Archive | England
It got Arty (Glee) walking now helps Paralysed Claire Lomas finish London Marathon 16 days after it began
Remember this ?
Well, now read this, a real life miracle!
32-year-old is greeted by crowds of supporters as she becomes first to finish marathon in bionic suit
A paralysed woman has become the first person to complete a marathon in a bionic suit.
Claire Lomas finished the London Marathon 16 days after the race began. The 32-year-old said she was “over the moon” as she completed the 26.2-mile route, which she started on 22 April with 36,000 other participants.
The former chiropractor was in tears as she became the first person to complete any marathon using a bionic ReWalk suit at 12.50pm on Tuesday.
Hundreds lined the streets as she made her final steps to complete the race. Three mounted members of the Household Cavalry gave her a guard of honour as she crossed the finishing line on the Mall.
Lomas, a jewellery designer who was left paralysed from the chest down following a horse-riding accident in 2007, said: “There were times when I questioned whether I would make it when I was training.
“Once I started, I just took each day as it came and every step got me a step closer.”
A spokeswoman for the mounted regiment said the riders were there to give Lomas “extra support because she is passionate about horses”.
Lomas will not appear in the official results and did not receive a medal when she finished as competitors have to complete the course on the same day to qualify for a medal, organisers said.
But a number of marathon runners decided to donate their own medals to Lomas. Jacqui Rose, from Southampton, who contributed her medal along with about 12 others, said: “She has epitomised what I thought the London Marathon was all about.
“That medal, when you have completed it and gone through all the pain of it, symbolises that achievement of what you have gone out of your way to do for charity.
“For her not to have got one ridicules what the marathon was all about.”
Holly Branson, daughter of the tycoon Richard – whose company Virgin sponsors the race – was at the finish line waiting to give Lomas the Virgin trophy for endurance. The company hands out the award annually.
She said: “She has done the most amazing job. It was so emotional when she crossed that line. Tears welled up in my eyes and everyone was cheering.”
Lomas, from Eye Kettleby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, raised more than £86,000 for Spinal Research, a charity which funds medical research around the world to develop reliable treatments for paralysis caused by a broken back or neck.
She said: “When I was in hospital I saw a lot of people with similar injuries to me and a lot worse.
“I have had tremendous support since my accident which I am so grateful for. Some don’t have that. Some people lose the use of their arms as well. A cure needs to be found.”
She walked about two miles a day, cheered on by her husband, Dan, her parents and her 13-month-old daughter, Maisie.
Lomas said she was now going to write a book and “spend some good time with Maisie”, adding: “Then I’ll think of something else daft to do.”
A number of celebrities have also lent their support by walking a mile alongside her, including the TV presenter Gabby Logan and her husband, the former international rugby star Kenny, and the TV presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle.
Lomas broke her neck, back and ribs and punctured a lung when her horse Rolled Oats threw her off as she took part in the Osberton horse trials in Nottinghamshire in 2007.
The £43,000 ReWalk suit, designed by the Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer, enables people with lower-limb paralysis to stand, walk and climb stairs through motion sensors and an onboard computer system.
A shift in the wearer’s balance, indicating their desire to take, for example, a step forward, triggers the suit to mimic the response that the joints would have if they were not paralysed.
Source: The Guardian
VIDEO: Fashionistas Trinny & Susannah in Ad for Israeli Credit Card
London makeover ladies Trinny and Susannah were here last year, telling Israelis what not to wear in their ever-so-subtle manner — not — which is why Israelis probably liked them.
Now they’re featured in an Isracard commercial by ad agency Bauman Bar Reuveni showing off their Hebrew — “Tagidi lo!” (Tell him!) and offering puns onkenyon (which can mean a canyon as well as a mall):
Boyfriend: “Just three hours and we’ve crossed the canyon.”
Girlfriend: “It will take us no more than three hours to cross the canyon” — said with a smirk.
Laugh if you will, but the ad is one of ten competing for the dubious honor of being named the most sexist advertisement by WIZO, the Women’s International Zionist Organization.
Are Trinny and Susannah worried? Probably not.
