The ‘industry’

August 16, 2009 - 2:04 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, General, Israeliness, Movies 

Photo credit: David Rodwin

Photo credit: David Rodwin

The feature writing life brings you in contact with all sorts of folks, some famous, some not as much, but interesting, more often than not. One of the hats I wear is as a writer for the Los Angeles Federation in Israel, covering the projects and missions they arrange here, primarily in Tel Aviv, as L.A. and Tel Aviv are partnership cities.

One of their continuing projects is a series of master classes, bringing together students and teachers of different disciplines, from television and film to dance, social work and opera. July and August are the months for film and choreography, with the masters — L.A. ‘industry’ folks and American choreographers coming to teach their skills to Israeli and American students in Tel Aviv.

This summer brought “Sex and the City” creator Darren Star, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler and independent producer Gail Berman (who brought “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to the viewing world during her time as head of Fox Studios) to the master program, which is held at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. The classes were focused and dynamic, honing in on television more than film, given recent Israeli successes on the American small screen. “In Treatment,” known in Hebrew as “B’Tipul,” is the most significant of those, as it was purchased and translated by HBO and recently won an Emmy. But there are others coming up the pike, and what the ‘masters’ like about them is that they use small budgets and lots of ingenuity, something that Israelis have in spades.

The more recent class was in choreography, held at the Suzanne Dellal Center with several American choreographers teaching their skills to studios full of young Israeli hopefuls. Two of the choreographers, Sheetal Gandhi and Jackie Lopez, were fabulous talented, and very different. Gandhi was raised in California but with Indian parents and a very strong Indian heritage, hence teaching the rudiments of classic Indian dance. Lopez was raised in central L.A., and came to her more formal dance education in a roundabout manner, although she’s now one of the go-to hiphop dancers in the region. The workshop also including a unique class with renowned choreographer Shen Wei, and a repertoire workshop with choreographer Barak Marshall.
Image0039

All the masters — and students — of the two summer classes, shared an innate enthusiasm and energy for their subjects. The film students were mostly young professionals with some productions and/or scripts under their belts, while the dancers were younger, post-army and all Israeli. And because of the entire days talking about their professions, or dancing, as it were, a certain kind of intimacy arises between students and teachers, one that wouldn’t happen if they were hanging out somewhere else. The Tel Aviv air may be sticky and steamy in the summer, but it lends a certain magic.

Tags: , , , ,

 

© 2012 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap