Video: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performing Ohad Naharin’s Decadance

If you’re in Atlanta, Georgia – or if you know someone in Atlanta – here’s a heads up:

I’m happy to announce that I am speaking in the Emory Friends of Dance Lecture Series on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).  My talk, Foreign Exchange: American and Israeli Dance from Martha Graham to Ohad Naharin, will precede a performance by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet of Ohad Naharin’s Decadance.  I won’t be in Atlanta in person, but I will be speaking via Skype and have an exciting presentation prepared!

Cedar Lake performing Ohad Naharin’s Decadance.  Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Here’s the official blurb about my lecture:

Forty years ago, Israel’s premiere dance company imported works by top American choreographers.  Now cutting-edge American troupes like Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet are drawing crowds with choreography by Israeli artists.  In this lecture, dance scholar Deborah Friedes Galili explores the dynamic relationship between American and Israeli dance and traces the meteoric rise of Israeli contemporary dance.  This lecture will be presented live from Israel via webcam prior to the performance by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.

Cedar Lake performing Ohad Naharin’s Decadance.  Photo by Paul B. Goode.

My lecture is free and open to the public, so if you’re in Atlanta, I hope you will come listen in the Chase Lobby at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road.  I will speak for one half hour, and then there will be a question and answer session.  Please let others know about this event as well!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga
• Americans in Israel: Cedar Lake in Tel Aviv Dance 2008
• Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance in Israel: A Cycle Completed

Related Links

• Emory Dance Program Events
• Emory Report (article about the event)
• Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
• Batsheva Dance Company

(Video: Excerpt from Tomer Heymann’s Out of Focus)

More and more video cameras are making their way into dance studios as choreographers seek to document their work.  Usually the footage remains in personal or company archives, unseen by outsiders.  But the film Out of Focus offers the public a peek inside the process of Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company.

In 2007, filmmaker Tomer Heymann focused his lens on Naharin as the choreographer coached New York’s Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in Deca Dance.  Besides close up views of the choreography, Heymann’s Out of Focus includes interview clips with Naharin.  With bits of conversation set against the sometimes bustling backdrop of the studio, the discussion feels particularly fresh, open, and honest.

While the Batsheva Dance Company recently displayed Naharin’s repertory on tour in the U.S., Heyman’s behind-the-scenes documentary has been seen primarily  in Israel.  Now, though, Out of Focus is coming to New York.  92YTribeca’s screening on April 30th will include a special appearance by Heymann himself.

Related articles about Ohad Naharin’s choreography on Dance In Israel

• “Americans in Israel: Cedar Lake in Tel Aviv Dance 2008″
• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”
• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “Mamootot – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide”
• “Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance in Israel: A Cycle Completed”
• “Ohad Naharin to Receive 2009 Scripps/ADF Award”

Related Articles about Gaga on Dance In Israel

• “Going Gaga: My Introduction to Gaga Dance Classes”
• “Gaga: Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language, in His Own Words”
• “Gaga: A Foreigner Explores Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language”
• “Ohad Naharin on Gaga (Video)”
• “A Glimpse into the Gaga Workshop”

Related Links

• Batsheva Dance Company
• Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
• 92Y Tribeca
• Tomer Heymann

Ohad Naharin.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Since 1981, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award has been bestowed annually on luminaries of the dance world.  From Martha Graham (the first recipient) to Laura Dean (the 2008 recipient), selected choreographers have won this prize with their lifelong devotion to building and shaping their art form.  The honorees have pioneered new techniques and ventured into unfamiliar compositional territory.  Out of their experiments emerged choreography that was not only groundbreaking but masterful.

With the exceptions of Pina Bausch and Maguy Marin, the Scripps recipients have been American or based in the United States.  This year, though, a third choreographer from abroad will receive the award: Ohad Naharin.  The award presentation will take place on June 25th at ADF in Durham, North Carolina.

Naharin, the artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, has left an indelible impact not only on the troupe he leads but on the larger Israeli dance scene.  Yet as his selection for the Scripps award suggests, Naharin’s influence is also felt beyond Israel’s borders.

Indeed, Naharin’s work has spread worldwide.  Major companies including the Nederlans Dans Theater and the New York-based Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet have performed his critically acclaimed and captivating choreography.  Juilliard students have learned several of Naharin’s works over the years, while young dancers in Sweden recently presented Kamuyot. And of course, the Batsheva Dance Company itself has toured around the globe with a tempting menu of Naharin’s visual delights.

Naharin’s consistently well-crafted composition and clever challenges to choreographic convention would be enough to launch him into the stratosphere of contemporary dancemakers worthy of the Scripps award.  But this artist also made his mark on dance training.  The inventive movement which characterizes Naharin’s work stems from Gaga, which the choreographer created and instituted as the Batsheva Dance Company’s primary method of training.  Daily Gaga classes in Israel and workshops around the world have introduced dancers – and non-dancers – to Naharin’s movement language.

