Five Beds / Children of the Dream – a work for 7 dancers and five beds. A collaboration between choreographer Neta Pulvermacher and composer/Drummer Yuval Gabay. based on the choreographer’s childhood memories of growing up in the children’s houses of Kibbutz Lehavot-Habashan in the 1960s. The work brings to light the unique communal living of the Israeli kibbutz, a social experiment in collectivism that has been abandoned.
Pulvermacher’s generation is the last to have been brought up in the children’s houses, where children of the kibbutz were raised communally in the hope of shaping better human beings and a better, more just and equal world. Five Beds/Children of the Dream is set in a children’s house bedroom containing five gray metal beds. Using a cinematic montage as its choreographic structure, Pulvermacher combines a mosaic of voices, text, music, and the physically charged movement of seven dancers to take the audience on a ride through the utopian hells and heavens of her childhood and youth.
Neta Pulvermacher is an acclaimed Israeli-American choreographer, dancer, director, and Professor of Dance at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD). Born and raised on Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan in Northern Israel, she graduated from Juilliard in 1985 and went on to build a thriving choreographic career across three decades in New York City before returning to Israel in 2013 to serve as Dean of Dance at JAMD. She holds an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College and an MFA from Hollins University.
As founder of the Neta Dance Company in New York, Pulvermacher created over 95 works for her own company and for ballet and modern dance companies throughout the U.S. and Israel. The company graced the stages of iconic NYC venues, including The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, and the 92nd Street Y, and toured extensively across the USA and around the world. Her bold artistic vision has driven collaborations with musicians John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, David Broza, Israeli violinist Miri Ben-Ari, English rock band XTC, and filmmaker Mira Nair, whose acclaimed film The Namesake she choreographed.
Neta’s work has been supported by major foundations and fellowships, earning her recognition from the White House. In 2024, she was awarded the Arik Einstein Prize for her sustained choreographic achievement. Her current projects include touring The Archive and a Suzanne Dellal Centre–commissioned revival of Five Beds/Children of the Dream.
Credits:
Choreography: Neta Pulvermacher
Dancers: Gali Davidovitz, Ellia Magnezi, Ofir Konesch, Daniel Ben Ami, Lucinda Zastroki, Noga Shari
Dramaturgy: Naomi Bloch Fortis
Vocal coaching: Netta Speigel
Original music: Yuval Gabai
Rehearsal director: Yael Schnell
Photos: Asya Skorik
This production is supported by the Suzanne Dellal Centre, The Ministry of Culture, Mary and Saul Sanders, Shosh and Eliezer Carmel and Osnat and Dalia Afik