Source: Times of Israel
Homeland’s debt to Israeli TV
Channel 4′s latest US hit is based on one of the many TV success stories produced by Israel. Would you watch both?
Last Sunday Homeland debuted on Channel 4, attracting overnight ratings figures of more than 2 million and a clutch of impressive reviews. Much has been written about the latest US import, a labyrinthine terrorism drama from the writers of 24. But while you will have read all about Homeland’s awards haul and Claire Danes’ triumphant return to the small screen, that the show is based on an Israeli series called Hatufim (Prisoners of War) has been less well reported.
Now UK audiences will be able to judge for themselves just how good the Israeli original is when it comes to Sky Arts in May. The series will follow hot on the heels of another Israeli drama In Treatment (BeTipul), the original Hebrew version of the hit HBO series of the same name, which gets underway on Sky Arts on Monday.
Hatufim and BeTipul are Israeli TV’s big international success stories – but they’re far from the only Israeli shows finding an international audience either in their original form or as an English language remake. There are a slew of Israeli shows being adapted by major US networks including sitcoms such as Life Isn’t Everything, police procedurals in the form of HBO’s The Naked Truth and the much-touted NBC murder-mystery Pillars of Smoke, while in Britain, David Mitchell’s topical quiz show The Bubble was adapted from an Israeli idea.
It’s part of the unlikely rise of Israeli television; an industry that only got its first commercial channel in 1993. “Israeli dramas are very much driven by auteurs, by people who have their own unique story and own unique voice to tell it,” says Avi Nir chief executive of Keshet Broadcasting, the programme makers behind Hatufim. “They provide an antidote to American television, which is usually more commercial … It’s a different way of making a show. Hollywood is much more of an industry, but in Israel our shows are slowly, carefully and originally tailor made.”
The shoestring budgets that Israeli programme makers work with have also played their part in this surge of creativity. Hatufim for example, was shot for $200,000 an episode, a fraction of the budget its US counterpart. The result is that Israeli producers put a stronger emphasis on storytelling, while financial constraints have seen programme makers work in more creative ways. The effects can be seen in the stripped-back settings of shows such as In Treatment, which like police procedural The Naked Truth, stages almost all of its action in a solitary room.
While fuelling creativity, the lack of financial investment has also taken away an element of risk. Without massive financial outlay there is arguably more freedom for writers to experiment with what is conventionally expected from small screen dramas.
At its heart however, the boom in Israeli broadcasting comes down to the quality of the programmes that are being produced. Lucy Criddle, the Sky Arts acquisitions manager, says: “It wasn’t our intention that we were looking at Israeli drama, it was really that the quality of the drama stood out for us. We watched BeTipul and Hatufim and we just loved them. They’re both powerful pieces that are utterly compelling and most importantly they’re high quality TV.”
It has been difficult to miss the recent boom in Scandinavian drama on British screens – but it appears that Denmark may not have cornered the market in classy subtitled imports. BeTipul in particular will offer a strange viewing experience for fans of In Treatment. Unlike Hatufim, which was more of an inspiration for Homeland, the HBO drama is an almost like-for-like remake of the Israeli original. As a result it’s impossible to watch either show without comparing and contrasting it with the other.
With the rise of foreign language remakes and imports, watching a show twice is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly common – and at times original shows can end up overshadowed by a strange sense of deja vu when watched after their English language remakes. But what’s striking about these Israeli series is the quality of the storytelling which has translated seamlessly from original to adaptation. For viewers that means they are essential companion pieces – testament to the quality of programming that the country is currently producing.
Source: The Guardian
British Film Festival returns to Israel, with a glimpse into modern Britain
After a two-year hiatus, the British Film Festival is back, with ten movies by new U.K. voices showing in seven cities across the country from February 4 to 15.
The British Film Festival is returning to Israel after a two-year hiatus, with a selection of movies by new and interesting voices that give audiences a glimpse into modern-day Britain.
The festival, the flagship event of the British Council in Israel, will be showing ten films in seven cities – Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, Sderot, Rosh Pina, Holon and Herzliya – from February 4 to 15.
