Since taking the helm of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990, Ohad Naharin has

transformed the group into a global force in dance. It has helped foster a rich
dance scene in Israel and influenced the new generation of international
choreographers. Gaga, the improvisational movement language that Naharin
has developed to make the human body into a creative instrument, is now taught
all over the world. A 2009 Dance Magazine Award recipient, Naharin still
approaches each project with a sense of adventure, collaborating with innovative
musicians and visual artists. In addition to more than 20 pieces for Batsheva, he
has created or set works on Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, Paris
Opra Ballet, Hubbard Street, Cedar Lake, and the Ailey company. This fall
Batsheva performs in Austria, Italy, Belarus, Norway, and France, in addition to its
home city of Tel Aviv. Sometimes I feel like my brain is on fire and the only way
to put the fire out is by daydreaming about choreography. Choreographing is how
I go places I have never been before, and, many times, could not even imagine
exist.
Like people might have felt a few centuries ago when traveling started without
knowing where it would end up. The love of moving has been always at the
heart of why I dance; it is also partially why I choreograph. Ive learned that
listening to the body is a lot more meaningful than telling it what to do. One can
get from dancing a great sense of clarity, explosiveness, and delicacy while
allowing us to go far beyond our familiar limits. All these things
are necessary ingredients to fuel a good process in and out of the studio.
Choreographing allows the pleasure of working with dancers: the sharing,
teaching, learning, the realization that I cant and should not fall in love with my
work, yet I can be excited and moved to tears by the dancers interpretation of it.
Choreographing is having the privilege to be clear and articulate without the
need to explain.
I love the time invested in the making of the soundtrack for a work. Though
dance does not depend on music, the time spent on making of the
soundtrack provides hours-long meditations where ideas can visit you without
you forcing it, while researching the relation of seeing and hearing. I love the
great level of intimacy I can reach in a process with the people I work withmore
than most relationships Ill ever have out of the studio. I like the byproduct of
choreographic effort that can oppose conventional and conservative politics and
theories that block new solutions and free thinking. I love to choreograph since
its where I can put my skills, passion, and imagination into one pot, and it also
makes me feel sexy. I sleep better during the process of choreographing. I love
to discover the different playgrounds for each process with their own codes and
rules; then I love teaching the dancers the codes and rules of this new
playground. And even more, I like how soon after that, they can show me how to
really play it. I like the tech time, the days before the premiere, that last
meaningful act of putting the work on its stage, the great feeling when
finding the right tension between all the elements in each moment of the work,
and then the ease in which I am often happy to admit how wrong I was the next
day while looking at it.

I like how in choreographing, the process continues long after the premiere, how
the physical disappearing act of a performance (not necessarily from our
memory) enables it to reappear differently the next time - See more at:
http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/October-2013/Why-i-choreograph-ohadnaharin#sthash.IB7TuAfs.dpuf
http://www.batsheva.co.il/en/?iid=4
http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/october-2013/why-i-choreograph-ohad-naharin

Gaga, the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin

Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through your body. Gaga provides a
framework for discovering and strengthening your body and adding flexibility, stamina, and agility while
lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb
areas, exposes physical fixations, and offers ways for their elimination. The work improves instinctive
movement and connects conscious and unconscious movement, and it allows for an experience of freedom
and pleasure in a simple way, in a pleasant space, in comfortable clothes, accompanied by music, each
person with himself and others.
We become more aware of our form. We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities. We
explore multi-dimensional movement; we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are ready to snap,
we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it. We change our movement habits by finding
new ones. We go beyond our familiar limits. We can be calm and alert at once. Ohad Naharin

Imagine two snakes inside your bodyone running along your spine and the
other across the width of your arms. Lift your flesh away from your bones.
Float, but feel the ground below your feet. These are not uncommon
directions Ive heard from an instructor while practicing Gaga, the movement
language developed by Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Batsheva Dance
Company.
Gaga. It sounds like baby talk and has a playfulness that lends itself to the
freedom of Naharins movement language, which Batsheva dancers do daily.
Gaga has also gained popularity worldwide, with classes offered for both
dancers and non-dancers. The reason? To connect with pleasure, listen to
your body, and build awareness of sensationsa refreshing change from
dance forms that require a rigid technique. While recovering from a back
injury, Naharin developed Gaga to find ways of moving that worked with his
body rather than against it. He developed it into a daily practice for
Batsheva, and soon after it arrived in New York, Japan, and elsewhere.
There is no prescribed technique in Gaga. Rather, its about personal,
investigative research that encourages using all of the senses to become
aware of your body. Attention to gravity, texture, tension, and dimensionality
are important. This might sound like it requires serious focus, but Gaga also
encourages laughter, silliness, and release. Mirrors aren't used in classes
a rarity in dance since most forms rely on them for self-correction. But how

refreshing! Self-consciousness literally dissolves.

