Arkadi Zaides
Arkadi Zaides's dancing brings us into his world. First he establishes its borders and horizons, creating abstract landscapes through the use of layers of images and sound. In sparse sets, dancing then becomes like a melancholy but passionate language whose characters are so many movements. Hailing originally from Belarus, Arkadi Zaides moved to Israel in 1990 and danced at the Batsheva Dance Company, where many contemporary Israeli performers are trained. From his years there he remembers the importance of physical commitment, sometimes almost to the point of violence. Today, he challenges this legacy with many other techniques and influences, and never ceases to question his own foundations, which he deems stem too much from a culture of conflict. He prefers to work within international productions that allow him to cross outlooks and influences, and to focus on the recurring theme of his work: how to live together in a shared and conflictual environment, and the role different communities can play in working towards that goal. He was the first to have Israeli Jews and Arabs dance together in Quiet, before questioning the very concept of territory in Land-Research. A process that is as much that of an artist as of a human being and citizen, and that he continues today with Archive. RB, April 2014
