is replaced with the need to survive and to exist, seeds of beauty sprout within the shreds of war.

The creation arises from the ruins. Bodies are wrapped in shrouds, in stomping feet and bound hands, blows to the chest, demanding freedom. Disharmonious rhythms meet in the transcendental beauty of the masterpiece “Al Atlal”.

This dance is a lament of lost lives and lost faith. “And the land was chaos”. The dancers moan and beseech for the healing of the pain of two nations.

Two languages are woven together, tones blending into a communal reading, exposing their primal union. The music, the language and the voice infuse the dance to become “Tarab”- an ecstatic elevation. The poem is about a dying love between a man and a woman and becomes a story about a decimated world, about the relationship between man and place, Earth, Nation.

Born in 1969, Orly Portal, a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, began her professional career as a dancer in the "Kol VeDama" ensemble under the direction of Moshe Efrati and the "Bat Sheva Ensemble." Portal, one of the founders of the "Improvisation Ensemble", has delved over the years into the study of Arab folklore, dedicated two years to studying Arabic music at Bar-Ilan University, and traveled to Morocco to learn the original dance of the Gnawa and Berber tribes.

Performed on many stages in Israel and around the world, collaborating with leading artists. In 2009, she founded the Orly Portal Dance Ensemble, for which she created original works applying the insights of her research. Orly is currently collaborating with Morocco, Mexico, and Brazil, engaging in mutual projects.

The performance includes partial nudity.

Choreography: Orly Portal
Performers: Orly Portal, Artour Astman, Maya Tamir, Lal’el Pilorra, Noa Gronich, Daniel Costa
Music: Al Atlal, performed by Umm Kulthum, composed by Riad Al Sunbati, lyrics by Ibrahim Nagi
Original Music: Ori Alboher
Singing and vocals: Orly Portal, Artour Astman, Maya Tamir, Lal’el Pilorra, Noa Gronich, Daniel Costa
Lighting Design: Nadav Barnea
Costume Design: Rossello Shmaria
Graphics and poster design: Itamar Heifetz
Production: Mor Messeri
Photographer : Efrat Mazor