In the October 2006 issue of Dance Magazine, Naharin said, "Abolish mirrors;
break your mirrors in all studios. They spoil the soul and prevent you from
getting in touch with the elements and multidimensional movements and
abstract thinking, and knowing where you are at all times without looking at
yourself. Dance is about sensations, not about an image of yourself." I love
that quote. It captures everything that Gaga stands for.
The absence of mirrors allows for movement that is more honest, open, and
deeply investigativeall of which is evident in Batsheva performances.
Batsheva dancers move with intense physicality that emerges from
sensations. While performing MAX at BAM in 2009, the company seemed fully
present on stage. They possessed magnetic alertness, fluidity, and
authenticity in their movement that was undoubtedly rooted in Gaga.
Textures, use of breath, and playfulness were particularly noticeable. Its
exciting to think of how the dancers personal investigations in Gaga make
the leap from studio to stage, offering audiences a raw, wholly satisfying
performance.
Evan Namerow
http://bam150years.blogspot.com/2012/02/going-gaga-ohad-naharins-movement.html

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/ohad-naharin ( puno lanaka o njmeuuu)

http://www.blic.rs/Kultura/Vesti/452290/Ohad-Naharin-za-Blic-Ocekujem-da-me-publika-razume
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/keyword/ohad-naharin
lanci o njemuuu

Interview
Batsheva Dance Company at the Theatre de SaintQuentin-en Yvelines:
In Conversation With Ohad Naharin
By Patricia Boccadoro

PARIS, 21 January 2004"I have created a movement language",

Ohad Naharin, resident choreographer of the Batsheva Dance
Company, told me as we crouched together on wooden stools in the

semi darkness, backstage at the Thatre de Saint-Quentin-enYvelines. It was about ten minutes before the start of the performance
and a deluge of rippling notes punctuated our conversation every ten
seconds as stagehands tested the recorded music, and dancers
warmed up alongside us.
"My new dance language began after I had a serious back injury and
I started relating to my body differently", he continued imperturbably.
"That, plus what was learned from other people, enabled me to put
together a way of working now used by the whole company which",
he pointed out, "I have completely changed. There is absolutely
nothing left of the original troupe except the name".
The splendid Israeli company, founded in Tel Aviv in 1964, brought
the Martha Graham style, technique and tradition to Israel, and over
the years works by such people as Robbins, Tetley, and Cranko
enriched the repertoire. In the 1980's, more contemporary
choreographers including Mark Morris and Ohad Naharin, a former
student of the company, were invited to create works for them, the
latter finally being appointed artistic director in 1990, a post he only
left two months ago.
From the beginning, Naharin, born in 1952, was brought up in an
artistic atmosphere, but although his mother was a dance teacher
and his father, a doctor in psychology who had been an actor, he did
not begin dance until the age of twenty-two, at the Batsheva
Company. He left Israel soon after to work both at the Graham school
and the School of American ballet, but after a short spell with Maurice
Bjart, the need to create himself took over.
"From early childhood I made things up", he said. "I wrote music,
invented stories and painted and I remember the very moment I
created my first choreography. Dance is an illusion", he muttered,
"and creation a lie, but lying as I see it isn't negative. I distort reality in
order to create my own world. I don't want to reflect the reality around
me".
What is important to Ohad Naharin? "Love", he replies, "forgiveness,
and the joy of movement; dance which means going beyond limits,
and working with talented designers, collaborating with composers,
and recycling ideas to find a new angle".
"There are no new concepts", he said. "Everything has already been
done. What is left is reorganisation. I re-work my ballets constantly,
and questions on my work are best answered by simply watching my
dancers, eighteen of them, chosen from all over the world for their
musicality, virtuosity, and sheer love of dance".

