Five women in red, on a narrow white floor, exposing themselves to stubborn cliches of femininity which appear at every turn. Voices go up to please, to protest, to pacify. Gestures are minimal. Flirtatious, as if taken from the catalogue of male fantasy.

Although it might seem that the women are the ones in the spotlight, there is no mistaking the risk for all those who sit in the dark and observe. There is a risk it may hurt you, embarrass you, outrage you, frighten you, provoke in you a profound need to deny and, above all, expose you, the flesh and blood spectator who sits in front of them, to the workings of your own mind. Five women are gathered here, engaged in a complicated dialogue with the expectations and demands of society sitting invisibly, mightily, inescapably upon all our shoulders.

 “It is difficult to write about GIRLS. It resists dismantling like a live creature. In an almost miraculous manner, it succeeds in being a contradiction in terms. This is a formalistic work, to the bone, which does not have even a drop of rigidity or dryness. It is full of grace but also wisdom and depth; it is frivolous and objectifying yet at the same time also censorious and saturated with grief and pain.” (Mirit Ben-Isreal)

Roy Assaf was born in 1982 in the farming community of Sde Moshe in the south of Israel. He has been dancing and creating ever since he remembers himself. He began formal training at the age of sixteen, when he joined a dance group led by Regba Gilboa at the community center in Kiryat Gat. Two years later, Assaf was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces and served there until completing his national service. In 2003 he met the internationally recognized choreographer Emanuel Gat and made his mark touring worldwide with Gat as both performer and choreographic assistant from 2004-2009. Since 2010, he has been developing his own works independently. His work has been performed in such renowned venues and festivals as the Théâtre National de Chaillot, Jacob’s Pillow, Bolzano Danza, Pavillon Noir, Biennale di Venezia and the 17th Biennale de la Danse in Lyon. He has won several prizes for his works.

In 2014 he was invited by Benjamin Millepied to create new work for the Los Angeles Dance Project (LADP), in 2015 he created Ballader for The Royal Swedish Ballet and in 2016 he was commissioned by the Batsheva Dance Company to create for a shared evening with Batsheva’s Artistic Director Ohad Naharin. Adam, for 12 dancers, premiered on April 26th and was presented at the International Exposure Festival, Tel Aviv, in December. In early 2017 Assaf remade II Acts for the Blind into a full evening with his own company in Israel. Sacre, a creation for GöteborgsOperans DansKompani using Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, premiered in September 2017, followed by 25 people, commissioned by The Juilliard School for its New Dances series, in December. In 2018 he will revisit his work Girls & Boys with Ensemble Batsheva and will create new works for Ballet de Capitole and for Staatstheater Mainz.

http://www.royassafdance.com