A DANCE IN EIGHT COLORS
A colorful new dance from the Neta Dance Company brings to life a fictional young woman pieced together from documentary-style reminiscences in the quirky and original “Rainbow Girl.” The full-length work, making its world premiere at the Flea Theater, was choreographed and directed by Neta Pulvermacher, who was born and raised on Israel’s Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan.
Over the sound system in “Rainbow Girl,” the audience hears stories told by those who “knew” the fictional title character. Different voices describe Rainbow Girl as a tenant, pet owner, neighbor, friend and lover. Following each stroll down memory lane is a dance dedicated to a specific color: one each for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and white. Presumably each embodies a different aspect of Rainbow Girl’s interior life.
Last week, the Forward attended the dance company’s first rehearsal with pianist Sara Davis Buechner, who with Pulvermacher and the rest of the troupe tweaked Franz Shubert’s “Impromptus for Pianoforte” to fit their movements. Laughter abounded between dances, but the six-member cast took the dancing itself extremely seriously — though often whimsically or zanily, with jazzy movements followed by hand slaps and foot thumping, which in turn were followed by a balletic sequence.
A self-described “atheist Jew” who feels “strongly about her Jewish-Israeli heritage,” Pulvermacher later spoke to the Forward about the piece. “What I set out to do,” she said, “was to investigate the colors of the rainbow and the emotional landscape that they inspire.”
“Poetically speaking,” she said, Rainbow Girl “is like a rainbow… made out of water, rain and light. The alchemy of it is that we turn it into color,” with each dance representing a glimpse into the whole through a fractal of sorts. The last dance is white, the absence of color. Bye-bye, Rainbow Girl.
The Flea Theater. 41 White St. (between Broadway and Church); May 14-May 17, Wed. and Fri. 7 p.m., Thu. 7:30 p.m., Sat. 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; $20, reservations required. (212-206-1515 or
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