Be that as it may, answers were not that obvious in Deca Dance, the
programme presented recently at the Theatre of Saint Quentin-enYvelines. Although the company possesses works by Kylian,
Vandekeybus, Preljocaj and Forsythe in the repertoire, a range of
Naharin's works from the past ten years were shown, extracts from
eight of his best pieces being adroitly crafted into a coherent whole.
Classical, contemporary and rock, for the most part easy on the eye
despite the underlying violence of the second half, entertained for two
hours. However, works of distinction rubbed shoulders with the
inexplicable. Too obviously theatrical, it was a little difficult to grasp
the significance of the aggressively made-up woman on stilts striding
around or the monks washing themselves with mud.
Although the women in general didn't get many chances to shine,
twenty-two year old Gili Navot, a native of Tel Aviv told me that she
loved working in the company. A dark-haired pretty girl, with delicately
stretched feet betraying her classical training, destined more for Juliet
in luminous white rather than a mere number in frumpy brown, Navot
spoke of her feeling of fulfilment, physically and emotionally, and of
the troupe's devotion to its chief choreographer.

Patricia Boccadoro writes on dance in Europe. She contributes to The Observer and
Dancing Times. Ms. Boccadoro is also the dance editor of Culturekiosque.com.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?
q=cache:http://www.culturekiosque.com/dance/inter/batsheva.html

Biography[edit]
Ohad Naharin was born in 1952 in Kibbutz Mizra.[1] Raised in an artistic home, he wrote
stories, composed music, and painted as a child. His father held a doctorate in psychology,
was previously an actor, and his mother was a dance teacher. Nevertheless, Naharin did not
start dancing until age 22.[2] During his first year with the Batsheva Dance Company, Martha
Graham visited Israel and invited Naharin to join her dance company in New York. He
attended Juilliard and the School of American Ballet.[3]
In 1978, he married Mari Kajiwara, a native New Yorker and an Alvin Ailey dancer. In 2001,
she died of cancer at age 50.[4]
Batsheva Dance Company[edit]

Batsheva Dance Company

In 1990, Naharin was appointed the artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company,
thereby launching the company into a new stage. The company is international in nature,
made up of individually unique dancers from Israel and abroad. Dancers are encouraged to
affirm their distinct creative gifts, as creators on their own.[5]
Naharins signature style and technique has developed during his time with Batsheva. His
style is distinguished by stunningly flexible limbs and spines, deeply grounded movement,
explosive bursts and a vitality that grabs a viewer by the collar.[4] His dancers do not
rehearse in front of a mirror. This enables them to move away from self-critique and feel the
movement from within. Naharin is known to be a reserved and private person, and this is
apparent in the studio as well. He does not get angry or raise his voice, but comments
constructively and calmly.[4] Since he has also been musically trained, Naharin sometimes
collaborates on the compositions used in his pieces.[6]
Gaga[edit]
Main article: Gaga (movement language)
Naharin developed a type of technique called Gaga. There are two venues for this technique:
one for dancers and one for people. This distinction is meant to draw a line between those
who will perform and those who are dancing simply to better themselves. In his technique, he
has a series of words that signify particular ways to initiate movement and the parts of the
body involved in initiating and feeling that movement. One example is Luna. When he says
this, he is referring to the joint between the metacarpals and the proximal phalanges on the
palm. These circular areas, which can be found at the base of the fingers as well as the toes,
are our moons, hence the name Luna. In this movement, the objective is to isolate the
moons, both on the hands and the feet. This develops a rich sensation and sensitivity in the
hands and feet that are important for movement throughout the body.[7] Naharins technique

