Aharona Israel's MARATHON Plays Koffler Centre of the Arts This Week

The Koffler Centre of the Arts is delighted to co-present the North American premiere of Marathon, a theatre/dance performance created by Tel Aviv-based choreographer Aharona Israel. The performances take place tonight, February 4 to 6, 7:30 PM at the Theatre Centre, and are part of the Progress Festival. Marathon is performed by Ilya Domanov, Merav Dagan and Gal Shamai, and will be presented in both its original Hebrew (Feb. 5, with English subtitles), as well as in English (Feb 4 and 6). Premiering at the Acco Fringe Theater Festival 2012, Marathon has since been performed in Israel, Poland and Germany. Following the Toronto presentation, Marathon will travel to three other Canadian cities: Public Energy (Peterborough), Undercurrents Festival (Ottawa) and the Chutzpah! Festival (Vancouver).

Combining dance, text, theatre and gruelling physicality, Marathon uses the performers' own autobiographical stories to reflect a constant state of emergency. Marathon demands unwavering commitment and stamina from the performers, who run a total of eight kilometres in this strenuous investigation of contemporary Israeli life. The audience watches their painful journey in real time, and witnesses their struggle to continue as they spiral into the depths of Israeli consciousness. As their journey becomes harder and more painful, their stories break down, revealing the wounds of contemporary Israeli society.

Marathon is presented as part of Progress Festival, a new international festival of performance and ideas produced by the SummerWorks Performance Festival in partnership with The Theatre Centre. "Aharona is one of the most exciting emerging artists in Israel, and this work is without question one of the most exciting and complex pieces about contemporary Israel that I've seen," says Progress Festival Artistic Producer, Michael Rubenfeld.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts is also offering two workshops with Aharona Israel: Intelligent Body (February 6 and 7), and Seeing Through Movement (February 9 and 10). Both workshops are open to theatre artists and dancers, and will use Israel's intense movement-based practice as entry points for creating new performance. For workshop registration and more information, visit http://kofflerarts.org/education/adults/workshops/.

A choreographer and theatre director based in Israel, Aharona has been presenting her work in Israel and abroad since 2003. Her work relates to an intimate research on body and movement, and a strong sensibility to social and political themes. She brings together dance, theatre and text in a form of set material, combined with open movement scores. With a particular interest in interactive multidisciplinary performances, Aharona often makes atypical projects, using non-theatrical spaces, bringing together her understanding of space as an architect, and her skills as a performer. Recently, she completed a residency in Graz with Annika Luschin. Aharona was trained in dance in Israel and Holland. She holds a B.Arch in Architecture from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

Marathon is co-presented with the Koffler Centre for the Arts, and generously supported by Spotlight on Israel, the Embassy of Israel, and the Israeli Consulate (Toronto).

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