efements and a mixed population of
Arabs and Jews. The colors of blue
and yellow relate to this area.' ,
Geva, who is active with groups in
favor of the peace process, also has
done a series based on the kaffiyeh,
the Arab head covering which has
been a symbol of the Palestinian strug-
l ee against occupation.
"I try to refer to the fluctuation of
the kaffiyeh image throughout the
rears, between the rigid aspects and
the softer ones," says Geva, who also
teaches art at Haifa University.
Geva was born in Kibbutz Ein-She-
mer and studied at the Art Teachers
Training College in Israel and the
New York Studio School. His works
e shown in the United States and
:lave been at the Annina Nosei Gallery
in New York and the Ambrosino
Gallery in Miami.
"I would like to believe that a sym-
bolic reduction of a cultural system is
possible, that the world can be refor-
mulated in a visual language on a flat
surface," comments the artist, who
uses enamel because it builds a crust.
Geva frequently travels to America in
the interest of his work. The son of an
architect, he also has stopped in Detroit
to visit with members of the Redstone
family, friends of his late father.
"It's very difficult to make a career
as an artist," says Geva, who received
the Sandberg Prize from the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem, the Isracart
Prize from the Tel Aviv Museum of
Art and the Israeli Science and Arts
-Minister's Prize for the Visual Arts.
"We don't have enough exposure
outside of Israel. Artists have to show
themselves to sell themselves.
"More and more people from the
art world come to see art in Israel, but
it's very, very difficult even though it's
up a little bit."
Big on his agenda is a retrospective
chow scheduled in the year 2000 at
the Israel Museum.

i

L

Yehudit Arnon

ong before dance became
Yehudit Arnon's profession,
it served to save her soul. A
survivor of Auschwitz and
other concentration camps, she used
-fiance to get her through the unspeak-
able times.
"It became something of a fantasy
and the way I started to perform," she
says.
After her release from the camps in
1945, Arnon moved to Budapest,
Hungary, where she joined the
Hashomer Hatzair youth movement

and studied dance. During that time,
she was married, and the young cou-
ple moved to Israel to start a new life
together.
The two were among the founding
members of Kibbutz Ga'aton, where
they raised three children and she ini-
tiated and followed through with her
dreams of dance, creating performance
and educational opportunities for oth-
ers.
Her years of
hard work
culminated
this year with
her being
awarded the

.

Above: Yehudit
Arnon: Dance pio-
neer.

Right: The Kibbutz
Contemporary
Dance Company
performs "Guide to
the Orchestra," with
music by Benjamin
Britten.

Israel Prize, the highest arts recogni-
tion granted by the country, which is
honoring her lifelong achievements in
both the performing arts and educa-
tion.
"It was a big surprise," says Arnon,
72, who learned about her award
while she was with her 20-member
troupe touring the United States.
Although she recently retired as
artistic director of the Kibbutz Con-
temporary Dance Company, Arnon
stays on as artistic adviser and contin-
ues as director of the Mateh-Asher
School of Performance Arts.
"I found my own style and also
looked for the best choreographers for
our school and workshops," says
Arnon, who pioneered dance in the
kibbutz movement.
It was through the recruitment of
various choreographers that she was
able to build the company's extensive
repertoire, which has been performed
throughout Eastern and Western
Europe as well as the United States
and Canada. Next season; they will
debut in South America and the Ori-
ent.
"Today, we have a lot of people
from other companies in our pro-
gram," says Arnon, who last year

received the Distinguished Artist
Award from the International Society
for the Performing Arts.
Arnon's school has expanded to
educate about 200 dancers each year
with courses that explore body con-
sciousness, classical ballet, jazz, mod-
ern dance, dance composition and
dance repertoire.

II:

Chaim Yavin

t would be hard to find some-
one who has watched Israel's
development as closely as
Chaim Yavin.
Known as the Walter Cronkite of
Israel, Yavin has been reporting all its
critical events for
40 years, first on
radio and then on
television.
In an interview that
brought worldwide
attention, Yavin
elicited statements
from Kurt Wald-
heim that revealed,
for the first time,
that the former
United Nations
secretary general
and Austrian presi-
dent had been a
member of the Nazi Party.
Six months ago, Yavin left the news
anchor desk to bring viewers a maga-
zine show, loosely translated as "The
Thursday Night Show of Chaim
Yavin." Similar to "60 Minutes" and
"20/20," his program has covered
issues from the military command to
dysfunctional families.
"There is a difference in [subjects]
we report now because these are dif-

ferent times," says Yavin, whose pro-
fessional path has been entered by one
of his four children, now a newspaper
reporter.
"There is much more liberalism as
far as the Palestinians are concerned.
Twenty years ago, it wasn't easy to do
an interview with Palestinian leaders.
Today, there's no problem."
In a career that included time as a
correspondent working in the United
States, Yavin has interviewed some of
this century's most exciting leaders
and has been most impressed with
David Ben-Gurion, Abba Eban,
George McGovern and Joseph Sisco.
"It's nice to hear from time to time
that people think of me as Walter
Cronkite, but I don't attach much
importance to that," Yavin says.
"I was interviewed by him many
years ago when he was still a CBS cor-
respondent covering the Adolf Eich-
mann trial, and I watched him regu-
larly and saw his work up close while I
lived in America."
Just as in the United States,
Israeli television is consumed by an
appetite for ratings, which often
means an emphasis on sexual or vio-
lent programming.
"I don't think there's a lot that can
be done about this," Yavin says.
"There is some comfort in the fact
that we're getting more and more
channels so that people will have a
choice, only I'm not so sure that they
will choose the right thing between
junk food on television and good food
on television."
Yavin began his broadcasting career
with modest expectations.
"I just looked for a job and worked
as a radio announcer," he recalls. "I
never thought that communications
would become that important in our
lives.
"Now that I am deeply immersed
in it, I enjoy having so much influ-
ence, but it also is pretty awesome to
have so much responsibility in a pro-
fession that [can be] more sensational
than responsible."
As part of commemorating Israel's
50th anniversary, Yavin has scheduled
an interview with Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahu, leaving the actual
celebration to programs he considers
pure entertainment. He recently edit-
ed a book called 50 Years of Israel.
"I'm very proud of the fact that we
can have a free press with free and
open discussion in a country that is a
true democracy," he says. 0

Chaim Yavin: The Walter Cronkite of
Israel.

5/1

1998

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