establishes a flow throughout the entire body that allows complete fluidity, no matter where
the movement is initiated.
Choreography[edit]
Naharin's works have been commissioned by the Frankfurt Ballet, Opra National de
Paris, Grand Thtre de Genve, Sydney Dance Company, Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Grand
Ballets Canadiens, Rambert Dance Company, Compaia Nacional de Danza, Cullberg
Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Balet da Cidade de So Paulo, Bavarian
State Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Hubbard Street
Dance Chicago. The Royal Dennish Ballet,
He seeks to create movement that is universal yet personal. He always has a clear social
and political conscience in his works, but his dances are not meant to be political. He finds
storytelling of suffering and the worlds problems boring in comparison to a persons ability to
use texture and multi-layered movement. He contrasts physical explosiveness with stillness,
taking an interest in contrasts, edges, and extremes, which creates vital distance and space
in dances. His philosophy, shared with many who devote their lives to choreography, is that
everyone should dance.[8] Deca Dance highlights many excerpts from his previous works.
Naharin says himself, Deca Dance is not a new work. It is more about reconstruction: I like
to take pieces or sections of existing works and rework it, reorganize it and create the
possibility to look at it from a new angle. It always teaches me something new about my work
and composition. In Deca Dance I took sections from different works. It was like I was telling
only either the beginning, middle or ending of many stories but when I organized it the result
become as coherent as the original if not more.[5]
In Max, Mr. Naharins theatrical ingredients are space, movement and light.[9] A critic
comments, In this tremendously potent work, there are few obvious displays of emotion, yet
'Max' is full of imagery that slips between real life and dance in fleeting flashes.[9]
"Anaphase," a work for 22 dancers and two musicians, combines elements of theater, opera,
film and rock music as well as dance. According to Naharin, it "deals with small sculptures in
a big space" and explores the abilities of the human body.[10]
Other pieces he has choreographed include Three, Tabula Rasa, Mabul, Pas de Pepsi,
Haru No Umi, In Common, Sixty a Minute, Black Milk, Innostress, Mamootot.,
"moshe", "yag" "sabotage baby". "perpetuum", "Passo Mezzo"."Kamuiot", "plastelina" ,
"Naharin's Virus", "Hora", "Sadeh21". "The Hole"
Awards[edit]

In 1998, Naharin was awarded the Chevalier de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres by
the French government.

In 2005, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for dance.[6][11]

In 2009, he was honored with the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival[12] for
lifetime achievement in dance.[13][14]

In 2009, he was awarded the EMET Prize for contribution to the advancement of arts
and science in Israel.

In 2009, he received doctor honoris causa of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

in 2013 he received doctor honors from the Juilliard School

In 2005, he was voted the 137th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news
website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohad_Naharin

Going Gaga for Batsheva in America

Since its first tour of the United States in 1970, Israels Batsheva Dance Company has won over American
crowds and critics alike with its energetic approach to dance. At the time, it was, perhaps, a novelty: an
Israeli group performing primarily American repertory with unbridled verve and vigor. But in the past 18
years, the company has become a phenomenon of a different sort. The Batsheva Dance Company, which
is currently crisscrossing North America, is widely recognized as one of the worlds top dance ensembles,
featuring audacious choreography with inventive movement.
Founded in 1964 with the financial backing of Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, Batsheva began as a
repertory company in the American mold. Martha Graham, a founding mother of American modern dance
and a beneficiary of de Rothschilds patronage, served as artistic adviser. The Israeli dancers trained
intensively in Grahams technique and channeled both their physical power and their emotional passion into
some of the choreographers most acclaimed works. With many of Grahams disciples contributing to
Batshevas repertory, the Tel Aviv-based company was part of American modern dances family; New York
Times critic Clive Barnes even called Batshevas members the Israeli children of American dance upon
seeing the companys American debut.
Though Grahams direct influence on the company lessened in the late 1970s, the troupe continued to
import its rotating cast of artistic directors and most of its choreographers from abroad. In the 1980s,
though, the Israeli team of David Dvir and Shelley Shir assumed the helm. There were some important
shifts during this decade: Ballet eclipsed Graham technique as the companys preferred training, and more

