Video: Sharon Eyal’s Bill

I have a confession to make: I saw Sharon Eyal’s Bill three nights in a row.  Besides the obvious draw of seeing Batsheva Dance Company’s latest production in its first performances, I was compelled to watch the dance again and again by the kaleidoscopic complexity of Eyal’s choreography for this twenty-one member group.  On each repeat viewing, I got to know Bill better, uncovering even more layers in the ensemble work and noticing the nuances in the movement.  The already formidable power of the dance only grew stronger with time.

For other dance enthusiasts who might want to catch Bill again – and for new audience members who have yet to be acquainted with Bill - now is your chance!  Batsheva is bringing the work to the Suzanne Dellal Center for a second run from June 13-16.

This article was originally published in the Jerusalem Post as “Meet Bill.”

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Meet Bill

Sharon Eyal’s Bill. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

With a strong character, a quirky sense of humor, and a big heart, Bill makes a memorable first impression.  But Bill is not a man. Bill is the Batsheva Dance Company’s latest production by house choreographer Sharon Eyal, and it had its first run in May with performances at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv and the Herzliya Performing Arts Center.

When Eyal first transfixed audiences 20 years ago, it was with her own magnetic stage presence as a dancer with Batsheva.  But in recent years, she has also generated buzz with her choreography.  From her initial compositions presented under the framework of Batsheva Dancers Create to the evening-length, large-scale Bertolina and Makarova Kabisa, Eyal developed her distinctive artistic voice.  Last season, local audiences were treated to the Batsheva Ensemble’s revamped version of Eyal’s earlier Love, while foreign crowds flocked to the Norwegian troupe Carte Blanche’s performances of the choreographer’s Killer Pig.

Sharon Eyal’s Bill. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Now with Bill, an hour-long work for Batsheva’s 21 dancers, Eyal picks up where she left off.  “I feel I am in an endless process, and the creation Bill continues my latest works, Makarova Kabisa and Killer Pig,” she explains.

The throughline in her creative process is no doubt strengthened by her ongoing collaboration with several artists: co-creator Guy Bachar, musician and soundtrack designer Ori Lichtik, and lighting designer Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi).

Together, this team has fashioned a thoroughly contemporary aesthetic that permeates Eyal’s choreography.  Like her other works, Bill is set to a virtually unceasing, throbbing blend of beats and melodies masterfully retooled by Lichtik on a sophisticated DJ system.  Styled by Eyal and Bachar, the flesh-toned bodysuits that sheath the dancers like a second skin provide a ready canvas for the rich hues and striking geometry of Bambi’s lighting.

Sharon Eyal’s Bill. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

In Bill, the dancers’ singular look is further enhanced through piercing ice-blue contact lenses and slicked-back hair colored to match the shade of their costumes.  Eyal notes, “The idea was to wear a sense of nakedness,” but adds, “Nudity is not interesting enough . . . Nudity is also obvious.  On the other hand, it is important to me that they will see the body, that there will be another layer that will present the mechanical side.  When everyone is dressed and appears almost the same, I feel more that the individual in each one of them breaks out.”

Though seemingly paradoxical, this is a fitting attitude for a choreographer who has frequently displayed a talent for marshaling large numbers of dancers across the stage, playing on the tensions between the individual and the group. A  similar dynamic pervades Bill.  Sometimes working as single unit and at other times clustered in small packs juxtaposed with one another, the dancers travel in a dizzying kaleidoscope of constantly changing formations.  Occasionally soloists break through the mass’s movement, but ultimately it is a united group pulse that drives the work forward.

Sharon Eyal’s Bill. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Eyal remarks, “I love the dancers, especially when I see them in the duplication of the entire group as one,” and her skillful arrangement of the dancers along with the identical costumes successfully produce this desired effect.

Yet part of Bill’s impact lies in the nuanced workings of each individual body.  Even the most basic stepping patterns are layered with subtle isolations, while more intricate phrases display the performers’ virtuosity, capitalizing on their extreme flexibility and gravity-defying leaps.  Batsheva’s dancers are just as comfortable in slinky, undulating slow motion as they are in hard-hitting, superhuman movements executed at warp speed, and they can morph from one dynamic to the next in the blink of an eye. Equipping every dancer with an intense physicality and multiplying them together, Eyal finds a winning formula for Bill.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Batsheva Dance Company Premieres Sharon Eyal’s Bill“
• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”
• “Mamootot – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide”
• “Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance in Israel: A Cycle Completed”
• “Ohad Naharin to Receive 2009 Scripps/ADF Award”
• “Ohad Naharin in America: Out of Focus Documentary”
• “Batsheva Dance Company Premieres Ohad Naharin’s Hora“
• “The Batsheva Ensemble on Tour at Home and Abroad”
• “Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga”
• “Phaza Morgana 2009: Batsheva Dance Company in the Desert”
• “Ohad Naharin Receives a 2009 Dance Magazine Award”
• “Batsheva Dance Company: Ohad Naharin’s Project 5“
• “Batsheva Dance Company: Ohad Naharin’s Shalosh“
• “Batsheva Ensemble in Ohad Naharin’s Kyr/Z/na“
• “Batsheva Ensemble in Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot“

