Theater review • When Israeli girls' bodies become properties belonging to the state

"Podium" focuses on a group of young women specializing in synchronized swimming. It's largely based on the personal experience of Yael Polka, who began training at the age of five. By 10, she had already won the title of Israeli champion and she continued to swim and excel, eventually coaching the national team.To accomplish these feats, as described and presented in her debut play (which was first developed and staged as part of a 2025 program at the Acre Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre), talent and willpower are not enough. One chilling sentence from a coach sums up the essence of the ambition required to excel in the field: "You have to fall in love with your pain."These professional dancer-athletes cope with a total loss of private life. The grueling training sessions take place six days a week, for at least eight hours a day. They have no time for a family meal or any other activity. Polka leads the show as the narrator, wearing a coach's uniform, occasionally asking the trainees to recreate a duet she created or performed in a specific Olympics event, including technical explanations.The soundtrack – comprised of patriotic, cheerful Israeli folk songs – is played to simulate the way it sounds to the swimmers. The minimalist, documentary-like details are precisely what create a strong effect, its power lying primarily in a sweeping defamiliarization – the fact that there is no swimming pool on the stage. This clean effect and meticulous minimalism led my 14-year-old daughter to declare, as we left the theater, that the play was "perfect."

Raccontata dahaaretz.com