In the past, the program of choice U.K. movies has drawn some 20,000 cinema-goers across the country. This year, says British Council Arts Manager Naomi Michaeli, “We hope to have more”
The selection is certainly an eclectic one. The British Council wanted to showcase various aspects of contemporary British cinema, and most of the movies are by relatively new filmmakers.
The festival opens with Andrea Arnold’s remake of Emily Bronte’s classic nineteenth century novel, Wuthering Heights, and closes with the much anticipated Shame, directed by Steve McQueen, winner of the U.K’s top contemporary art award, the Turner Prize.
Other movies on show include Ralph Feines’ directorial debut, Coriolanus, and Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur, one of the biggest Sundance Festival winners of 2011, which Michaeli describes as “the kind of bleak, hard-hitting drama that British cinema is famous for.”
Perfect Sense starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green will also be showing.
Along with the screenings, audiences will be able to meet up-and-coming British indy actor Tom Cullen, who stars in one of the Festival’s featured movies, Weekend, which Michaeli describes as” a gem.”
Sandra Hebron, who was artistic director of the London Film Festival for 15 years, will share her insight into British and international cinema with audiences at screenings of Weekend on February 9 in Jerusalem, and Tyrannosaur, on February 10.
“We are proud to bring to Israeli audiences the best of new British cinema. The films represent the work of a new generation of British film makers giving us a fascinating peek into current day Britain,” says British Council Director in Israel, Simon Kay.
The festival is also a way for the British Council to promote Israeli-British cooperation in film. With the ratification the first Film Co-Production Treaty between the two countries in September last year, the British Council is hoping to see more cooperation in the future.
“Our priorities are very clear now,” says British Council Arts Manger Naomi Michaeli. “We want to invest a lot in creating co-productions between Israel and the U.K., it was really important for us to bring festival back and use it as a way of promoting film and invigorating dialogue.”
For a run down of the movies on show click here
Phil Vickery, one of Britain’s best-loved chefs, has just returned from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Phil Vickery, one of Britain’s best-loved chefs, has just returned from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where he discovered what the locals really eat for ITV1′s This Morning show. The seasoned cook tells Kari Rosenberg what viewers can expect when his Israeli adventure airs next week…
JN: What do you most admire about Israeli food?
PV: The celebrated Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi recently filmed a wonderful TV show called Jerusalem On A Plate, focusing on Israeli food. People in the UK are really starting to enjoy Lebanese, Israeli, Iranian and Iraqi food. The focus of my show is to basically find out about falafel and hummus. I know they are the stereotypical dishes which people associate with Israel, but it’s what people can relate to in the UK. I wanted to take that on board but find a different angle. It fitted all the criteria needed for the programme.
JN: Which areas of the country did you visit?
PV: I flew to Tel Aviv and spent two days there. We filmed some great scenes in the markets with young guys making falafel. Then we went to Jaffa for the day and went to a fantastic hummus bar where they served three different types. We relaxed, ate and talked hummus! They serve it warm there which surprised me. And they beat it with pure tahini as well, which makes it very creamy, then add warm cooked chickpeas and onions. It was completely different to anything in the UK. The hummus bar did one version with cooked broad beans and cumin. It was to die for! I’ve never eaten anything quite like it in my life. Then we went to the Judean Hills and cooked with a chef who worked for Heston Blumenthal in London. He uses purely local ingredients – primarily wild herbs from the Hills. He made a lamb dish that was just beautiful. Then we went to Jerusalem to the Yehuda market. The array of nuts and dried fruit there was fantastic. I said to the camera: “Look at these fabulous olives. What a great market.” As I said these words a lady walked past me and said: “This is the best market in the world!” I couldn’t disagree. We ate cakes, sheep’s cheese and a kind of baklava. From there we went towards the West Bank to the Mount of Olives. We went through the desert and met some Bedouins and went to the highest point of the desert where we could see the Dead Sea. From there we went down to the Dead Sea where I mad falafels by the side of the shore. I’d never made them before so I used tips from chefs I’d met. I think they tasted pretty good!
