Swiria

“20 years of dance and Russian discipline could not straighten my sagging shoulders”.

These words, spoken in her father’s tongue, Moroccan Darija, open the new piece created by choreographer Orly Portal, taking us on a magical journey between the old port city of Essaouira and the new world.

Dancers, the women circle, portray a unique interlocking of both tenderness and strength where each muscle is ever-present, masterfully producing melodic phrases, which naturally correlate with the music of Gnawa spiritual rituals as well as the beat of Gil Scott-Heron’s spoken-word poetry.

In the gap between one R’bina to the next, the song of the heart is released from the diaphragm to the extremities, and as if breaking the fourth wall there is a sense of a trance-formation all around.

A pause.

“Emptying my soul to dance in the space created, for now.”

Orly Portal, is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, movement and voice therapist, and researcher of Moroccan folklore. She has developed a unique dance language that focuses on the body’s natural movement and gestures that respect physical and mental structures. Her creative path highlights contemporary interpretation of ancient traditions and combines elements of contemporary modern dance, contact improvisation, Feldenkrais and belly dancing.