Inbal Pinto (; born 1969) is an Israeli

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

r, choreographer, set and costume designer. She is the artistic director of the Inbal Pinto Dance Company, which she founded in 1992.

Early life and career

Inbal was born in Nahariya, Israel. She studied graphic design at the

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...

in Jerusalem. Her first experience as a choreographer was a collaboration with Sally-Anne Friedland for the piece "Dov Hoz 19". She joined the Young company of Batsheva Dance Company as a dancer and then danced at the main Company. Inbal was a participant at the ICCP program at the American Dance Festival in 1997 and 1998. Pinto choreographed for classical theatre plays, such as

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

's “The Chairs” and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's “

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

Career as choreographer

Her first creation, “Dio-Can,” a combination of action painting and dance, won the Gvanim B’Machol Dance competition. In 1993 Pinto created “Versus” for the young

Batsheva Dance Company The Batsheva Dance Company (Hebrew: להקת בת שבע) is a renowned dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964. Its inception was inspired by Israel's growing inter ...

. In 1996-97 Inbal created “Wrapped”. In the year 2000 she won the New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for her outstanding performance “Wrapped”. In 1999 she created “Oyster”, a co-production of Maison de la dance Lyon for the Haifa Municipal Theatre, for which she received the Israeli Theatre Award for the best event in the Performing Arts a year later. She also won the Ministry of Culture Award for Dance in 2007, and the Tel-Aviv Municipality Award for Artistic achievement in the same year. In 2011 she won again the Ministry of Culture Award. In 2002 Inbal began collaborating with

Avshalom Pollak Avshalom Pollak (; born October 5, 1970, also known as Avshalom Polak) is an Israeli actor, director, choreographer and dance company artistic director. Early life and education Avshalom was born in Haifa, Israel. He was trained as a classical a ...

. The company changed its name to 'Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company'. Together they created not only dance productions, but also

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

productions, such as

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of th ...

's “Armide” in Wiesbaden and Tel-Aviv, and 2013

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

's “The Cunning Little Vixen” in Bergen. In 2007 Inbal and Avshalom were invited by Robby Barnett Artistic Director of Pilobolus Dance Theatre to collaborate and created "Rushes" together. In 2013 Pinto and Pollak directed, choreographed and designed the set and costumes for the musical “The Cat That Lived a Million Times”, an adaptation of a book by Yoko Sano, produced in Tokyo. In 2018 Inbal created "Fugue" collaborating with the Composer Maya Belsitzman. Since mid-2018 Pinto works as an independent artist. In 2019 she directed together with Amir Kliger and designed the musical play based on Haruki Murakami's “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” in Tokyo. Between 2021 and 2022 Pinto directed and designed the opera “Pagliacci” by

Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo (23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Throughout his career, Leoncavallo produced numerous operas and songs but it is his 1892 opera ''Pagliacci'' that remained his lasting co ...

at the

Israeli Opera The Israeli Opera, formerly known as the New Israeli Opera, is the principal opera company of Israel. It was founded in 1985 after lack of Israeli government funding led to the demise of the Israel National Opera. Since 1994 the Tel Aviv Perfor ...

, and a full evening duet, “Living Room,” for the Suzanne Dellal Center. In 2023, Pinto directed, choreographed, and designed the stage adaptation of the animated series "Future Boy Conan" by Hayao Miyazaki. She collaborated with French-Israeli director David Mambouch.

Selected work

* “Dio-Can” 1992 * “Versus” 1993 * “A chance for a 100” 1994 * “Wrapped” 1998 * “Oyster” 1999 * “Boobies” 2002 * “What Good Would the moon be” 2004 * “Armide” 2003 * “Shaker” 2006 * “Armide” 2006 * “Rushes” 2007 * “Hydra” 2007 * “Trout” 2008 * “Toros” 2010 * “Bombyx mori” 2011 * “Goldfish” 2012 * "Cunning little vixen” 2013 * ”The cat that lived a million times” 2013 * "Dust" 2013 * "Wallflower" 2014 * “Wrapped” 2015 (renewed production) * “Icetree” 2017 * ״Rashomon” 2018 * "Fugue" 2018 * “The wind- up chronicle” - 2019 * Living Room”- 2021 * “Pagliacci” - 2022 * Boulevard of broken dreams-2022 * Future Boy Conan- 2023

Awards

*2000

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

for "Wrapped" *2000 Israeli Theater Academy award for "Oyster" *2004 The landau Award for the Arts of the Stage *2007 The Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture award for creation *2011 The Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture awards for Artistic achievements and performance *2014 The Israeli Dance Critics Circle award "Best Dance Show” for "Wallflower"

References

External links

*
Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak's VimeoIsraeli Opera Web SiteIsraeli Dance Web SiteSuzanne Dellal Dance Center Web SiteJewish Theatre on OysterJPOST Reviewing "Wallflower"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Inbal 1969 births Living people Israeli female dancers Israeli dancers Israeli choreographers Israeli women choreographers Contemporary dancers