Crust
choreography: Lior Tavori
direction: Einat Betsalel
dramaturgy: Noa Wagner
lighting design: Rotem Elroy
sound design: Noam Helfer
photography: Efrat Mazor
trailer filming and editing: Yakir Peretz
duration: 60’
premiere: Tel Aviv Dance Festival, 2024.
dancers: Naor Walker, Simon Gnagy, Joshua Sutton, Liad Tavori Gennosar, Noa Garber, Jazzy Kahn, Stav Azari
co-produced by: Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv and MART Foundation, New York
A powerful physical work exploring the boundaries between the personal and the political, strength and vulnerability, desire and control. Originally conceived through an exploration of the physical relationship between dancers and a Persian rug on stage, the work evolved in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, into an intense reflection on the reality in which it was created. Through seven dancers, dense red smoke, and a world of forbidden pleasure and blurred boundaries, “Crust” examines invasion, territory, intimacy, and the human need to process pain through movement. It is a visceral encounter between the body, the individual, and the political reality surrounding them.
Lior Tavori is an Israeli choreographer, dancer, and the founder and artistic director of Lior Tavori Dance Company, based in Tel Aviv. His artistic language explores passion, sensuality, animalistic physicality, and vulnerability, combining emotional intensity with technical precision and a continuous exploration of the boundaries of dance. Tavori has created works for leading international companies and institutions. His works have been presented internationally and recognized with awards in Israel, including the Rosenblum Performing Arts Award, awarded by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality.
Lior Tavori Dance Company is an independent contemporary dance company based in Tel Aviv founded and led by choreographer Lior Tavori. The company creates physically intense and emotionally charged works that explore the human body as a site of desire, vulnerability, power, and transformation. Combining technical precision with a distinctive and uncompromising physical language, the company has presented its work in Israel and internationally, including in China, Italy, Spain, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Georgia, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Portugal. Its repertoire includes works that engage with personal and political realities while continually challenging the boundaries of contemporary dance.
“Crust” by Israel’s Lior Tavori Dance Company, was a strong example of Fall for Dance’s international programming … This is the piece featuring convincingly surreal moments and a meaningful choreographic structure.
© The New York Times
Israeli choreographer Lior Tavori’s bleak yet mesmerizing work, making time stand still… “Crust” felt as if it went on forever, and not long enough.
© Bachtrack
Lior Tavori is one of the more interesting choreographers active in the Israeli dance arena of recent years!
© DanceTalk
