The aim of the Village is to promote dance in Israel, with an emphasis on fostering excellence and creating a center for the international dance community. The Village further aims to foster unique artistic creation, bring together Jewish youth worldwide and form a bond between the Galilee’s various ethnic groups through movement and dance.
The Village is a leading dance project of global standards that will attract a great many lovers of culture from all over the world to the Galilee, and will be instrumental in transforming the Western Galilee into Northern Israel’s cultural haven of dance, music, theater and plastic arts.
The Dance Village components:
- A home base for the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company
- A dance academy
- A regional dance school
- A variety of dance activities: dance encounters, workshops for the dances of the Galilee’s ethnic groups, dance conferences, and a unique international dance festival.
- An international hospitality village: hosting dance troupes from Israel and abroad and creative artists for master classes.
- A treatment through movement center.
The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company
The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company is among the world’s leading contemporary dance troupes. During the 37 years of its existence, the Company has become highly renowned both in Israel and abroad and is regularly invited to represent Israel on the most prominent dance stages and at international festivals.
The Company was founded in 1970 by Mrs. Yehudit Arnon, who was the Company’s Artistic Director until she passed the baton of Artistic Direction to Rami Be’er in 1996.
In the last few years, the Company has been identified with Be’er’s creations, which lend the Company a unique profile that has piqued the curiosity and interest of audiences in Israel and throughout the world. The repertoire includes new works as well as new productions of previous ones.
The Company’s activities are partially dedicated to attracting children and teenagers to the art of dance through works especially created for a young audience such as “Peter and the World”, “The Carnival of the Animals”, “The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra”, etc. Further activities include dance workshops for dance students, encounters for children and teenagers designed to familiarize them with the new dance language, and so forth.
As part of the professional training of the Company’s dancers, every year the dancers put on a show of their own creation, which is overseen and supported by the Company and its resources.
The Company consists of two groups - KCDC-1, which focuses primarily on performances for the public at large and for tours abroad - and KCDC-2, which primarily features performances for children and youth, as well as for the public at large.
The Company puts on approximately 130 performances a year in the center and peripheral areas of Israel and is a guest performer at the international dance series at the Opera House in Tel Aviv, the Israel Festival, the Karmiel Dance Festival, as well as at all of Israel’s prominent dance events.
During its many tours abroad, the Company performed in the United States, in South America, in Australia, in the Far East and in Europe - Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Norway and more.
In 2007, the Company has been invited to perform at the Shanghai Festival in China, as well as in Finland, Turkey, Thailand, Croatia and South America.
The following are among the Company’s most renowned choreographies in the last few years: “Screensaver”, "Aide Memoire", "Naked City”, “Upon Reaching the Sun", “Ekodoom”, and more.
From the press:
"A troupe that belongs to the world elite"
Weimar Festival, Germany
".... The members of the K.C.D.C proved in convincing fashion that they are up to the challenges of Be'er's movement and theme."
Paula Citron "The Globe and Mail", USA
".... The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company under the leadership of Rami Be’er, is a Company that is not afraid to dare… It is connected to life in the new millennium in rhythm and language."
Meirav Yodilevitz, Ynet
".... The dancers of the KCDC - complemented by their bodies shaped by a grand master - exhibit impressive feats of movement and acrobatics."
Lilach Dekel "Habama"
".... the Kibbutz troupe’s “Screensaver”, no theater in Moscow of any kind is likely this season to witness a show of greater brilliance"
Raymond Stults - The Moscow Times
Raymond Stults - The Moscow Times
(Currently the Matte Asher-Dance Workshop)
The dance workshop offers a two-year professional dance training program for students aged 18 and over with a previous dance background, as well as a study track to train talented adult students without a previous dance background. There are currently 40-45 students in the workshop.
The program’s aim is to transform the dance workshop into a dance academy modeled on the Rotterdam Dance Academy in Holland.
The emphasis in the shift to an academic workshop will be on a 4-year curriculum. The first two years of the curriculum will be identical for all students whereas the next two years will focus on one of three courses of study: dance, teaching or choreography. The program’s graduates will be awarded an academic degree in their chosen course of study.
The anticipated number of future students is 60 to 80 dancers divided into three courses of study in the 4-year study track.
Regional Dance School
(Currently the Gaaton Dance Studio)
The dance school operates in the afternoon hours and caters to 160 students from kindergarten age to grade 12.
The school aims to teach professional dance with an emphasis on the core subjects of classical ballet and modern dance.
The following are among the classes taught at the Studio: creative ballet, pre-classic dance, modern dance, composition, repertoire and jazz.
The school was granted special license to enable students to take the dance matriculation exams (5 study units).
Kindergarten children and students up to grade 3 study dance with the school’s professional staff at the branches located in the Council’s various communities.
The anticipated number of future students is 400.
A variety of dance activities
The Dance Village’ teachers and dancers will run dance centers in the cities and towns of the Galilee - Ma'alot Tarshiha, Hatzor, Shlomi, Karmiel, etc. Furthermore, ethnic dance troupes will be promoted throughout the Galilee through study, research, performances, exposure and collaborations in Israel and abroad. The Village believes in bringing dancers from different fields closer to the world of contemporary dance.
A treatment through movement center
The plan is to set up a treatment through movement center in the Village. The center will serve both the local residents and the guests of the Dance Village.
The center will offer various forms of water therapy such as: watsu water-dance (wata) and healing dance.
The treatment through movement center will be built and operated as a separate business partnership.
An international hospitality village
The plan is to build a high standard, 120-room hospitality village in Gaaton. The hospitality village will also be used to accommodate students from abroad, guest teachers and companies from Israel and abroad, as well as tourists and vacationers.
The hospitality center will be part of a broader plan in the entire region involving artists from the field of dance, theater, music and plastic arts.
The hospitality village will be built and operated as a separate business partnership.