JN: Were the locals as warm as the food?
PV: Yes, they were so generous and kind. All a first-time visitor really knows is what’s been reported in the media. I thought the people would be distant and cold towards outsiders, but they were charming, funny, engaging, polite and so helpful.
JN: What are your lasting impressions of Israel?
I was expecting it to be more built up and modern. Jerusalem has fast roads outside the city and the Old City is beautifully preserved. In UK we tend to only hear the bad things – not just about Israel. Sri Lanka is another country I recently visited which is misrepresented in the news.
JN: Did you compare Jewish, Palestinian and Arabic cuisine?
PV: Yes. The This Morning show is only eight minutes long, so I would have loved to find out more. In the market the chefs indicated which foods came from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel. And, as Ottolenghi says, and a lot of our guides pointed out, after the Second World War a lot of Jews arrived from America and Eastern Europe and brought their influences with. So Israel has a mish-mash of cuisines which I wasn’t aware of before visiting. Some people in the UK think Israeli food is just chicken soup and chopped liver. I met lots of young chefs who worked in Europe and took their influences back to Israel. I noticed there were a lot of Italian and sushi restaurants. While it isn’t difficult to find Israeli food, you have to seek out the very best hummus and falafel bars.
JN: Where did you stay during Shabbat?
PV: Jerusalem on the Friday, where I couldn’t even buy a cup of coffee during Shabbat. I had a 15-course dinner at a Jerusalem restaurant called Eucalyptus which only serves biblical-style food.
JN: Will Israeli and Jewish techniques now influence your cooking style?
PV: I will certainly be looking at bread in a whole new way. As the bread gets so hot in Israel you don’t have to ‘prove’ it (allow the yeast time to work and raise the dough). It doesn’t work in such heat. I like this approach to bread and also their salad ingredients, especially including roast aubergines. The main technique I’ll adopt is making dishes simple. You don’t need to play around with food. And I love hummus (in the background, Phil’s daughter suddenly chimes: ‘We love hummus’ in agreement).
JN: Do you plan to return soon?
PV: One of my guides invited me back for dinner. Her father is Russian and her mother is Persian so she wants them to cook for me. My wife has always wanted to return to Israel so we’ll go back at some point and take my eldest daughter with us. I’ve been to Alaska, which has spectacular scenery, and recently returned from Vietnam, so I was concerned Israel wouldn’t live up to those places. But I think out of all the countries I’ve visited, Israel could be the most spectacular.
Phil Vickery travelled to Israel as a guest of the Israel Government Tourist Office. You can watch him in Israel on This Morning on ITV1 at 10:30am on Monday 23 January. For more on Israel’s unrivalled fresh produce and culinary innovations, read about Israel’s “Hidden Gems” at www.thinkisrael.com
Source: TotallyJewish.com
VIDEO – An inspired move: English-Israeli Choreographer Rachel Erdos
 walking now helps Paralysed Claire Lomas finish London Marathon 16 days after it began on http://sizedoesntmatter.com){kind=link}
Step by step, UK-born choreographer Rachel Erdos has established herself on the local dance scene Three of her new pieces will be performed Saturday to mark 10 years since her arrival in Israel.
At the age of 23, British choreographer Rachel Erdos packed up her belongings, said goodbye to family and homeland and headed for Israel. It was 2002 and she had already graduated with a first-class honors in dance from the Roehampton Institute in London, and completed an MA, specializing in choreography, at the Laban Centre, London. Although she came from a pro-Zionist family and had visited Israel a few times in her childhood, her Hebrew was limited and her knowledge of the Israeli dance scene minimal.
That is a distant memory now that Erdos has become a well-known figure on the Israeli dance scene. Over the last decade, she has created eight dance pieces, participated in nearly every Israeli dance festival, from Intimidance and Gvanim BeMahol (Shades of Dance ) to Curtain Rising and International Exposure, toured the globe, bringing her works to such desirable venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington and Royal Opera House at London’s Covent Garden, and won prizes and critical praise.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of her arrival in Israel, three of her new dance pieces are to be performed together on Saturday at Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Center.
