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Before Batsheva, there was Inbal. Founded in 1949 by the Yemenite-Israeli dancer Sara Levi-Tanai, the Inbal Dance Theatre rooted itself in Yemenite Jewish movement, song, biblical text, and ritual. Sara Levi-Tanai was awarded the Israel Prize in 1973 and built a body of work that drew its DNA from Yemenite weddings, henna ceremonies, and biblical women. Today the Inbal lineage continues through the Bikurei Ha\'Itim cultural centre and its school, the Eskola, in south Tel Aviv. This lesson covers Sara Levi-Tanai, the Yemenite vocabulary of the body, and the contemporary heirs.
Cultural note, Inbal predates Batsheva by 15 years and represents the Mizrahi answer to a dance world that, in 1949, was overwhelmingly Ashkenazi-European. Sara Levi-Tanai was the first major Mizrahi cultural figure to win an Israel Prize. Her aesthetic, slow, grounded, song-first, biblical, embroidered costumes, is opposite to Naharin\'s post-modern improvisation. Both are foundational. Knowing both is basic Israeli dance literacy.
Sara Levi-Tanai & Founding
Yemenite Movement Roots
Major Works
Costume, Song, Text
Heirs & Today
The Bikurei Ha\'Itim Stage
A short reading: a 2026 evening at Bikurei Ha\'Itim, the Inbal home stage in south Tel Aviv, a contemporary heir performing a biblical-text piece that points back to Sara Levi-Tanai.