Related Links

• Batsheva Dance Company

Ohad Naharin’s Anaphaza.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Two weeks ago, the distinctive sound of dancers drumming on enormous water cooler bottles flooded the courtyard of the Suzanne Dellal Center as the Batsheva Dance Company rehearsed Ohad Naharin’s Anaphaza.  But last week, the studios were eerily silent.  Why?  Batsheva took Anaphaza, water bottles and all, down to the Arava desert for Phaza Morgana 2009.  From October 22-25, the usually placid Timna Park overflowed with audiences and energy as Batsheva and the Idan Raichel Project put on three spectacular shows.

My preview of Phaza Morgana was originally published as “Dance in the Desert” in the Jerusalem Post.

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Dance in the Desert

This weekend, the desert won’t be so deserted.  Crowds of eager spectators are flocking to scenic Timna Park, twenty-five kilometers north of Eilat, for Isrotel Phaza Morgana 2009.  Nestled among the park’s striking rock formations at the foot of the magnificent Solomon’s Pillars, a 3,000 seat amphitheater will host three spectacular programs designed to entice the senses and enliven the spirit.

The world-renowned Batsheva Dance Company has partnered with the Israeli hotel chain Isrotel to present Phaza Morgana on five previous occasions, but this year’s festival promises to be the most sensational event yet.  As in previous seasons, the dance troupe’s large-scale production of Anaphaza forms Phaza Morgana’s centerpiece and maintains a magical appeal.

Ohad Naharin’s Anaphaza.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Choreographed for the Israel Festival in 1993 by Batsheva’s artistic director, Ohad Naharin, Anaphaza boasts pulsing rhythms, inventive movement, clever props, and eye-catching costumes which have made the work a favorite among audiences and critics alike; indeed, the dance has been seen by an astounding 350,000 people around the world and won recognition as one of the artist’s signature works.  For Phaza Morgana, over thirty dancers from the Batsheva Dance Company and the Batsheva Ensemble will bring Anaphaza to life with their unchained energy, spreading from the stage onto the rock formations themselves.

Batsheva Dance Company’s other program in the festival is Take Two. Created especially for Phaza Morgana, Take Two combines selections not only from Naharin’s rich repertory but from Sharon Eyal’s growing body of work.  Eyal’s choreography, which masterfully moves large groups of dancers through the space, is well-suited to the grand scale and soaring backdrop of the desert stage.  Her Bertolina was a success at Phaza Morgana 2007, and now excerpts of her more recent Makarova Kabisa will be featured in Take Two.  Naharin’s portion of the program will include sections from older classics such as Mabul and Naharin’s Virus as well as newer favorites like Seder and Shalosh.

Phaza Morgana in Timna Park. Photo by Liron Simon.

While dance is at the heart of Phaza Morgana, this year’s event also highlights music with a captivating concert by the Idan Raichel Project.  Based on the group’s latest hit album, the show Within My Walls will be accompanied by a sixteen-member orchestra and will include special guest appearances by internationally known soloists.  Marta Gómez contributes a Colombian flavor to Raichel’s ensemble, and Somi adds African accents to the group’s eclectic sound.  With the Idan Raichel Project’s irresistible beats and intoxicating melodies, Phaza Morgana’s crowds will leave the festival dancing.

Video: Isrotel’s promotional video of Phaza Morgana

Related posts on Batsheva Dance Company and Ohad Naharin on Dance In Israel

• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”
• “Mamootot – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide”
• “Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance in Israel: A Cycle Completed”
• “Ohad Naharin to Receive 2009 Scripps/ADF Award”
• “Ohad Naharin in America: Out of Focus Documentary”
• “Batsheva Dance Company Premieres Ohad Naharin’s Hora“
• “The Batsheva Ensemble on Tour at Home and Abroad”
• “Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga”

Related links

• Batsheva Dance Company
• Phaza Morgana

(Video: Batsheva Dance Company in Sharon Eyal’s Makarova Kabisa)

Tonight, International Exposure 2008 – a showcase of the year’s new creations by Israeli choreographers – will open at the Suzanne Dellal Center.  With performances by the Tararam Group as well as two works by Sharon Eyal, I suspect that the evening will start with a bang in the literal and figurative sense (that’s good, in case you’re not familiar with the English turn of phrase).

