Tov

Developed and performed in the US and Poland with artists from both countries, Tov features a live vocal score created by acclaimed Polish theater group Stowarzyszenie Teatralne CHOREA (CHOREA Theatre Association). 

Deftly weaving together intense physical movement, spoken word, vocal music, and the "theater laboratory" ensemble techniques originated by Jerzy Grotowski, Rosanna Gamson stages a profusely evocative dance drama around the story of the tarpan horse--an extinct species of Eurasian wild horse that was genetically "reassembled" in the 1930s through back-breeding of domestic horses. The Los Angeles choreographer braids this allegory of regeneration with reflections on the history of her own Polish-Jewish ancestors, horse traders from Szczecin, and the fate of Polish Jewry. Tov takes its title from "Gamzu l'tovah" ("This too is for the good"), a favorite saying of one of Gamson's forebears, Talmudic scholar Nachum ish Gamzu, who found God's hand even in tragedy. The full-evening work features a cast of performers from Poland and the U.S., with text spoken and sung in Hebrew, Polish, English, Yiddish, Bulgarian and German.

Premiere: REDCAT, LOS ANGELES 2010

National Performance Network