In one evening, on the stage of the Israeli Opera, forty dancers and The Revolution Orchestra come together to re-examine three canonical works that transformed the face of music and dance in the 20th century: The Rite of Spring | Afternoon of a Faun | Bolero.

This performance invites the audience on a dramatic journey – between ancient rituals and contemporary sound and movement, between continuous hypnosis and delicate orchestral textures, between body and sound. The journey is carefully crafted by two genuises in their fields – Choreographer Shahar Binyamini and composer Ariel Blumenthal.

Part I – APRIL inspired by The Rite of Spring

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913) is regarded as the work that shook the history of music and dance – both through its primal, ritualistic subject matter and its unprecedented compositional language. Inspired by it, choreographer Shahar Binyamini creates a new dance piece in close collaboration with The Revolution Orchestra and esteemed composer Ariel Blumenthal. Blumenthal was invited to write an original response — not an adaptation, but an entirely new composition that converses with Stravinsky, orchestrated with contemporary colors including electric guitar, synthesizer, and unique percussion.

The result: a contemporary stage ritual – polyrhythmic, physical, and hypnotic – performed by the House of Dance company’s resident dance ensemble.

Part II – ARISE inspired by Afternoon of a Faun

Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894) is considered a milestone of Western music – a turning point where composition ceased to tell a story in the dramatic terms of Romanticism, and instead revealed itself as a state of mind built from color, movement, resonance, and memory.This music took Blumenthal on journey to create a piece that resonates

Here too, Binyamini creates a new choreographic layer, in collaboration with Blumenthal, who was asked to engage in dialogue with Debussy’s masterpiece and bring forth a new musical interpretation performed live by The Revolution Orchestra. The choreography unfolds on the border between movement and dream.

Part III – Bolero

The evening culminates with Maurice Ravel’s Bolero (1928) in a unique musical interpretation by Ariel Blumenthal. Originally conceived as a full ballet, its structure is deceptively simple: a single rhythm and a single melody repeating over and over, constantly shifting in orchestral color, intensifying toward a sense of ecstasy. Blumenthal will offer a new orchestral version.

Bolero is also one of the most iconic works in the history of dance. BOLERO X, choreographed by Binyamini for forty dancers, became an international sensation, performed on major stages across Germany, Canada, France, China, and beyond. Now, for the first time in Israel, the work will be performed with live orchestra – a version that brings the depth, rhythm, and hypnotic repetition of Ravel’s score into the body of dance itself.

Performers

Conductor Roy Oppenheim 

First Violin Adi Hlavin, Tomer Einat, Etien Meneri, Naama Serfaty, Talia Herzlich
Second Violin Lia Raikhlin, Hagar Maoz, Maya Lee Roman
Viola Daniel Tanchelson, Miri Manasherov, Avital Noussimovitch, Udi Berner
Cello Yael Shapira, Ben Shibolet, Yael Sheizaf, Tehila Machado
Double Bass Alon Azizi | Flute Rachel Eilat | Clarinet Tomer Ornan | Saxophone Noam Dorembus
Oboe Shira Ben Yehoshua | French Horn Shachar Ziv, Gal Gutman | Trumpet Raz Arad | Trombone Meytar Naveh | Harp Ada Ragimov | Percussion Giori Politi, Assaf Dagan | Piano Zohar Sharon
Guitar Ral Roth
Sound: Val Kotler | Amplification and Lighting: Magenta | Technical Manager: Dani Fishof

Creators

Composer: Ariel Blumenthal
Choreographer: Shahar Binyamini
Production: Bimot Global
Artistic Directors: Zohar Sharon and Roy Oppenheim