Naharin’s choreography and innovative technique has caused ripples throughout the dance world, and his effect on a new generation of dancemakers is already visible.  Many of Israel’s independent choreographers danced for Naharin at Batsheva; though they have developed their own voices, their processes and products have at times been flavored by those of their former director.  Meanwhile, in New York, Gallim Dance – founded by Batsheva Ensemble alumna Andrea Miller – is making waves.  If the histories of previous Scripps honorees are any indication, Ohad Naharin’s already far-reaching impact on the field of dance will be long lasting as well.

List of Scripps Award Recipients

(From the ADF Awards & Dedications Page)

1981 Martha Graham
1982 Merce Cunningham
1983 Paul Taylor
1984 Hanya Holm
1985 Alwin Nikolais
1986 Katherine Dunham
1987 Alvin Ailey
1988 Erick Hawkins
1989 In memory of Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Jose Limón
1990 Twyla Tharp
1991 Anna Sokolow
1992 Donald McKayle
1993 Talley Beatty
1994 Trisha Brown
1995 In memory of of Pearl Primus and Helen Tamiris
1996 Meredith Monk
1997 Anna Halprin
1998 Fayard and Harold Nicholas
1999 Pina Bausch
2000 Pilobolus Dance Theatre
2001 Garth Fagan
2002 no recipient
2003 Maguy Marin
2004 Eiko and Koma
2005 Bill T. Jones
2006 Murray Louis
2007 Mark Morris
2008 Laura Dean
2009 Ohad Naharin

Related articles about Ohad Naharin’s choreography on Dance In Israel

• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”
• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “Mamootot – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide”
• “Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance in Israel: A Cycle Completed”
• “Batsheva Dance Company Premieres Ohad Naharin’s Hora“

Related Articles about Gaga on Dance In Israel

• “Going Gaga: My Introduction to Gaga Dance Classes”
• “Gaga: Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language, in His Own Words”
• “Gaga: A Foreigner Explores Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language”
• “Ohad Naharin on Gaga (Video)”
• “A Glimpse into the Gaga Workshop”

Related Links

• American Dance Festival
• Batsheva Dance Company
• “Israeli choreographer wins prestigious prize” (Ynet article)

An ad for the exhibit’s September 18th opening from the Israeli Consulate

It’s not only Israeli dance groups that perform in Israel.  With enthusiastic Israeli audiences at the ready, companies from around the world have made Israel a destination on their tours.  In a single month, the International Tel Aviv Dance Festival (Tel Aviv Dance 2008) will feature groups from Spain, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Slovenia, the U.K., the Netherlands, the Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Madagascar, and the United States.  Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet received a warm welcome this weekend when they opened the festival with works by Joe Stromgren, Crystal Pite, and Israel’s own Ohad Naharin; the dancers are now touring through the rest of the country.

Cedar Lake is not the only American dance company with strong ties to Israel and Israeli dance.  Based in Connecticut, Pilobolus commissioned Israeli choreographers Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak to create Rushes in 2007, and the company also performed in Israel last year. While on tour, Robert Whitman took a series of stunning photographs featuring Pilobolus’s trademark sculptural physicality against the backdrop of Israel’s natural treasures, ancient sites, and modern urban delights. These images are on display in New York City’s Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets) from September 18 until October 31, 2008. I went to the opening event and wrote the post below for The Winger. Read on, and if you’re in New York City, rush over to Chelsea Market before the photographs come down!

* * *

About two months into my stay here in the U.S., I’m missing Israel terribly. I miss my partner, the people, the food, the sites, and of course, the dancing! I got a quick fix of Israel and dance yesterday during my last jaunt into New York City, where I strolled through the Chelsea Market for the opening of a photography exhibit sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel. Photographer Robert Whitman took some gorgeous shots of Pilobolus dancers on their tour through Israel last year, and the results ranged from beautiful to whimsical. Some places I couldn’t pinpoint, but I recognized lots of locations I miss: quaint old Jaffa, the Dead Sea, and the markets in Jerusalem. I’m returning to Israel on Tuesday and can’t wait to go back to these places in person, but you New Yorkers can check out these visions of dancing in Israel through the end of October. The video below has some of the images as well as clips of Whitman talking about the exhibit.

Photographer Robert Whitman speaks about the Pilobolus in Israel exhibit

I’m posting a few more links on Dance In Israel below, in case you can’t make it to the exhibit:

Check out the announcement for this photography exhibit on Pilobolus’s MySpace blog and on the Israeli Consulate’s website.  The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz also published an article about the Pilobolus exhibit.

You can learn more about Pilobolus, see some of Whitman’s photographs, and view video of Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Rushes on Pilobolus’s website.

