conversations in ten questions 64: Ori Lenkinski

© Efrat Mazor 

What is the essence of performance in your opinion? 

To me, the essence of performance is sharing space and time with a group of people that will never again come together. 

Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How? 

I absolutely do! As both a performer and an audience member, I have felt transformed by art. I feel I never enter and exit the stage the same. There is always some evolution, development, shift that occurs in that heightened state of being watched and of performing. Whether it is a miniscule, chemical change or a life-altering epiphany, every performance presents the opportunity to grow, often in very unexpected ways.   

When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?

When I am working on a piece I try to keep my receivers open. I try to pay attention to what I am drawn to, what memories (often seemingly unrelated) arise, what music, images, movies, tv shows attract me, even what type of clothing suits the rehearsal process. Dreams certainly come into the mix. In fact, pieces are often like dreams- an associative collection of images and thoughts woven together through intuition. I believe so much of the creative process is about fate, about the right elements coming together at the right moments. 

When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one?

Usually the title comes before the work is made. This is often due to application processes for funding or festivals. As such, the title is often like the gunshot that sends runners sprinting off into a race. My titles are very simple like The Suit, Birth Preparation Course or A Dance Piece (which will premiere this October in Israel). The name is what the piece is. Any attempt for something snazzier usually leads to confusion for me. 

Are there any artist or person whom you think influenced your art most? And if there is such an artist or person, who? 

So many people influence my work. Maybe every person I meet or notice influences my work. Of course, the artists who I performed with in the past are major players in my creative life. I had a long relationship with a choreographer, Noemie Lafrance, in New York City. She creates large-scale site-specific works and I was fortunate enough to happen upon an audition for her piece Descent in 2003. We continued to work together for over a decade following that, even after I had moved to Tel Aviv. She had this incredible way of crafting an audience experience that went far far beyond anything I had seen before. I use so much of what I learned by being part of her creations in my own work now. Actually, before she began choreographing, she had a dancewear line. The unitard I wear in Birth Preparation Course was one of her designs, which I bought while in high school, years before I met her. Another influence is Rachel Erdos, a choreographer I have been working with in many capacities for the past 15 years. She is my outside and inside eye on every creation and she always knows how to push me to the places I have yet to realize I need to go to. And of course, my family is a huge influence. I am a mother of two. Motherhood is a full-body, full-psyche, full-time engagement. My daughters and husband are along with me on each journey and are constantly activating my imagination in a million ways. 

When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist? 

Connection. As artists, we have a very special ability to connect with people and between people. I think so many problems can be solved through listening and connecting. In the theater, we have the chance to be quiet, to listen, and to feel one another.

You are a dancer, actress, choreographer and a journalist; could you please elaborate on how your different identities interact with one another? 

It’s a little bit chaotic. I have a lot going on inside of my mind at any given moment. When I am in sync with myself, all these different facets of what I do fit together and enhance one another. When I am not, it feels like I am being pulled in a lot of different directions. Before I started making my own work, I always felt the need to apologize for being two things- a dancer and a writer. In creating, I have found a way for these two channels to come together. The text bolsters the movement, the dance communicates subtext. I think as I get older, my identity becomes less defined and more broad. I am a woman, a mother, a wife, a daughter and sister, and many other things. I try to embrace that complexity and not be overwhelmed by it. And my work is a place where I can unapologetically present the different sides of myself. 

If you had to translate Birth Preparation Course into a single sentence, what would that sentence be? 

Everything I wish I had known before giving birth. 

What does ‘Fringe’ signify for you? 

Fringe is an open space to try new things, unencumbered by expectations. When we make dance, we try to be dance. When we make theater, even if it’s very subconsciously, we have ideas about what theater should and can be in mind. In Fringe, we can let go of our backgrounds, training, categories and reach out and grab whatever serves us. We can embrace complexity and silliness and failure and just play.

What would you like to say to the Istanbul Fringe audience?

That I cannot wait to meet you. That I am so honored to come to your city (for the first time) and to return to Turkey with Birth Preparation Course (I performed the work at Monofest in Teatro Medresessi last summer). And please don’t forget to come say hello after the show.

 [The Turkish version of this interview was published in unlimited.]