Noa Rotem turns grief into art in her evolving dance-theatre work SALT

THE word salt evokes many images for Noa Rotem – tears, oceans, sweat, ritual, preservation, the body. So when it came to choosing a title for her intimate dance-theatre work, it felt like the perfect fit.

SALT is a one-hour performance featuring four women performers exploring grief as a shared physical experience, like a tidal force moving through their bodies. Drawing on abstraction, repetition, humour and accumulation, the work creates an experience that is both visceral and poetic.

“For me, SALT isn’t attempting to explain grief,” Rotem said. “It’s using performance as a way of exploring it, transforming it and creating something from it.

“I think it will resonate with people who enjoy contemporary performance that is visual, physical and open to interpretation.”

Developed over more than a year, the work explores questions including: How do we create images, rituals, metaphors and performances capable of holding difficult experiences? How do we transform personal experience into something shared, physical and poetic?

Now based in Mullumbimby Creek, Rotem was born in Israel, grew up in Kenya and moved to Australia as a teenager. She began dancing at a young age and went on to study at the University of Sydney and the Actors’ College. Her training has also included work with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York, studies in Body-Mind Centering in Paris and dance and performance training in Tel Aviv.

Over a career spanning more than two decades, Rotem has worked across performance, directing and facilitation in Australia and internationally.

Long before SALT took shape, a recurring image appeared throughout her creative practice.

“They would appear again and again across different productions – a chorus of women dressed in black. It became a kind of artistic haunting. I didn’t fully understand why I kept returning to that image.

“Years later, I remembered a recurring childhood fantasy: that one day everyone would walk into the streets and cry at the same time. The oceans would rise, the gutters would overflow, and we would be washed by our own tears.

“Then, during a period marked by war and increasing polarisation, I became interested in whether art-making could also be a form of peace-making. There were many different ideas and iterations that emerged from that question. Eventually I became curious about what would happen if I placed this chorus of women centre stage and allowed a work to emerge from there.”

Currently an unfunded independent project, SALT has been developed through substantial unpaid labour from the artists. Funds raised through an upcoming work-in-progress showing at The Drill Hall Theatre in Mullumbimby will go directly towards the performers’ fees and supporting the continued development of the production, while also giving audiences an opportunity to experience the work as it evolves.

“On a practical level, because SALT is an independent project, these showings have also helped generate momentum, community support and ongoing sustainability for the work,” Rotem said.

SALT is at The Drill Hall Theatre in Mullumbimby on Saturday 4 July. Tickets are available via Humantix.