Kol Demama
Efrati began working with deaf dancers in 1967, then formed Kol Demama, integrating ten dancers hearing impairment together with and ten dancers without. Efrati cues the hearing impaired dancers by pounding a board on the floor or a dancer stomping on the floor, creating a vibration that can be picked up by the dancers feet, similar to theories of an elephant hearing via vibrations perceived through its feet. Nijinsky is said to have used this method to cue his dancers for Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, as the rhythms were too complex for Nijinsky’s dancers to follow. The dancers also get their cues from the vibration of bass notes in the music, eye contact, touch, movement of others, and lighting cues, all woven into the choreography. Kol Demama has a Tel Aviv school for dancers, teaching several hundred young dancers each year. Efrati intends Kol Demama to be judged on artistic grounds, "I am neither a social worker nor therapist, I am a dance creator."
Read more about this topic: Moshe Efrati