Our story- The Establishment Story of Hakvuyza
This is the story of Liat Barkan.
Liat established “Hakvutza dance school” in 2001, together with a group of friends, and managed it until 2005. In 2015, Liat returned to the group as a professional director and as a teacher of contact improvisation. Today, she teaches in the full two-year course and coordinates the study programs within the group. Liat lives in Hadera with her partner and three children.
This is how it all began.
At the age of twenty-four, I stumbled upon the studio of the Vertigo Dance Company in Jerusalem. A man stood by the window, peering inside, and I stopped beside him. Inside, they danced, and I remained glued to the window. What happened inside completely enchanted me. It spoke in the language of my soul. An hour after leaving, I could hear my heart quietly singing: I want to dance, dance, dance.
Until that time, I never danced. I studied cinema at the “Sam Spiegel” School in Jerusalem, was heavily involved in writing, and always felt insecure, not flexible, not thin enough in anything related to movement. And now, I wanted to dance. I struggled with the feeling that I wasn’t talented, that I didn’t have the right body, that I had no right to enter this world.
I started attending classes. I stood in the last line, behind everyone, and tried to absorb the steps. As I went to more classes, I felt that this is what I want to do all the time. I struggled with the thought that twenty-four is too old to start, and that I’m just someone standing in the last line, hiding behind everyone, confused with movements and steps. At the end of the semester, I quit studying cinema and went looking for a dance school.
But I didn’t fit into any of those schools that existed here twenty years ago. They all required a distinguished classical background or a long “preparatory” course in classical dance. Some offered studies in “movement and dance notation.” And I wanted to dance. For many months, I studied with different teachers, different techniques of contemporary dance, contact, vocal development, acrobatics. It cost a lot, and I cleaned half of the houses in Jerusalem. A fantastic idea formed in my heart about a special school that would focus on these areas, and I very much hoped that someone, some great dancer, would do it for me.
Several years passed, and I continued to attend classes in the evenings after work, if I still had the strength. I already began to understand that no one would likely establish my dance school. I met many people like me, in their twenties and thirties, who didn’t just dance in their childhood but had a passion for it. I encountered this hunger so many times, the yearning for dance that allows us to feel and be. I mingled with them, went to classes with them, and told them about my idea until one day Itai Vizer stood up with me and said, “Why not? You and I can do it. Next year – it will happen.”
It was around April. In order to start implementing the idea, I went for advice.
Tzila Piran, who accompanied the process of establishing the school from the beginning with faith, connected me with a respected dancer, and I told him about my idea. He rolled a cigarette, thought for a moment, and said something like this: “It’s a nice idea, but I’ll tell you, because I know a bit about this world, you can’t manage without using your elbows to get ahead. And you seem like a nice girl, but you don’t have elbows, it shows from a mile away. Find a shark-producer who will lead the project, otherwise, it won’t work. Afterward, I met a well-known choreographer who told me he had been trying to establish such a school for several years, but everything moves very slowly, no approvals, no budgets, and in general, if I rely on a budget, it’s better to turn to someone known and respected in the field, Only such a person can promote the matter, and even that is not guaranteed, of course. Just for fun, I consulted with an accountant. He asked for data, calculated some numbers, and informed me bluntly that it’s an economic illusion, a black hole, and anyone who values their peace of mind should stay away. I left there a bit shaken and called Itai, who said, “I think I found us a studio. Are you coming to see it?”
“A school” is a bit of an intimidating term, so we looked at it like this: What do we need? Let’s say, fifteen students, five teachers, and a studio. Itai was assigned to find a studio, and I was responsible for finding teachers. Regarding students, we thought there would be a few… We didn’t invest systematically in advertising, and the internet wasn’t what it is today. I remember writing about ten handwritten ads and hanging them in various places in Tel Aviv. I don’t even remember what I wrote there, but within a few weeks, people started calling.
From Giv’atayim, Ashdod, Metar, and Jerusalem. Someone from Kibbutz Na’ot Semadar, an isolated kibbutz, called. Someone from India called and wanted to know if it’s true because if it is, she’s coming, and we should save a spot for her. People called who heard about us from a casual conversation that took place next to them on a bus. Or by the sea. They heard some kind of story about a group of people raising a project where a group of non-dancers would work with five dancers and learn to dance, and they wanted to know if it’s real. People started paying deposits to ensure their spot. “The list,” the first Excel file of the school, began to take shape.
Half a year later, in September 2001, we had:
A list of twenty-three students who promised to come from all corners of the earth. Although we never met some of them and didn’t receive any down payment from them, they said they would come, and we worked on believing.
Five selected teachers.
A studio at the Jewish-Arab Community Center in Jaffa, three times a week.
On the morning of the first day, I stood in front of the entrance to the studio, with a black hole where there usually is a stomach, a floating balloon where there always is a heart, and a paper with a sign that read: “A school of courage”.
And that was just the beginning. After that, truly magical things happened. The first year of the school is etched in my memory as a rich and liberating experience, full of crawling and flying, phone calls, blueprints, arguments, doubts, fears, and happiness, with loads of dance classes where I made every effort to prove that at least technically, I had elbows.
I had the amazing privilege to learn and teach at ‘Hakvutza in Jaffa’, now known as “Hakvutza,” a school established and managed by the students in its early years. I had the incredible privilege to meet and work with wonderful people, including Itai Vizer, who co-founded the school with me, and Rubik Osovski, who led the school during its first four years. Their vision, belief, and open hearts made the place what it was.
I had the privilege to get to know and work with all the students of the first year, who took an active part in the organization and establishment, along with all the amazing teachers who worked at the school over the years, with everyone who worked in the administration of the school, and with many others. So many people contributed to this place, giving of themselves abundantly and with love, and to all of them, I wish success and the magic of this special place.
