Put that away and talk to me. By Avi Mazliah

A story by Avi Mazliah, traveling through India with a dancing body…

“When I arrived in Kasul ( a town in northern India) at night after a long trip, pretty close to the beginning of my journey, I was struck for the very first time with a deep sorrow that would not go away. My body was tired form carrying masses of bags and equipment while I searched unsuccessfully for a guest house, along with feelings of longing and hardship that would not leave me. That night was a night I will never forget. I finally found a dodgy room, got into bed and listened to James Blakes’ latest album, when the song “ Put that away and talk to me” started playing. When it ended, I played it back, listened to it throughout the night and started fantasizing. I let the song seep in and slowly “Put everything aside and talk”, to the little boy inside me who couldn’t calm down. The next morning I woke up energized, moved all the furniture, ashtrays and everything that was lying around the guest house. The owners stared at me confused, not understanding what has gotten into me. I started to build a sequence of movements, a routine that portrayed a general feel of disquiet against a pushing silence. I memorized everything, set my GoPro camera on the ground and filmed myself. A few days passed, I was in a different place and again, that same feeling. And again I danced. And again I calmed down. Half of the song had choreographed movements, the other half improvisation of what the current situation had birthed, along with the location, the people around me or lack there of. Everything came from a place of openness and a will to change, so when these feeling came back a second time, I knew I had something strong from an artist’s point of view. I started documenting this little feeling that I had and the release from it, in practically every single place I have been since taking off and landing back in Israel. Three minutes, in which I dance, move, touch and smile at an unknown place. To cut the long story short, I returned to Israel with ninety different takes where I dance to the same James Blake song, where I embraced myself and conveyed a physical expression to “Put everything aside, and talk”. With the difficulty of putting hundreds of minutes of raw footage into one story. I would like to thank the dozens of amazing people who accompanied me. Who moved me, felt me and saw me create this project.I want to thank Mama India for the infinite. For the rainbow of emotions people feel that I felt whilst in you, for the possibility to do all and absolutely everything. I hope you all feel the same special feelings that I felt. Please respect me and these places technically with a large computer screen and not a smartphone, volume and of course HD. And here it is… Please share this video if you liked it ”

– Avi Mazliah, actor, dancer, choreographer, musician, video artist & traveler