Shame on Zuckerman
by Sharon Zuckerman Weiser / Music by Keren Dunietz
SHAME ON ZUCKERMAN is a performative exercise in exhibitionist vulnerability. It is an exploration of will and need, embarrassment, the neediness of the performer, and the deep desire for recognition and remembrance. Born from the pandemic, at a time when live arts practitioners saw no horizon, the stage-addicted choreographer was forced to create in isolation, forced to question her very identity as a performer and the dependence on the human exchange of performance. The work is at once a confession and a manifesto on being a woman, on aging and youth, on decorum and impropriety.
Two women, a choreographer/dancer and composer/singer, one with silvery hair and the other with flaming strawberry locks, ten years between them, represent the classical pairing of dance and music. The line between them is clearly marked. Each one is virtuoso in her own right, but does not hesitate to invade the artistic territory of the other. Through text and movement, they shapeshift from seductive witch to spiritual leader to raw animal being and beyond. Expectations are quickly set and broken, exposing the mechanism of surprise and the wishful tension that holds the piece together.
Zuckerman Weiser dances as if she is firmly holding the steering wheel, controlling her body with the skill of an expert - but this is a body haunted by an obsession. She goes to elegant extremes and, despite the embarrassment she faces, she is not afraid to expose the hypocrisy of human behavior on stage and in life. She is accompanied by her collaborator Keren Dunietz’s atmospheric and looping musical interludes and improvised singing.
In SHAME ON ZUCKERMAN, texts serve as injections of a shared consciousness, opening a portal of access between the audience and performer. The images and monologues manifest and then fade away, dissipating like a cloud of smoke, remaining present in the room if only as a faded reminder that they existed at all.
The costumes, made by fashion designer Eran Shanny, evoke a DIY version of old-time nostalgia combining fanciness and grotesqueness.
Created 2021, 2 performers, 65 minutes