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tanz – Hannah Meyer-Scharenberg

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  • Hannah Meyer-Scharenberg 01.11.2024

“Shout Aloud,” presented in Frankfurt as a co-production of Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Schauspiel Frankfurt, combines concert and dance in one performance. The starting point is Dikla Dori’s debut album, “Ahava Musica” (“Love Music”) from 2000, which the pop artist—described by the project-supporting German Federal Cultural Foundation as an “Arab-Jewish” artist—performs with her band. The choreographer, Yasmeen Godder, based in Israel, has been deeply influenced by “Ahava Musica” due to its Arabic-Hebrew fusion of music and lyrics. Ten dancers and fourteen musicians created the piece through rehearsals in both Frankfurt and Jaffa. Security checks at the venue entrance are unsurprising.

Eight performers, including professional dancers and amateurs of Palestinian and Jewish descent, are positioned on the stage and side stages. The women come together in a circle and begin to breathe in unison, gradually growing louder. Dori then appears with her band—a grande dame in an opulent evening gown. It quickly becomes evident why she is a star in Israel—a voice that fills the room! The ensemble’s movements become more impulsive, driven by the music’s intensity. Eventually, a dancer and Dori address the audience together, inviting spectators to join in the movement and enjoy the music and dance—eleven songs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Tamar Kisch developed the movement material. The dancers support one another, clash, and hold each other up. Their seriousness is touching; Dori’s music transfers onto their bodies, even if the connection sometimes feels a bit tentative. The choreography often mirrors the music, occasionally challenging titles like “Spices,” “Your Love,” and “New World.”

In times of unbearable human rights violations and deep divides within the Israel-Palestine conflict, Godder and Dori, together with the performers, have managed to create an artistic experience rooted in somatic, attentive interaction that inspires belief in shared humanity. For eighty minutes, the audience feels a collective sigh of relief. Yet, the question remains: how do we leave the evening? Hopeful? Nostalgic? Despite its setting within the realm of Jewish-Arabic communication and culture, “Shout Aloud” ultimately remains apolitical—something that, for many, is precisely what feels comforting, if only for a moment.