Amphi is an artwork for an open theatre, based on a modern dance titled “Decade” by choreographer Noa Eshkol (1924-2007). In 1953, Eshkol was commissioned by the Culture Department of the United Kibbutz Movement to compose a dance for a memorial ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was held in an open space near the aqueduct in Kibbutz Lohamei Hageta’ot [Ghetto Fighters]. The dance was performed by Eshkol’s ensemble of dancers (including Naomi Polani, recipient of the Israel Prize) together with dozens of high school students under Eshkol’s instruction, accompanied by music by Herbert Brün.

Amphi by Krieger (1953/2020) recreates Eshkol’s rare work, near the site in which it originally took place. The dance was performed only once, documentation of the full performance has not been found, and the original music has been lost. Thus, the recreation of the dance can be likened to the reconstruction of an archaeological find like an ancient pot, of which only a few terracotta shards remain. On the basis of 4 minutes of silent film footage, a 40-minute choreography was composed, accompanied by a new musical score by the musician Shushan. The act of recreating Eshkol’s dance movements from 1953 was done by Ruti Sela and Mor Bashan. All the movement information gathered from the film was transcribed by Ruti Sela, using Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (EWMN).

Amphi premiered at the amphitheatre of the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, designed by the architect Shmuel Bickels (1909-1975), in summer 2020.