A performance between movement and words by Aharona Israel
‘Workout Manual’ goes back in time and to the sources of physical culture in Israel, and traces the beginning of physical education lessons taught in Hebrew by the mythological teacher Zvi Nishri, at the Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv.
Based on archival research, gymnastics exercises are applied to a contemporary choreographic context, accompanied by quotes from Nishri’s original notes, which reflects with irony the relationship between past and present, and between physical language to verbal language.
The show moves between past and present, expressing humorously the tension that underlies Israeli culture between the subject and the existing order. Issues of obedience and disobedience reveal a cultural baggage that exists in the ‘Israeli body’ since the establishment of the state.
The performance ‘Workout Manual’ was created in continuation to the video art ‘Lexicon’ by Aharona Israel, which was exhibited at the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Museum during the 2023-2024. Following this, Aharona was invited by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Museum and the Tel Aviv Municipality to create additional video work and posters for the ‘Gymnastics in Hebrew’ campaign in honor of Hebrew Language Day 2025.
