nir arieli

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FLOCKS

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The dance company is a social sphere in which the dancers live, love and work. In ‘Flocks,’ I collaborated with renowned contemporary dance companies around the world, asking dancers to collapse together en masse. This body of work is my search for what remains in the dancers’ bodies when the dance stops. When movement is drained from the body and the performative purpose is removed, only the possibility of movement that lies beneath the surface remains.

The companies I've work with, distinct from each other in culture, heritage, and sensibility, each responded to the challenge differently. Through the network of relationships between the dancers in each individual group, the company’s own idiosyncratic physical language came to the surface. And yet, the resulting photographs all have a shared quality, revealing something fundamental about how dancers physically communicate.

Relying mostly on nonverbal language, the dancers formed intricate living sculptures. As they worked together, the minute dialogues between them enabled the creation of a larger visual narrative. The intertwining of bodies carries an undercurrent of sex and death, reflecting and amplifying the complexity of human relationships.
Dancers of BATSHEVA Dance Company laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

BATSHEVA Dance Company

BATSHEVA Dance Company

A closeup of Dancers of Ailey II laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

Ailey II

Ailey II

Dancers of NDT2 laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

NDT2

NDT2

A closeup of Dancers of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal 

Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal 

Dancers of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

A closeup of Dancers of  Ballet Hispanico laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

Ballet Hispanico

Ballet Hispanico

Dancers of  laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

A closeup of Dancers of Pontus Lidberg Dance laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

Pontus Lidberg Dance

Pontus Lidberg Dance

Dancers of Shen Wei Dance Arts laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Shen Wei Dance Arts

Shen Wei Dance Arts

A closeup of Dancers of Cedar Lake laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

Cedar Lake

Cedar Lake

Dancers of Ballet Hispanico laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Ballet Hispanico

Ballet Hispanico

A closeup of Dancers of NDT2 laying on top of each other as a human sculpture

NDT2

NDT2

Dancers of The Martha Graham Dance Company laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

The Martha Graham Dance Company

The Martha Graham Dance Company

Dancers of Visceral Dance laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Visceral Dance

Visceral Dance

Dancers of Le Carré des Lombes laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Le Carré des Lombes

Le Carré des Lombes

Dancers of MADboots laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

MADboots

MADboots

Dancers of The People Movers laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

The People Movers

The People Movers

Dancers of UNA Projects laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

UNA Projects

UNA Projects

Dancers of Hewman Collective laying on top of each other as a human sculpture on a black background

Hewman Collective

Hewman Collective

Korban
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