Israelis joined the roster of contributing choreographers. Yet despite outstanding dancers and well-crafted
repertory, Batsheva appeared to some observers to be a company sailing on its strengths rather than
forging ahead into artistic frontiers.
This changed in 1990, with the appointment of Ohad Naharin as artistic director. Naharin was no stranger
to the Batsheva Dance Company; he started his dance career with the group and was cast almost
immediately as Esau in Martha Grahams Jacobs Dream, which Graham choreographed in 1974 for the
companys 10th anniversary. Although Naharin soon departed for New York to study and perform with
Graham, he returned periodically to choreograph for Batsheva.
Indeed, by the time Naharin accepted the post of artistic director, he had made a name for himself as a
choreographer on three continents. Besides his work with Batsheva and with the Kibbutz Contemporary
Dance Company, Naharin created dances for his own pick-up group in New York City throughout the
1980s. In 1987, Jiri Kylian, one of Europes pre-eminent choreographers, invited him to the Netherlands to
be a guest choreographer at the Nederlands Dans Theater. By then, marvelously textured movement and a
mesmerizing signature fluidity in the spine and limbs already characterized Naharins work.
Thus, Naharin returned to Tel Aviv with a well-developed choreographic voice that became an integral part
of his sophisticated artistic vision for Batsheva. He assembled a rich blend of repertory from the cream of
the crop, inviting such luminaries as Kylian, William Forsythe, and Angelin Preljocaj to work with the
company. Fresh Israeli choreographers like Itzik Galili, Anat Danieli and Inbal Pinto also peppered the
groups offerings, but the base was always Naharins own work. He set several of his earlier creations from
America and Europe on Batsheva, and he choreographed new dances
including Kyr, Mabul, and Anaphasa. With Naharins distinctive choreography as a backbone, the company
was rejuvenated and redirected on a more coherent path.
Naharin further revamped Batsheva in the past decade, abandoning the repertory model that it had followed
from its inception. Now, the company is devoted to performing Naharins creations, as well as works by
house choreographer Sharon Eyal, who as a dancer has been one of the most articulate interpreters of
Naharins work. This refined focus strengthened Batshevas identity with an unmistakable aesthetic that in
turn propelled the company to the peak of contemporary dance. Over the past several years, the unique
physicality of Batshevas dancers has enthralled viewers and created significant buzz in the dance world.

Ohad Naharin and dancers during the 2009 Gaga Intensive. Photo by Gadi Dagon.
The key to this distinguishing feature is Gaga, a method of training developed by Naharin since the 1990s.
Gaga is radically different from most dance training. The mirror is banished from the studio, and dancers do
not perform specific combinations of movement but instead respond to verbal instructions; these prompts
can call attention to specific body parts, actions or qualities. This exploration arms the Batsheva dancers
with an extraordinary range of movement that stretches beyond that fostered by traditional training
methods. Smooth, sharp, strong, soft, shaking the dancers have a full toolbox of textures that they can
apply to their pliable bodies.
Yet its not just the range of textures that is so striking; theres something special about how fully Batsheva
dancers bring themselves to performances. In 2008, Naharin wrote about Gaga, We learn to love our
sweat, we discover our passion to move and connect it to effort, we discover both the animal in us and the
power of our imagination. Even as Gaga readies the dancers for Naharins and Eyals choreography, it
also tunes them into their individual selves; it engages their thoughts and emotions, as well as their bodies.
Through Gaga, Naharin and his troupe have harnessed and explored the remarkable energy that has been
a defining feature of the Batsheva Dance Company since the 1960s. This energy is systematically and
breathtakingly deployed in Naharins choreography, and it enlivens all the works the company is now
performing, from the spare Three to the eclectic Deca Dance to the compositionally layered MAX, which
closed Batshevas last North American tour at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. And its this energy that
electrifies and moves not just the dancers, but also the audience.

http://www.danceinisrael.com/2009/09/batsheva-dance-company-from-graham-to-gaga/

http://www.danceinisrael.com/2008/12/gaga-ohad-naharins-movement-language-in-his-own-words/

After making my initial rounds of the Tel Aviv studios to sample modern and contemporary dance classes, I
decided it was time to immerse myself in the training method that is most unique to Israel: Gaga ().
Gaga was developed by the Batsheva Dance Companys artistic director, Ohad Naharin, and it evolved not
only through his work with professional dancers but through experimentation with non-dancers; indeed,
when a non-dancing employee of Batsheva expressed a desire to dance in the late 1990s, Naharin began
biweekly classes for her and several other employees. The Batsheva company now trains daily in Gaga,
and since 2001, members of the general public have been able to practice Gaga in open classes.

Gaga Dance Classes: The Logistics

Currently, there are hour-long classes six days a week at the Suzanne Dellal Center taught by dancers who
have worked with Naharin; on some days, there are two or three classes. Most people who attend these
classes are not aspiring dancers with previous training. Instead, they are members of the general public
who found out about Gaga through word-of-mouth.
People interested in practicing Gaga must commit to an introductory month. For a very reasonable fee
220 shekels (roughly $60, depending on the exchange rate) beginners can take as many classes as they
would like, and they also gain free admission into the special monthly class offered by Ohad Naharin
himself. This month-long trial period allows novices like me to absorb the philosophy of Gaga, receiving
information from the rotating roster of teachers and observing the changes in our bodies and movement
over time. After the first month, practitioners can decide to take one class per week (220 shekels for a
month) or unlimited classes (330 shekels for a month).

