We Will Dance Again: The Resilience and Healing of Nova Massacre Survivors
Displaying original items recovered from the site of the Oct. 7 attack, a Tel Aviv exhibition honors the victims and commemorates the spirit of the Nova music festival, a joyous event that was overtaken by terror
It has been over two months since the Nova music festival in southern Israel turned into a scene from hell, with hundreds of festivalgoers murdered, injured, or kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.
Now an exhibition in Tel Aviv is commemorating the festival, a symbol of joy and unity that was overtaken by horror, and honoring the many people whose lives were destroyed there. Objects recovered after the massacre were used to recreate the festival site, including stages, sound and lighting systems, toilet booths riddled with bullet holes, burned-out cars, and personal items of victims.
We want people to know, we want the world, to know, to see. This festival could happen anywhere in the world, and this could happen to anyone in the world.
Ofir Amir, producer of both the Nova festival and the current exhibition, told The Media Line he believes that recreating the site will help people understand the severity of the events of Oct. 7.
“We want people to know, we want the world, to know, to see. This festival could happen anywhere in the world, and this could happen to anyone in the world,” Amir said.
The Nova festival had existed for over two years, and Amir said the event on Oct. 7 had been the biggest yet, drawing about 3,000 people who simply wanted to celebrate life.
“The main thing is music, of course. Our love for music, our love for dancing, our love for freedom,” Amir said. “You see the people dancing, and you see them smiling, and you see this happiness around the people that is something priceless.”
Chen Almog, a survivor of the massacre who was visiting the exhibition, told The Media Line what the festival meant to her.
“All its meaning is to celebrate freedom and happiness and to see a lot of smiles and see people being themselves and happy,” she said.
The exhibit’s name, “6:29,” marks the time the terror began at the festival.
“I was dancing exactly on this stage at 6:30, and we saw rockets,” Almog said. “They stopped the music, and we saw rockets, a lot of rockets, like a rain of rockets, and we did not understand what happened. We just knew that we needed to go home, and the party was over.”
Those at the festival did not yet understand that thousands of Hamas terrorists were pouring into Israel across the border from the Gaza Strip, heading towards the party to commit a bloodbath.
“I was standing on the main stage, and after that, my story begins,” Almog said.
As partygoers realized that terrorists were at the site and shooting, Almog found herself unable to get out of the parking lot and left her car. She found a bush to hide under and heard the massacre happening around her. She and a friend were finally able to return to her car, and they drove through a field littered with the bodies of slaughtered young people to try to escape.
“The running and when they started shooting at our cars, that was bad,” she said.
We got in the car, and we didn’t know where to go because we heard shooting from everywhere, we saw people running, people falling while they ran, and cars coming back to the parking lot with injured and dead people inside
As an organizer of the festival, Amir initially stayed and tried to help people escape. He then saw some friends with a car and jumped in with them to flee.
“We got in the car, and we didn’t know where to go because we heard shooting from everywhere, we saw people running, people falling while they ran, and cars coming back to the parking lot with injured and dead people inside,” he said.
Amir and his friends decided to start driving along one road, but terrorists were waiting there.
“They shot at us from the right side. I was sitting in the back on the right, so I was shot in my leg through the door. It went in my right leg, went out, and then into my left leg,” Amir said.
“Our friend who was sitting next to the driver in the front seat, he was shot in his back and in his neck and unfortunately did not survive.”
Amir and his friends continued driving, but after a few minutes, their car broke down. He ran wounded with his friends toward a field of orange trees and hid for three hours until rescue arrived.
The terrorists killed more than 360 people at the festival and kidnapped about 40 others.
Amir said the exhibition’s purpose is to be the first memorial to all the people who died at the festival and not to forget the hostages still kept in Gaza.
“You can see the camping site, you can see the stages, the stereo, everything was in the festival,” he said.
“To see the real things, the real pieces from the festival, it’s weird but I love it. I love it that it is here right now, and my family can see it, and they can understand me better how I felt when I celebrated and right after when I ran for my life,” she said.
I’m here, I’m alive, and I’m smiling, and this is everything
The festival survivors have been undertaking a healing process together, having therapy and connecting with others who lived through the same terror.
“I’m here, I’m alive, and I’m smiling, and this is everything,” Almog said.
“I could be dead right now. I don’t know if it’s luck, if it’s from, you know, God, but I’m here, and I’m dealing with the things I need to deal with right now.”
Amir said the terrorists may have murdered, raped, and abducted people, but they could not kill the Nova spirit.
“Nothing can stop us or murder our spirit. Our main slogan is ‘We will dance again.’ You can ask each member of the Nova festival, of the survivors, ‘Will you stop dancing? Will you dance again?'” he said.
And Almog answered for him: “I’m going to dance my whole life, and they can’t stop me.”
