Aviva

By: Amos Lassen

"AVIVA"

Dance, Surrealism and Gender

Amos Lassen

"Aviva" blends dance and surrealist interrogations of gender identity. It is an amazing visual feat that is "often mind-bending, breaking down assumptions and putting things back together in ways that are illuminating and expansive." With themes of romance and dance, "Aviva" is sexy. It is set in a world of gender-fluid, frequently unclothed bodies. Directed by Boaz Yakin, this is an impressionistic film that "takes a timeless, universal love story and makes it an up-to-the-moment exploration of gender dynamics by incorporating exuberant dance sequences choreographed by former Batsheva Dance Company dancer Bobbi Jene Smith".

"Aviva is a young Parisian who has an online romance with a New Yorker named Eden. After a long-distance courtship they meet in person, fall in love, and eventually marry. The two lovers are played by four different dancer/actors simultaneously. As the young relationship grows, the lovers struggle as their shifting masculine and feminine sides battle for primacy-both inside and outside their bodies, as expressed through movement and dialogue."

The film captures today's restless, frenzied and fluid time and breaks open the demystification of the male-female dynamic.