Dancing between displacements / Tantsn tsvishn na un nad is a performance series conceived and performed by Eliana Pliskin Jacobs as part of the Yiddishland Pavilion, presented in parallel to 61st Biennale di Venezia. The series comprises four days of performances at locations across Venice, including the two sites of the Biennale (Giardini and Arsenale), the opening of the Yiddishland Pavilion exhibition The Words That Fit My Mouth, and public sites across the city (the Ghetto Vecchio, Cannaregio, Castello, and San Marco).

Dancing between displacements / Tantsn tsvishn na un nad is a partially-improvised, site-specific series of interactions blending sound, movement and physical expression, language and public dialogue. Wearing an outfit inspired by traditional women’s clothing of the no-longer-existent shtetls of Yiddishland, the artist places herself in public space and interacts with public patterns of movement. Unamplified, she sings fragmented and multilingually translated snippets of traditional Yiddish folksongs and songs by renowned Yiddish composers about wandering, exile, belonging and lack thereof. In singing and translating, she asserts a living, breathing and contemporary presence of Yiddishkayt, in constant fluctuating dialogue with its neighbours. The snippets of vocal expression are accompanied by contemporary interpretations of traditional Yiddish dance, interacting physically both within the patterns of crowds moving through Venice and with the physical architectural layout of the city and the Biennale. The performances bring focus to liminal spaces as the artist flows between and plays with the walls of recognized countries’ pavilions, as well as historic Jewish sites of Venice. She draws a dynamic map of Yiddishland through invisible waves of sound, movement, and physical, linguistic and expressive interaction.

Dancing between displacements / Tantsn tsvishn na un nad takes its name from both a long history of Yiddishkayt and the still always-present risk of being displaced. Bringing displacement to a micro-scale, the artist toys with the reality that even within the context of contemporary art and active critique, interventions by non-national and trans-national groups are legal yet unwanted at the Biennale and can be displaced from public perception by local authorities. Yet as this year’s Yiddishland Pavilion examines ideas of translation, the artist plays with the nuanced differences between the English and Yiddish title: while “displacement” is violent and forced, “na un nad” (or the more commonly used “na-venad”) connotes wandering and roaming with intention, as if wandering is a central element of one’s identity. Dancing between displacements / Tantsn tsvishn na un nad is the artist’s playful provocation, challenging authorities to dis-place her as she dances not in a place, but rather, according to Yiddish tradition, through the in-between spaces.