Photo by Lulu Gargiulo
How this improvised DANCE AND DOUBLE BASS duo got started
Paul and Yali Rivlin have been friends for a number of years. Paul knew of Yali’s background as a dancer, but had never seen him dance. In January 2020, Yali was visiting Boulder, and Paul invited him to come to Paul’s Basic Improvisation class in the CU College of Music to interact with the students. Yali’s dancing was astonishingly powerful, fresh and energetic, stimulating amazing creativity between Yali and the students. So impressed by Yali’s dancing, Paul invited Yali to attend a subsequent class. Again the results were inspiring. Thinking in terms of Time Art – Space Art, Paul was intrigued to explore dance/music improvisations with Yali. In the summer of 2020 in Northern Michigan where Yali lives, the two agreed to get together to dance and play. An artistic rapport quickly established between the two. More meetings followed, leading to the preparation and presenting of their first public concert, an outdoor concert performed for an intimate audience in rural Northern Michigan on August 9, 2020 In this concert, Yali and Paul performed a dance/music “barely structured” improvisation WITH THE WIND in 5 movements: Space, Low-Dark, Sliding Lines, Dots-Points, Introspection. Each movement is separated by a short silence. Inspiration for the piece is drawn in part from painter Leslie Laskey and Paul’s improvisation explorations during the 2020 summer in Northern Michigan. This performance was the first dance/double bass collaboration of Paul’s TIME ART – SPACE ART.
The January 19, 2021 Faculty Tuesday recital in Grusin Music Hall at the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Music is Paul and Yali’s second concert collaboration. Three week’s of rehearsals were a time of exploring more deeply how improvised dance and double bass can create artistic expression and coherence on stage. Dance improvisor and pedagogue Ms. Tal Haran joined several of the duo’s rehearsals via zoom from Tel Aviv, offering invaluable guidance in the duo’s process of developing artistic communication. One of the many inspiring thoughts that Ms. Haran imparted was “there is nothing more serious than children at play.” Yali and Paul have taken these words as inspiration for the three improvisations they call “Sandbox Trilogy” performed on January 19. As part of Yali’s residency at CU, funded in part by a Roser Visiting Artists Grant, the duo gave presentations in CU Dance Department and College of Music classes.
Paul & Yali outside the garage
James Jordan chalk drawing of Yali dancing the debut concert, August 2020
YALI RIVLIN
Yali Rivlin grew up in Israel and the USA. He began to dance at the age of 19 in Ann Arbor, Michigan after experiencing a performance by the Batsheva Dance Company. He moved back to Israel to participate intensively in Gaga classes in Tel-Aviv taught by members of the Batsheva Dance Company. (Gaga is the movement language developed by BDC director Ohad Naharin). Yali was accepted to the intensive five-month MASA program, directed by the KCDC (Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company). The following year he was accepted to the Ha’Sadna, the dance school in Kibbutz Ga’aton, Israel, founded by the great dance pioneer Yehudit Arnon. In 2011, Yali entered SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) in Austria, graduating in 2015. He continued to work professionally in Europe through 2019, receiving grant support from both the Austrian and Israeli Governments for his personal dance work, the work of his collective, and for the danceWEB scholarship program, which is part of ImPulseTanz festival in Vienna, Austria. While in Salzburg, Yali, in collaboration with seven other members, founded the Yugsamas Movement Collective.
Yali’s style of movement can be described as structured improvisation. The task at hand is to be highly attentive to the present moment, acutely aware of the situations that are being created, and to be able to instantly channel the unfolding narrative. Improvisation is a place of alchemy where one can create a dynamic of emotions that are tangible and accessible. Yali has been a saxophonist for most of his life. Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane has been a profound influence on Yali’s perspective of expression in an improvisation. Yali also has a long history in competitive athletics such as Taekwondo, swimming, cross-country running and more, which has given him a deep-seated relationship to his physicality and understanding of the moving body. Yali has been practicing Iyengar Yoga for over 10 years and is currently teaching the Iyengar method.
Yali began to collaborate through dance with double bass improviser Paul Erhard in 2020 in Michigan. Yali and Paul immediately had a strong connection and began to base their work on improvisation and the freedom of the present moment. In 2024, Yali and Paul have branched out from their duo work to collaborate with dancer Benjamin Cheney and double bass improviser Betsy Soukup in Improvisation Quartet. Since 2022, saxophonist Yali and Paul have been exploring sonic worlds the blend jazz and modal improvisation.
Projects and collaborations include (amongst others): With the Wind with double bass improvisor Paul Erhard (Michigan 2020); War and Love with Matan Levkowich (Austria 2018); Gala by Jérôme Bel (Austria 2016), Boom Bodies Doris Uhlich (Austria 2016); Let the Bodies Speak Yugsamas Movement Collective in collaboration with Julia Schwartzbach (Austria 2015); Students of Harmony Matija Ferlin (Austria 2014); Hit the Boom Doris Uhlich (Austria 2015); “It Could Be Such Fun Ma…” Mzamo Nondlwana (Austria 2014).