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by Ora Brafman, Dancetalk

“Talia Paz is a wonderful example of a mature dancer who is completely aware of her body, her age, her physical abilities, and their limitations.

Choreographer, Michael Getman, crafted especially for her, an intelligent solo piece that tells the story of a character, a dancer who crossed the red line - that is, the age of 45. on stage, she offers moments from her daily routine in which the body is aware of its pains and strains - before it warms up.

Every movement of the joints and limbs is a battle against rigidity and resistance of the muscles, tendons, and the skeleton as a whole. As a dancer, she knows, that her body needs to be systematically and consistently appeased and indulged until it tempers.
 Getman uses a lot of Talia Paz’s personal idiosyncratic expressions and exaggerates them. He encouraged her to breathe loudly, and moan. As time goes by, she repeats the same phrases and fragmented movements that she dealt with, in various ways over and over. We witness how the movement itself is improving, the body slowly defrosts, while her moans had long assumed their right to shout. A self-flagellation of sorts.
 

Getman, and Talia Paz under his guidance, are well aware of the two parallel channels: The movement enhancement and in parallel, the increasing level of complaints, expressed in many different shades of “krechtz” (the Yiddish word for fuss or grunt in pain), as a protest against the price she has to pay.
 

In the midst of conflicting emotions and entangled levels of coping, Talia’s image does not forget what all this suffering is for. She raises her head and assumes a proud position while she announces:
 

I AM A DANCER
Yes, Talia, you are a dancer. Hell yeah!!”
Ora Brafman - Dancetalk