Israeli dance, Batsheva style

CONTEMPORARY dance aficionados are in for a treat with Israel’s highly regarded Batsheva Dance Company heading back to Australia for the Melbourne Festival, which this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

This time, Batsheva – which made its Melbourne Festival debut to great acclaim in 2000 – will be wowing audiences with two diverse productions: Decadence, which provides a theatrical look at some of the most memorable highlights of Batsheva’s history set to a varied soundtrack that ranges from Vivaldi to Dean Martin; and the company’s newest production Last Work, fresh from its successful world premiere in Tel Aviv in June.

Naturally, both programs will evocatively convey their stories through Batsheva’s unique movement language, Gaga.

As Melbourne Festival’s artistic director Josephine Ridge says: “Watching Batsheva dancers is exhausting, exhilarating and leaves an indelible impression.”

For Batsheva’s celebrated artistic director Ohad Naharin, who has been at the forefront of the company for 25 years and was the visionary behind Gaga, the challenge to deliver groundbreaking productions never wanes.

Indeed, talking to The AJN by phone from the home he shares in Tel Aviv with his partner Ari, a dancer, and their six-year-old daughter Noga, Naharin is as enthusiastic as ever about the revolutionary dance movement he created.

Decadence, he explains, is “about looking at our work from a point where we can create a drama, and create a universe and atmosphere by putting together different work we’ve done – without a sense of chronology or timing. It’s actually about showing the present. It’s all about now and the wisdom and experience that we’ve gathered until this very moment.

“The beauty of that is that it disappears and only remains in our memory, and the fact that it disappears so easily gives us the chance to put it together again and again in a very fresh way.”

As for Last Work, Naharin is pleased that Australian audiences will be among the first in the world to enjoy his much-anticipated new production.

“We love to do Decadence, but it’s the new work – Last Work – that is the point, that is why we’re actually coming to Australia,” he says. “That’s the big excitement for us.”

But Naharin says we’ll have to see Last Work for ourselves to discover exactly what unfolds on stage.

“Talking about dance in general is a little bit like talking about a perfume,” he reflects. “You can say a lot about it, but until you smell it, you have no idea. It’s a little bit the same with this – you need to see it.”

Unfortunately, Naharin reveals he won’t be accompanying the company to Australia for the Melbourne Festival.

“Actually, I was ill this year – I’m fine now – but the doctor advised me to take things a bit easier for the next six months, so I decided I would go as far as Japan with the company,” he explains.

“But it’s not about me – it’s about the company, and the company will be travelling with my associate director.”

Born in 1952 on Kibbutz Mizra, Naharin began his dance training with Batsheva in 1974. During his first year with the company, visiting choreographer Martha Graham singled out Naharin for his talent and invited him to join her own company in New York.

While in New York, Naharin furthered his training at the Juilliard School and went on to perform internationally with Israel’s Bat-Dor Dance Company and Maurice Bejart’s Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels.

Naharin returned to New York in 1980 and formed the Ohad Naharin Dance Company, which performed in New York and abroad to great critical acclaim. In 1990 he was appointed artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company and over the years he has choreographed numerous works.
Naharin’s contribution to dance has earned him many honours, including the prestigious Israel Prize for dance (2005), the EMET Prize for Arts and Culture (2009) and the Samuel H Scripps American Dance Festival award for lifetime achievement (2009).

Where does Naharin continue to find inspiration for his cutting-edge dance form?

“It comes from my love of movement, of composition, of my dancers and of research,” he replies. “It’s always there over-locking my mind. It takes me to places I couldn’t imagine.”

Not surprisingly, Batsheva – now starring a roster of 18 dancers in its senior dance troupe and 18 in the junior company – has a tight-knit family atmosphere.

“Given that they’re not people I see after rehearsals or socialise with outside of work, the relationship

I have with the dancers is the most intimate relationship I have except with my immediate family,” says Naharin.

“It’s the result of trust, of really knowing our weaknesses and of a love of sharing our knowledge with each other.”

Batsheva’s dancers hail from around Israel, as well as from all corners of the globe.

“Half of the company is from Israel and, over the years, we have had dancers from more than 28 countries,” says Naharin.

“We now have an Australian girl named Rachel, who is also happy to come home [for the Melbourne Festival]. She’s been with us for almost 14 years and she’s a beautiful, special, unique artist.”

To Naharin, being based in Tel Aviv, a city which celebrates art in all its forms, makes perfect sense.

“The beauty of the city comes from its culture and from its people,” he says. “I like being here. It’s a very good place for someone who has creative forces going on, because it’s a place where you can always find people to collaborate, communicate and share with.”

Little wonder, too, that Naharin’s young daughter is already a budding dancer.

“She dances throughout her life,” he says. “She’s not trained to dance – we don’t think that it’s important to train her now. But her choice of expression is a lot through groove and movement. She loves dancing.”

The Melbourne Festival is from October 8-25. The Batsheva Dance Company performs Decadence on October 15 and Last Work on October 17-18. Bookings: www.festival.melbourne.

REPORT by Jackie Brygel

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