The Jerusalem Israel Festival, four weeks of indoor and outdoor performances featuring top talent from all over the world, officially opened here Saturday night. But the high ranking guests, including President Chaim Herzog and Premier Yitzhak Shamir who attended, encountered disgruntled Israeli artists outside the Binyanei Haooma convention hall protesting against the alleged neglect of local talent in favor of foreigners.
The main Israeli contribution to the Festival is an exhibition of “180 years of sculpture in Israel” at the Israel Museum. Far more spectacular was the preopening event Friday night when four members of Japan’s Sankai Juku dance troupe, wearing white body paint and little else, hung by their feet from the walls of the Old City and were slowly lowered to the ground before the eyes of 8,000 tense spectators.
Earlier last Friday, the Bond Street Theater Coalition from New York, performed circus tricks on the Ben Yehuda Mall in downtown Jerusalem. About 500 overseas artists are participating in the Festival.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