What is Gaga?
Now you have some background, but what exactly is Gaga? At my first class, I was given a double-sided
paper with more detailed information. Here is an excerpt from the English translation:
Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self awareness through your body. Gaga is a new way for
learning and strengthening your body, adding flexibility, stamina and agility while lightening the senses and
imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical
fixations and offers ways for their elimination. Gaga elevates instinctive motion, links conscious and
subconscious movement. Gaga is an experience of freedom and pleasure. In a simple way, a pleasant
place, comfortable close, accompanied by music, every person with himself and others. (Ohad Naharin,
Gaga introduction sheet)
The second side of the handout provides elaborations on the following instructions: listen to the body, be
aware of others in the room, work barefoot and silently, and arrive promptly. Another key instruction is
below:
Never stop: The class is one session, no pauses or exercises, but a continuity of instructions one on top of
the other. Each instruction does not cancel the previous one, but is added to it, layer upon layer. It is,
therefore, important not to stop in the middle of the session. If you get tired or want to work at another

pace, you can always lower the volume, work 30%, 20%, float, rest but without losing sensations that
already awakened. Do not return to the state your body was in, before we started. (Ohad Naharin, Gaga
introduction sheet)

My First Experiences with Gaga

Reading this introduction sheet piqued my curiosity even more in the final minutes before my first class, and
I found that the excerpt above gave an accurate sense of the class. In Gaga, verbal instructions (primarily in
Hebrew but with some English kindly thrown in for me and others) draw students attention to particular
body parts, actions, dynamics, and spatial relationships.
There are some common terms and images in these instructions, such as:

float

shake

draw circles with different body parts

imagine the floor is getting very hot

become a string of spaghetti in a pot of boiling water

connect to pleasure
Here is a small sampling of other prompts which recur with variations:

feel like you are kneading dough with your hands

imagine little explosions going off inside your body

imagine a point within your chin (or other body part); where can you put that point?

sense and explore the space behind your neck (or other body part)

quake as if there is an earthquake beneath you

move as if your flesh has melted off and you are just bones
Unlike many of the modern and contemporary classes I have attended, the Gaga classes begin standing.
Usually we start by simply shifting our weight side to side, slowly allowing the movement to travel through
our bodies and layering our motion in accordance with verbal instructions like those above. In a typical
class, we gradually build up to level changes and locomotion through space.
At times we use our voice in Gaga, counting down as we bring a certain action to its peak for 10 more
seconds or allowing our movement to elicit noise. We also engage our focus and are encouraged to look
around at our fellow classmates as we conduct our research. On some occasions we work with partners.
We fill in the negative space around them, call attention to particular body parts through touch, or riff on
their personal groove.
I had the unique experience of taking Gaga one day with my classmates from a seminar on classic Jewish
texts and contemporary Israeli culture held at Alma Hebrew College. Yossi Naharin, who is command
central for Gaga classes (and who also happens to be Ohads brother), gave us a tour of Batshevas
facilities and debriefed us after our Gaga class with Arkadi Zaides. Not wanting to influence the language or
reactions of my classmates, I sat back and listened to their comments before speaking myself.

A couple of people who had been apprehensive about dancing were pleasantly surprised at how much they
enjoyed Gaga. Others commented on how wonderful it was to move without a sense of judgment or
competition and without the usually present and frequently scary wall-length mirror (the mirror is
purposefully covered in all Gaga classes, and as Yossi pointed out, there are no mirrors in the studios that
Batsheva uses).
As our discussion moved to questions about typical dance training, I finally talked about what I experienced
in my first two weeks of Gaga. Many of my early reflections, made after 8 sessions, still hold true after
months of regular classes.
Much to my delight, Gaga enables me to find movements that I would never choose if simply instructed to
dance or improvise. Usually I slip into ballet or mainstream modern dance-influenced movements when
given the license to improvise, but this framework encourages what is for me an exceptionally honest
investigation of how my body can move, freed from my previous training and stylistic preferences. Gaga
also allows me to tap into actions such as shaking which I previously shied away from because I worried
they would aggravate old injuries; moreover, it empowers me to perform these movements for a sustained
period of time with remarkable ease.
At the time I first wrote, I was also struck by how my experience in Gaga dovetailed with my exposure to Qi
Gong and energy work. There are moments in Gaga class where I am able to simply allow the energy to
flow through and guide my body without me exerting either conscious choice or physical force. In
November 2007, I wrote, I am looking forward to continuing these explorations, observations, and
(hopefully) transformations throughout the coming months . . . Transformations did indeed occur, and I am
excited to realize that my experience with Gaga will be a ongoing journey for years to come.

