Updated: Art vigil will protest Israeli dance troupe's L.A. show

The first planned action from a newly organized U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is an ad-hoc display of political art protesting another presentation of art: the performance Saturday night at UCLA's Royce Hall by Israel's Batsheva Dance Company.

Edie Pistolesi, an art professor at Cal State Northridge, said she has been busy spray-painting baby shoes and booties red in her backyard and fashioning posters out of baby blankets that she and other protesters aim to hang from a clothesline outside Royce Hall before the performance. The aim: a "Silent Visual Vigil" to protest Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and the recent invasion of Gaza.

"I've decided to keep the same message, like a mantra" in the posters, Pistolesi said: "400 children of Gaza will not dance, because Israel killed them." 

Ohan Naharin, artistic director and choreographer of Batsheva Dance, which was co-founded by Martha Graham in 1964, recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that "my work stays away from any religious, national, political and ethnic connotation."

Naharin added that if the protests are "against the abuse of power by the Israeli army in the [Gaza] war," and "the occupation ... I agree on both of those things."

Nevertheless, protests have been mounted in several cities, including Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Vancouver, British Columbia, on a current North American tour that began in late January and ends Wednesday at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music.

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon David Sefton, UCLA Live’s artistic and executive director gave this statement about the silent vigil and suggested boycott of the Batsheva Dance Company performance:

I certainly respect the right of protestors to express their opinions on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. At the same time, I am disappointed that they would, by advocating a boycott of Batsheva’s performances at Royce Hall, attempt to silence he artistic voice of this outstanding dance company.

It is the mission of UCLA Live to present the finest performers from all parts of the world to Los Angeles’ cosmopolitan  audience.  We do that because we believe in the power of culture to communicate and the need for cultural dialogue over cultural boycott.

Sherna Berger Gluck, a professor emeritus of women's studies and history from Cal State Long Beach who is on the academic and cultural boycott group's organizing committee, said it's not Batsheva's content, but its context, that makes it fair game.

Batsheva Dance, whose performers are not all Israeli, gets government funding, Gluck said, and is commonly viewed and promoted as a "cultural ambassador." 

"You can't ... dissociate yourself" from policies that the academic and cultural boycott group and seven other organizations joining in the UCLA protest consider war crimes, Gluck said. "Six of our endorsing groups are mainly Jewish groups; I am Jewish myself, but our [academic] group is very diverse."

Gluck said there had long been talk of forming a U.S. academic and cultural boycott of Israel along the lines of boycotts in Europe and Great Britain, aimed at pressuring Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians. "It was difficult to get started, but the assault on Gaza pushed it over the edge." The 13 organizing committee members are academics from eight California campuses, including UCLA, USC, Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach, as well as professors from Antioch University in Seattle and an American teaching at An-Najah National University in the West Bank.

Naharin recently told the Georgia Straight, a Vancouver publication, that although he can "totally forgive and totally understand the frustration" leading to protests of Batsheva performances, "the boycott is just preventing something that is good to come out of Israel, something that opposes the violence.... Artists represent something that is usually missing in politics, which is the search for new solutions."

Pistolesi, the Northridge art professor, has a different view of the artist's role in a charged debate: "It's very hard or impossible to extricate yourself from the real world.... The ideal and belief that art is all about itself and nothing else, I think that's over. Art is always about culture and what's happening to real human beings."

Pistolesi and Gluck said they don't expect dancegoers to stop in their tracks outside Royce Hall and refuse to attend because they see protesters holding posters. "But if people sit in the audience and the images stay with them while they're there, maybe that will change some minds," Pistolesi said.

Dispensing with typical protest chants and slogans and using an art vigil instead made sense, Gluck said: It's less likely to lead to "people shouting at each other.... And if you have very strong images, each one is worth a thousand words. And these are going to be powerful images."

-- Mike Boehm

Top photo: Batsheva Dance Company performs at Royce Hall in 2006. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Bottom photo: Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company. Credit: Bruce Long

Comments

[Humanitarian]

All things Israel should be boycotted until the Israeli government does a complete 180 when I comes to policy regarding Palestine and the related humanitarian issues. The US should end all support of Israel based on the countless humanitarian atrocities their government has committed year after year, why should our taxes pay for them to kill, and cause unnecessary suffering?

[Mendy Spencer]

Are you kidding me? Israel defends itself against constant bombardment and these freaks want to protest a ballet? Wake up! Palestinians allowed Hamas into their region with open arms and they got what they deserved. If college professors like Edie Pistolesi do not have anything better to do than spray paint baby shoes, her students and Cal State are being robbed. It is sad.

[Donald Frazell]

I am no apologist for Israel, they have done much wrong that has come back to bite them. Destroying the Palestinians economy will only keep life there at a low level of warfare for generations. Wealth breeds peace. Want and despair briing War.

