“Why, oh why did the soul plunge
from the upmost heights
to the lowest depths?
The seed of redemption
is contained within the fall.”
-S. Ansky

Within the Fall is a dance theatre piece inspired by S. Ansky’s play The Dybbuk, reimagined through a contemporary lens. At the heart of the story is a young woman on the eve of her arranged marriage, caught in the delicate and painful balance between centuries-old tradition and the stirrings of her own desires. When she becomes possessed by the spirit of her true love, a man who died before their union could be fulfilled, she becomes trapped between realms.

He returns as a dybbuk, a restless soul with unfinished business, unable to move on until his longing is acknowledged and his voice is heard. Through dance theatre, Within the Fall explores the haunted spaces between body and spirit, past and present, duty and love. Drawing from Yiddish folklore and traditional Jewish dance, the piece delves into the mystical and the metaphysical while grounding itself in very human themes: the struggle for agency, the complexity of grief, and the enduring power of connection.

This reimagining also engages deeply with Jewish and Queer identities, illuminating how gender roles and communal expectations can both shape and silence voices that must be heard. In confronting these boundaries, Within the Fall creates space for the question of which stories can and will be told and how they will shape our understanding of the world.