Its fitting that I saw the Batsheva Ensemble perform the latest version of Ohad Naharins Deca Dance at
the Suzanne Dellal Center last week. You see, Deca Dance is the piece that drew me here to Israel. I
wrote my Fulbright grant proposal having only seen the Batsheva Dance Company perform an earlier
incarnation of this work (albeit 3 times). I hadnt seen any of Naharins other dances, nor had I seen any
other Israeli companies. Now 4 years after I last saw Deca Dance, 9 and 1/2 months after landing in
Israel, 2 days after finishing the term of my Fulbright grant, and 90-some dance concerts later I feel I have
come to the end of a cycle.
I set out to learn about the wider field of Israeli contemporary dance, and although there is still more to
explore, I have a much deeper understanding of dances history in Israel as well as the scope of the field
today. I devoted a considerable amount of time to independent choreographers and to companies other
than Batsheva, but again and again, my attention returned to the origin of my interest, the center point of
Israeli contemporary dance.
With many avenues of entry, my research on this company was extraordinarily rich. To learn about the past,
I sorted through files of newspaper clippings, viewed old repertoire on video at the Dance Library of Israel,
and heard Batshevas history retold by former dancers and directors. To learn about Batshevas more

recent years, I traveled with the Batsheva Ensemble, spoke with company dancers and ensemble
members, studied Gaga, and attended live performances: Ohad
Naharins Kamuyot,Zachacha, Seder, MAX, Shalosh, and Furo; Sharon Eyals Bertolina and Makarova
Kabisa; and several evenings featuring short creations by company dancers.
And then came Deca Dance.
Just as I have changed, so too has Deca Dance, an unfixed assemblage of excerpts from Ohad Naharins
repertory. Sure, there were some old favorites which I recognized from past versions, most notably the
accumulative Echad Mi Yodea segment and the perennial crowd pleaser, Dancing with the Audience
(and at this show the audience members invited onstage were more than willing to participate, with one
man hamming it up to great applause).
But much of this Deca Dance was built from segments of the more recent MAX, Shalosh, and Seder none
of which existed when I last saw Deca Dance in 2004 and there was even a brand new female duet to an
unusual rendering of Ravels Bolero. Having seen these later works multiple times, I found myself
engaged in an interplay with this new Deca Dance: expecting certain sequencing, guessing what would
come next, cataloging where I had seen each segment. The direct contrast of these excerpts next to older
sections and the absence of other portions that I remembered from my previous Deca Dance viewings
provided a chance to reflect on what I perceive as a shift in Ohad Naharins choreography towards sparer
works which emphasize marvelously textured movement and finely tuned compositional forms over
theatricality.
As I place Deca Dance within the context of Naharins repertory, Batshevas history, and the larger frame of
Israeli contemporary dance, I realize how much I have gained from my research. I love being able to look
at a dance from different angles, and with the information I have gathered, I now have a tempting menu of
choices for how to view each performance.
I also have had the pleasure of watching the same dancers develop over the course of the season and
talking with them offstage. As Im sure many of you know, its a delight to watch dancers that you know, to
seek them out during the sections at which you know they excel, and to find your attention captured
unexpectedly by them when they perform something with added nuance or new skill.
A part of me wishes that my Fulbright could continue after all, its been a dream to structure my own time
and pursue independent research with few restraints! but I am blessed with the gifts of this grant as I
complete this cycle and start the next.
***
You can see the Batsheva Dance Companys production of Deca Dance in Houston (January 28),
Philadelphia (February 3), Chicago (February 7), Ann Arbor (February 15), and Vancouver (February 2021). The company will perform Shalosh (Three) and MAX in other locations throughout North America.

http://www.danceinisrael.com/2009/01/ohad-naharins-deca-dance-in-israel-a-cycle-completed/