But Israel not only had every right to invade Gaza, it was their duty. What other role dos a governmnet have but to protect its people? The constant firing of rockets for years led to this, true, most falling harmlessly in fields. But no one can take that from an outside source for long adn be considered a state. One must defend ones nation. And the rockets continue. Hamas does not seek peace. They rule from the use of fear, and want war. It is not a simple situation.

This is as knee jerk a reaction by the left as the right in their desire to promote Israel at all costs. There is no simple answer, these are people, millions of them, not a class room theoretical problem. If this dance troupe is any good I would go, I certainly wouldnt to show signs of support for Israel either. These are artists, if they bring works of power and passion, that truly evoke what is best in man, humbled before god, and seeking peace on earth, then I wish them well.

I am no dance expert, so will stay out of that, but this politicization seems very childish, wanting things to be all better ovenight, with dreams of grandeur attached. Like anyone cares about them, which is what they want. Look at ME. Its not about the reality in the region, it is those protestings desire for meaning, but not earning it.

Ignore them, this is not a state sponsored troupe, go by what they bring as human beings and artists, not as a symbol of either side, for no true artist would ever do that.

art collegia delenda est

[Jonathan K]

When governments fail to act to protect human rights, ordinary citizens must take to the streets to protest injustice and picket and/or boycott cultural, academic and sports events where the offender's citizens participate. South Africa was freed from racism and oppression only after years of protests by rock stars, students and artists garnered enough attention that world governments began to impose the complete boycott that caused a change in power.

These protests are not meant to personally denigrate artists. Rather, it is to publicly remind everyone that the government of the participants is repressive. hopefully, the artists will also go back home to question their government about repressive practices

South African apartheid fell because of the end of the cold war. The US government no longer needed, or felt it needed, to back the Afrikaaner government as a bulwark agaisnt communism as seen in Mozambique and Angola. Student, rocker, and artiste protests were the usual case of jumping on the bandwagon late in the game for its own self glorifcation. Black folks and good people around the world had been protesting against the caste system for decades before it becamse"hip" and cool. Gandhi had started his career as a lawyer defending the "colored", meaning those not of black or white designation, getting his son and protestors out of jail. Though he did not help the native Africans.

Artistes always making it about them, like the arrogance of someone coming on here and signing themselves as "humanitarian', like they are some martyr and no one else cares. And you claiming thata you will teach these Israelies a thing or two about caring about ones fellow man.Riiiiight.

art collegia delenda est

[William Brenner]

I was going to go and counter protest the misguided protesters until I read that the director of the Israeli Batsheva dance group asays she agrees with the protesters. Israel's biggest threat comes from the Left Wing Israeli fifth column within. UCLA Center for Near East Studies has Argentine born Gaby Piterberg, Professor of History who lived in Israel served in the IDF and now has found a new home at UCLA where he pillories Israel at every turn, tells his students that the US has committed total genocide on its native Americans who no longer exist( Google Native Americans and you will see that there are 6 Million people in the US who claim native Amnerican ancestry, and probably a lot more who pass). Jokers like him are supported by taxpayer $. You'd think he'd write about The real Genocide of the native population that occurred in Argentina. I guess he decided he could make a better career out of Israel bashing in the good old leftie academia in the USA.

[Marta]

During tough economic times, antisemitism always rises. It's been that way forever and it will always be that way. The Gaza situation is only a convenient "content" around which to rally preexisting anti-Jewish sentiments. If it weren't Gaza, it would be something else. Whenever you're shopping for "content," there is always a store open.

[T]

Clearly those individuals who have commented about "human rights violations" by Israel either have absolutely no clue about this subject matter or are deliberately selecting Israel and giving a pass to the real perpetrators of human rights violations: Hamas. Where are their crocodile tears for the Fatah members who where summarily slaughtered, recently in Gaza by Hamas?. Where are their tears for the Palestinian children who suffered as a result of Hamas stealing humanitarian supplies from the UN? Where are their tears for the innocent women who are victim of "Honor Killings" or those who were used as human shields? Where are the tears for the innocent Israelis who until this day suffer from bombardment by these "democratically elected" infantile homicidal maniacs? Admit it folks, your "day is night" and "the world is flat" logic only resonates with your fellow haters.

[Steve]

These protesters astonish me. They have managed to convince themselves that they are doing this for the people of Gaza, yet where are their bleeding hearts for people suffering elsewhere in the world? If a Russian dance troupe were to come to UCLA, would these people protest them? What about Cuban dancers, or Iranian dancers? The only country that brings these protesters out of the woodwork is Israel. It strikes me as a very ominous sign of things to come whenever any Jewish group, including the Jewish State, is singled out for condemnation. Furthermore, these same people are the ones who constantly remind us that the only way toward peace and security is to reach out to our enemies and listen to them. Why can't they practice what they preach when it comes to their disagreements with Israel? Is Israel always right? No, of course not. But that is not an excuse to completely sever ties with it.

