In Do It Yourself, choreographer Hillel Kogan places the dancer Danielle Agami at the center of a contentious discourse on identity. How can one celebrate female power within a culture that relentlessly sets the body against the self?
Do It Yourself, by choreographer Hillel Kogan for performer Danielle Agami, is a dance piece that exposes the absurd negotiations of female identity in contemporary Western culture.
Moving between dance, rap, multilingual text, and autobiographical storytelling, Agami navigates a maze of identities: Israeli, American, Moroccan, European, woman, dancer, outsider.
Inspired by Scheherazade, the performance transforms storytelling into a survival strategy. The body refuses to provide clear answers without giving up on virtuosity, sexuality, and honesty.
Hillel Kogan is a choreographer working at the intersection of dance and performance. His works, presented internationally, cross the boundaries of dance and combine genres, texts, humor, and drama to explore questions from current cultural discourse, such as identity and the cultural distribution of power. Alongside his choreographic practice across dance, opera, and theater, Kogan engages dance as a means for critical cultural and political reflection.
Credits:
Choreography: Hillel Kogan
Performed by Danielle Agami
Light designer: Bambi (Avi Yona Bueno)
Costume advisor: Ariel Cohen
Co-production of Hillel Kogan and ate9, France; Centre national de la danse, Pantin;
Baryshnikov Arts Fellowship at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, NY; Maison de la Culture de Bourges
Photos: Victoria Sendra