Erdos dreamed of becoming a choreographer ever since she was a child in Newcastle, where she was born and raised. Her family – who are of Eastern European Jewish ancestry – settled in the northern English city after her father, a psychology professor, took a job at the local university. Erdos was attracted to the world of dance and took dance lessons, but finally decided in a high school workshop that she preferred to become a choreographer rather than a professional dancer.
Never at home
Erdos says that she never felt that she completely belonged in Newcastle, where the Jewish community is quite small. The fact that she was the only Jew in her classes was clear to everyone. “The minute I didn’t want to attend school on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashana, I became ‘the Jew.’ You’re a bit different – you refuse to eat pork at friends’ houses. Everyone knows you are Jewish.
“There I was more attached to religion,” she adds. “It was part of me. If I had to be different from everyone else, it was important to me to examine what made it so. We attended synagogue on Saturdays; it didn’t matter if afterwards we got into the car and drove to the shopping mall. It was something you did to be part of the Jewish community.”
Choreography was not considered a legitimate profession. In order to be allowed to study dance in college, she had to promise that afterwards she would complete a master’s degree in dance therapy – something she ultimately did not do. She spent her gap year in Israel, volunteering in various projects and understood that she wanted to remain here. But eventually she realized she would be better off returning to England to take advantage of her right to a free university education there.
“When I finished my B.A. I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence,” she says. “It wasn’t enough that I was the best choreographer in my class, and I decided to study at the Laban Centre, which had a bigger name, to make sure I could survive [and receive] a choreography degree in another place, as well as gather professional experience.” During her studies she became interested in dances tailored for unconventional venues and mounted pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Courts. She completed her degree in the nearly impossible span of one year, with a clear goal of moving to Israel.
“I could see myself living and working in England,” she says. “But I wanted to try to live in Israel. It seemed to me that I had met too many people who spoke of doing this but never took the step. Today it looks much scarier than it did then. I was a young and naive Zionist and I simply decided to get up and go.” Five years ago her parents joined her, moving to Jerusalem, and her brother has recently done so as well. Only her sister, she says, is not interested in leaving England.
An outsider
When she arrived, Erdos was surprised to discover that the Israeli dance scene was both rich and turbulent. It was clear that she’d have to do some homework before she could integrate into that world. For a year she attended every possible dance performance. “At first it was like going to a party where everyone knows everyone else and I didn’t know anyone,” she recalls. “I was an outsider and didn’t even know peoples’ names. I wanted to understand with whom I wanted to work, who was doing similar work.
“I was happily surprised by the fact that there was so much going on here. I felt that there was a place for every possible style and that something good was happening. I think that dance here is more interesting than in England. Everyone asks me if it’s easier here, and I don’t know if it is, because I think this is a career that isn’t easy anywhere. But something in the scene here works – there are always innovations, things happening all the time. I didn’t feel this in England.”
In order to make a living and become an integral part of the scene, Erdos worked as a rehearsal and performance manager, and taught in high schools. At the same time, she methodically developed her career as a choreographer. “I was told that if I wanted to become a choreographer, the route was clear: There are X number of festivals organized by size. I began with a small piece and enlarged the number of dancers and the budget each time. It was important to me to show people who I was and get them to recognize my name.”
An impressive repertoire
Erdos has created a long string of works: “The Birds and the Bees” (2007 ), “Alma” (2006 ), “Without Feathers” (2005 ), “Inside it’s Raining” (2008 ), “Last Orders” (2009 ) and “OU’” (1010 ). She has received international awards. “Alma,” a pas de deux for a man and woman (surrounded by apples ), won the Danish AICC international choreography competition. It was acquired by the City Dance ensemble in Washington and performed in the Kennedy Center. Her pas de trois “Inside it’s Raining” was performed at Covent Garden a year ago in the Firsts Festival; and “Last Orders,” created for the Danish troupe Mancopy, was produced and performed in a brewery in the city of Erhaus.