[Allyson Rowen Taylor]

The Protestors clearly have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, then protest Israeli dancers. It is interesting that the LAT choose to write about the protestors, and not about the dance. Is this how Martha Grahams dancers would have been written about in "Arts and Leisure". The link to the anti Israel protestors is tantamount to the LAT supporting this boycott. I am not shocked that this is the angle the writer choose to spin, but I am disguisted that the LAT printed this article. If these people cared about Gaza, they would understand first why Israel which is a soverign state that has EVERY right to defend their citizens. Gaza was given to the Palestinian Arabs for hope, and they turned it into a nightmare. It is their fault, Arafats fault, Hamas' fault, and the fault of the people who allow gays to be hung, women to be "honor:" killed, and the teaching of hate using Mickey Mouse and other stolen images on PA TV. Shame on them and shame on the LAT

[Carole Silverman]

After all of the suicide bombings, it is very sad that Israel is now getting blamed for trying to defend their country.

I read in the L.A. Times that Robert Mugabe called on Zimbabwe's last white farmers to leave. How come we don't hear anyone complaining about the unjust division of land between whites and blacks that is a legacy of colonialism and white minority rule. White farmers in Zimbabwe are challenging the right of government to confiscate their land before a regional tribunal of African judges. In addition to all of the above, Zimbabwe faces the world's highest inflation rate, a hunger crisis and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 4,000 people since August.

On the other hand, Israel is a very successful country and has given a lot in the fields of medicine and science to the world. If the Palestinians were willing to live in peace, Israel would be able to help them too.

I'm against war because I lost my father in WWII, and a Star of David marked his grave in Okinawa. My father was a Chief Pharmacist's Mate who helped the wounded; and in addition to leaving a widow, he left a seven-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son behind. My father included in one of his letters that we destroy rats, snakes, and poisonous insects injurious to humanity so it is not cold blooded but even more justified when we should destroy thinking animals who are destructive to humanity because the lower animals destroy us in the natural course of their existence and might not even mean to do so, but whether justified or not, we do ruthlessly rid ourselves of them. When it comes to people, who with deliberate intent and aforethought, do the same thing, we should not have any compunction about it, rather than wait for emotional disturbances to guide us. My father also wrote that it was too bad that the entry into World War II was confused by political and national differences, events that clouded the real issue that he believed was the real cause and to bring about the successful fruition of such a cause.

From what my father wrote, I think history is repeating itself, and it's too bad that we didn't learn anything from what happened before WWII. Innocent people get killed in every war, but the longer we wait to stop the people who want war, the more people will be getting killed when the war really starts. In addition to losing my father, my grandmother lost a sister in a concentration camp, and I'm 2nd generation American because my grandmother and six of her siblings got out of Europe before Hitler came to power. The next war will be different because the Jewish people refuse to be victims like they were the last time, and the people who don't want the Jewish people to fight back would be doing more good if they would go over to Gaza and help those people build their country instead of boycotting the Batsheva Dance Company.

[L]

I am horrified by the actions of the Israeli government toward the Palestinian people. That said, I don't agree with boycotting the performance of Israeli artists who don't support the actions of their government.

I recently heard the Artistic Director of a world class New York dance company talk about how difficult it is to get bookings in Europe, where his company had danced for years, because of the Bush Administration's war in Iraq and other international policies. He was able to use his expatriate status to encourage international bookings. He and the members of his company were all against the Iraq war.

If the content of the art, and the words of the artists are critical of these objectionable policies, what sense does it make to punish the artists for the actions of their governments that they have no control of. These artists, wish their government would listen to them and embrace humanitarian peace loving policies. Why would we discourage people from attending their performances?

[Knut Grossmann]

I always admired sport, art, or other cultural groups from the US that perform internationally and sometimes in countries that are otherwise politically at odds (to say the least) with their personal views. This happened a while a go with China, is happening now with Iran, and others. Those groups were always greeted by the people with great appreciation because it showed that people are the better ambassadors of a country than governments.
Following Edie Pistolesi's path however, it seems to be time now that any university, college, opera and theater house, and sports arena in the world needs to form a worldwide boycott of US American cultural groups in protest of the engagement of the US in the Iraq war.
It's really sad. I have been a far lefty all my life and supported freedom movements with money and personal involvement for a long time but for some reason a small group among us - like Pistolesi - never learn but rather stay ignorant, dumb, and self-gratulatory.