And finally, courtesy of the Israeli Consulate’s blog, you can see the happy crowd I joined on opening night:

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in Ohad Naharin’s Decadance. Photo by Paul B. Goode

It used to be that Israeli companies like Batsheva Dance Company and the now defunct Bat-Dor toured to the U.S. with American repertory (( Batsheva Dance Company was founded in 1964 by the Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, a patroness of Martha Graham.  Graham was the company’s artistic adviser, and the group performed not only several of her works but also dances by numerous Americans and Europeans – some of who became artistic directors during the group’s early decades. )).  But Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s appearance at the Tel Aviv Dance 2008 festival marks a turning point in dance history: this American company is bringing Israeli repertory to Israel.  Cedar Lake’s programs will include excerpts from Decadance by Ohad Naharin, Batsheva’s artistic director.

Last year I peeked into Cedar Lake’s rehearsal process with Naharin by watching Tomer Heymann’s documentary, Out of Focus.  Whereas the Batsheva dancers take class daily in Gaga, a movement practice developed by Naharin, Cedar Lake’s dancers had to move away from their ballet background and immerse themselves in a dramatically different method of training and working.  This shift required the dancers to trade a traditional emphasis on external appearances for an intense process of personal and physical exploration – a major challenge for dancers reared and rooted in the ballet studio, with its ever-present mirror.

But Cedar Lake is explicitly billed as a contemporary ballet company.  Its repertory is not drawn from 19th century ballet classics but from a range of modern-day works, some of which blur the borders between genres of dance.  Thus the dancers that tackled this challenge did so with within the company’s framework of versatility and physical facility, which is beautifully captured in this video below:

Cedar Lake Demo from Caleb Custer on Vimeo.

(Readers/viewers familiar with Decadance might recognize a quick clip from the dance midway through the video.)

Cedar Lake’s performance of Israeli repertory in Israel provides a fitting opportunity to raise a few issues:

• How has Israeli concert dance evolved from its beginnings in the 20th century?
• When and how did choreography by Israelis become an attractive commodity on the global stage?  (In less formal terms, when and how did Israeli contemporary dance become hot?)
• What differences will Israeli audiences perceive when they see an American troupe performing Israeli repertory?
• More broadly, are there differences between how Israelis and Americans (or any other group) move?   Are there certain qualities which characterize an Israeli physicality?
• What else characterizes the Israeli concert dance scene?
• Why is ballet largely absent from the Israeli concert stage?
• How do we distinguish between genres of dance?  How do we label dance?

I’m afraid I’ll have to leave these questions hanging right now.  They can become much more complex and detailed, and their answers are far from simple.  But expect to find many more posts on Dance In Israel which will probe these issues!

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s performances in Israel will also include Crystal Pite’s Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue and Joe Stromgren’s Sunday Again.  You can find more logistical details about the company’s concerts in Tel Aviv, Herzliya, and Jerusalem by clicking on Events, which is located at the top of Dance In Israel.  I am just starting to place events on the calendars.  If you want to submit events, please contact us!

For more, see my related post, Tel Aviv Dance 2008, or visit Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s website. And finally, here are two more striking photos of the company in Decadance, both by Paul B. Goode:

Excertps from Barak Marshall’s new dance, Monger.

Tel Aviv Dance 2008 is bringing companies from all over the world to stages throughout the city from October 23 to November 22. This weekend is the premiere of Barak Marshall’s highly anticipated Monger at the Suzanne Dellal Center.  The L.A.-based Marshall – who has lived in both Israel and in the U.S., where he most recently has been affiliated with UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures – stopped choreographing 8 years ago after an injury. His choreography in the 1990s generated a major buzz in Israel and garnered several awards, so devoted dance-goers here will likely flock to the theater for this event.

I too am eager to attend a performance of Monger.  Many people recommended Marshall’s work to me last year, but I could only see a few snippets of his choreography at the Dance Library of Israel.  These videos and the frequent mentions of his name piqued my interest.  I was also intrigued by the fact that Marshall was the son of Margalit Oved, a choreographer and key dancer with the Yemenite dance troupe Inbal in its heyday.  After reading Helen Kaye’s preview of Monger in the Jerusalem Post, I’m looking forward more than ever to seeing Marshall’s choreography.

If you are reading this in Israel and want to go to the theater – or if you’re somewhere else in the world and just want to know more – there are a few online resources about Tel Aviv Dance and Barak Marshall’s new work.  The Suzanne Dellal Center has an English-language schedule for Tel Aviv Dance 2008 with descriptions of the concert offerings, bios, and photos.   There is also an article about the Tel Aviv Dance festival by Ori J. Lenkinski in the Jerusalem Post, with special mention both of Barak Marshall and of the visiting American company Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.  Cedar Lake has performed Ohad Naharin’s Decadance in the U.S., and they will include some excerpts of this piece in their program this week at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center (the opera house).