Last year was especially fruitful for Erdos, who created three new dance pieces that will be performed together on Saturday at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, to mark her tenth anniversary in Israel. The first, “Why We Tell,” featuring Ori Lenkinsky and Idan Yoav, was created during a dance residency in Ireland at the beginning of 2011. The lovely pas de deux, which has already been performed in Italy and New York, is based on a theory by Christopher Booker that all stories are based on seven fixed elements. At the end of the year she mounted “in her words” ) at the Curtain Rising festival. A work for three dancers (Lenkinsky, Shiran Sharabi and Talia Bick ), it examines aspects of femininity and is accompanied by live music by the Monte Fiore band. The third, “And Mr.”, is a solo she created for dancer-choreographer Ido Tadmor. A minimalistic dance lasting 25 minutes, it was inspired by the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” and includes cello music by Adiel Shamit. “My goal was to present Ido Tadmor in a way that is different than the way nearly everyone sees him. He has a distinctive style of movement, ones he chooses himself – footwork, jumps, all kinds of virtuoso things – and I wanted people to see another side too. “It was a very interesting pairing,” she adds. “He isn’t the same age as the other dancers I work with. He’s almost 48, and I took this into account. Physically, he is capable of doing things that no one else can. He’s amazing, and usually takes roles for 20-year-olds, but I felt that the time had come for him to find a character relevant to his age.”
Tadmor, who initiated the collaboration, said in a separate conversation that Erdos is one of the most intriguing artists in Israel, and that the process of working with her was one of the most fascinating in the 30 years of his career. He mentions her seriousness and total dedication, intelligence and openness, and talks about exceptional precision.
A unique artist
Erdos is indeed a unique artist on the local landscape, a choreographer who did not develop out of a dance career and was not educated by a particular Israeli troupe or school. The fact that she comes from Britain and acquired her skills in the academic world stands out in her work. “There is something very communicative about my work,” she says, “and the people who dance are very important to me. The pieces don’t have to please the audience; what interests me is that it looks at the dancers and sees human beings. I think that the combination of English and Israeli tastes creates a different, more refined aesthetic.”
In her first years here, she says, many found it hard to accept the fact that she is not a dancer. “It’s as if you always wanted to be a movie director and not an actor,” she explains. “I don’t create dances so that I will have a place to dance. And I never understood how you could perform your own works; I have to be outside and observe. This looking in from outside is very important. And I like to stay in the dark, behind the scenes, watching the dances receive attention. I don’t need it. To me it’s my idea that makes people encounter each other. What’s interesting is the mixture of all the artists on the way to the result.”
What does Erdos like about Israel?
“I love Tel Aviv. Living here, working here. I think that’s why I stayed (in Israel ). “It is a big and a small city at the same time. Not like London which is big and feels big, where it takes you an hour on the underground or you need a car to meet a friend. In Tel Aviv I have a cafe downstairs from where I live; I walk around and meet seven people I know; and it only takes me 10 minutes to get to work.”
As for the difficulties of living in Israel, she cites the language. “At first it was hard. In England it was easy for me to express myself, and this difference wasn’t simple. I felt this was also a social barrier; I found myself shutting up completely during conversations in which I had something to say. I remember the first time I took part in Intimidance and they sent me to an interview on the radio. It was one of the most difficult experiences here; I left crying. I consider myself an intelligent girl – I have two degrees, but I spoke like a child of 4.”
And her heavy British accent, which she has tried to lose to no avail, doesn’t make things any easier. “I’ve considered myself Israeli for 10 years, but the moment I open my mouth I’m branded as English. In England I was a Jew and here I’m English. There’s no way to get around the fact that I’m not from here. But whoever gets to know me understands that I’m totally from here. I really opened up here. I’ve got a lot more confidence to say what I think. You have to become Israeli if you live here; otherwise you won’t survive.”
Source: Haaretz.com
VIDEO:
“Alma” is a gorgeous dance by Israeli Choreographer Rachel Erdos. The dance, in the repertory of the American dance company Company E is a work for two dancers and a stage-full of green apples…..
Learn more about the dance and the Company at www.companye.org