In her video, Ofra Zimbalista invites the viewer to a wedding, a festive occasion symbolizing a new beginning, hope, faith, commitment, and continuity. We do not know the time or place of the event, nor is there any sign of a context, religious or otherwise. The video begins with a wedding dance in the dark. The light, its source unknown, casts disturbing shadows that contrast with the white dancing figures. The bride and groom are life-size versions of the dolls that decorate wedding cakes, with their identity indicated by the style and color of their clothes and the bridal bouquet. The size of the figures makes it easier to identify with them; duplicated to create a circle of dancers, they are transformed from the individual to the universal. It is only the music to which they are dancing that hints, from the very start, that what we are watching is not a happy occasion. The wordless singing builds into a lament, a requiem, a keening dirge, alternating periodically with the sounds of percussion instruments that heighten the tension. As the camera follows the figures dancing in a circle and in couples, an invisible hand touches a torch to the wick that can now be seen to rise from their heads. This is the moment when the viewer becomes aware that the figures are made of wax, candles that have now been lit. At first the flames form halos around their heads, then penetrate deeper, making the figures translucent and depriving them of their internal organs. The wax begins to melt, distorting the figures. It is now clear that the only true dancer is the camera circling the figures and following them as they burn down. As the flames continue to burn within the now headless figures, their arms fall, their bodies are hollowed out, and they collapse on top of one another. Having lost their form, they become a pile of wax, and then the flames disappear leaving only total darkness. (Meira Perry-Lehmann) Music especially composed and performed (marimba and percussion) by Chen Zimbalista with vocals by Talya Gur Arie, filmed by Shalom Rufeisen and Yaron Meiri. The first version of this video was shown at the Edinburgh festival of 2004. Catalogue no. 609 File: Z Shoah Light Puppet Body Love
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
