On Thursday, April 20, 2023 Israeli artist Hillel Kogan presented his satirical and brilliant work We Love Arabs at the Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz in Los Angeles. Kogan is an artist who clearly investigates his own strengths and weakness as critically as he does those of the rest of society. With We Love Arabs, Kogan not only confronts the desperately complex relationship between Jews and Arabs in his home country, but he dives head on into his own preconceived ideas about the “other”. By doing so, he challenges the audience to plunge into those waters with him.
“We Love Arabs” by Hillel Kogan – Photo by Maria Grazia Lenzini
Kogan opens the performance standing quietly in an arched back pose that resembles a figure on a Grecian urn. He then ventures into a long, rapid speaking, and hilarious monologue/dialogue describing his thoughts about making art. He describes how he invented a new creative process called the “Instrumental Choreographic System” for making use of props and then later relates that he has also created the “Geometrical Choreographic System” to incorporate geometry into new patterns and directions with the body. One comes close to believing that these to theories are real, and perhaps in his own mind they are.
Kogan’s comedic timing is superb in how his thoughts enter into one’s mind, churn around and then reflect reality. His hand gestures are road signs to what he is trying to articulate but cannot. And sometimes, does not.
“We Love Arabs” by Hillel Kogan – Photo by Gadi Dagon
He then introduces a dancer who will be working with him on a new duet. When he learns the man’s name, Mourad Bouayad, we see Kogan faced with his own prejudgment about what someone with an Arab name should look like and what religion they practice. He has Bouayad draw the Star of David on his shirt, and in turn draws the Crescent and Star that symbolized the Islamic faith on Bouayad’s forehead. It turns out, however, that Bouayad was not only born in Paris, France but he is a Christian. To prove a point about preconceived notions, Bouayad describes how he was detained in Israeli customs for over six hours purely because of his last name.
“We Love Arabs” by Hillel Kogan – Photo by Gadi Dagon
Kogan takes the audience through an incredibly intricate and hilarious process of creating the duet. The movement has echoes of the Gaga Technique that both men trained in, but Kogan has used it as a tool to free his own choreographic voice. It is amazing to watch movement phrases that appear to be invented on the spot while knowing that they were developed over the past ten years since We Love Arabs was first created.
In another section, Kogan tells Bouayad that there is a wall onstage, but stresses that it reflects that the two of them are equal because they each face the wall, just from different sides. This symbolism does more than expose the physical wall that separates Israel and Palestine, but how we all build invisible barriers between ourselves and those we unreasonably, and even unconsciously, think lesser of.
“We Love Arabs” by Hillel Kogan – Photo by Gadi Dagon
Two very physical movement sections involve Bouayad holding a knife while Kogan banishes a fork, and later a bowl of hummus that Kogan smears onto his and Bouayad’s face after he explains that spread is how he identifies with being Jewish. Here we see the true physical abilities that each man possesses and more importantly, Kogan’s comedic genius visualized within the movement.
“We Love Arabs” by Hillel Kogan – Photo by Gadi Dagon
Although We Love Arabs evokes laughter throughout, the satire is direct, honest, poignant, thought provoking, and stinging. During the Q&A that followed the performance, Kogan said that the idea for the work was conceived while questioning himself on what he was actually doing to help improve the relationships between the Israelis and the Arabs. He realized that all he was doing was voting each year, and therefore set out to make what we witnessed at the Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz, a true work of art that highlights his own social biases while creating a mirror for the audience to see theirs.
The Text and Choreography for We Love Arabs was by Hillel Kogan; The Lighting Designer was Amir Castro; and the music was by Kazem Alsher and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
To watch a trailer of We Love Arabs, please click HERE.
For more information about Hillel Kogan, please visit his website.
For more information about Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Hillel Kogan’s We Love Arabs – Photo by Eli Katz