“Tararam” translates to “hubbub,” and from the description on the group’s website, I’m expecting something in the same vein as Stomp.  Then Talia Paz will perform Eyal’s One Leg Barbie before the Batsheva Dance Company takes the stage in Eyal’s Makarova Kabisa, which mixes ballet and African-influenced movements to throbbing beats spun by a live DJ.

(Video: Tararam in their “Extravaganza” show)

Besides seeing these works, I’m really looking forward to meeting all of the other attendees at the opening reception tonight.  The final guest list includes an array of presenters, journalists, and officials from Israeli consulates abroad.  Guests are coming from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Uzbekistan.  Especially after immersing myself in the dance scene here for an entire year, I wonder how fresh eyes will take in this feast of dance and hope to have some thought-provoking conversations about Israeli contemporary dance with my fellow attendees.

Hopefully the performances tonight will get our energy up – we’ll have five more days packed with dance watching!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Mamootot: Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide” (re: Batsheva)
• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “Hofesh Shechter & Talia Paz: Israelis abroad, Israelis at home”

Links to Companies and Choreographers

• Batsheva Dance Company
• Talia Paz
• Tararam Group

Other Useful Links

• Dance In Israel’s International Exposure coverage – full series
  
• Dance In Israel’s Links page – links to companies, choreographers, and more
  
• Suzanne Dellal Center

(Video: Dancers from the Batsheva Ensemble and from Sweden in Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot)

I had every intention of taking Gaga class on November 18, 2007.  My dance clothes were in my bag, my water bottle was filled, and I made it to Suzanne Dellal with time to spare.  But outside the studio, I ran into Eldad Mannheim, the manager of the Batsheva Ensemble.  As part of a collaboration with Sweden’s National Riksteatern, members of the Ensemble were about to perform Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot along with Swedish dancers – and Eldad invited me to join the audience of school children in Studio Varda for the show.

That was the first time I had the pleasure of seeing the Batsheva Ensemble, the second company of the Batsheva Dance Company.  Since then, I have accompanied the Ensemble as they have toured to Be’er Sheva, Kiryat Shmona, and Kfar Saba, and I have attended their performances at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv.  Many of the dancers who were in the Ensemble last year are now in the Batsheva Dance Company, and I’m happy to note that they will be touring throughout the U.S. from late January to early March.  I hope you too will have the pleasure of seeing them perform!

I first wrote about the Batsheva Ensemble after joining them for a trip to Be’er Sheva, in the Negev desert, and I published a version of the article below on my own blog on January 10, 2008.  Expect more accounts of my experiences with the group in the coming months.

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I am not a morning person.

These days, it takes multiple alarms to get me out of bed, and more often than not, the snooze button takes a beating.  But at 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, I successfully arose after a single ring of my alarm. It takes something special for me to get up before the sun rises – something like the chance to accompany the Batsheva Ensemble on their trip to perform for students in Be’er Sheva.

I shouldn’t have worried about a lack of sleep. Like several of the company’s dancers and staff members, I dozed for the better part of the bus ride to Be’er Sheva, and besides, I wasn’t about to perform in two back-to-back, hour-long concerts!   I also suspected (correctly) that the excitement of joining the Batsheva Ensemble for this excursion would keep me on my toes, so to speak.

We awoke as the bus arrived in Be’er Sheva, and after drowsily piling into the theater, the dancers ate a light, healthy breakfast backstage to bolster their strength.  Then it was time to get down to work.  As the crew busied themselves with costumes and technical equipment, I followed the dancers onstage and took Gaga class led by Ines, an Ensemble dancer from France.  Thanks to the presence of other foreigners – 6 of the company’s 16 dancers hail from abroad – the class was directed in English.

While I have taken Gaga for nearly two months, this was my first opportunity to take a class populated entirely by dancers.  I enjoyed the experience immensely.  Now familiar Gaga instructions like floating, quaking, and becoming like a string of spaghetti in boiling water existed side-by-side with first position, pliés, and leg swings.  It was just what my body needed in the morning, and I imagine that it was a good preparation for the performers as well.

After class, rehearsal director Claire Bayliss Nagar gathered the company and announced casting for each performance of Ohad Naharin’s Zachacha.  As they walked through spacing arrangements, I was impressed by how quickly the dancers adjusted to working in different places.   The Ensemble’s dancers may be on the younger end of the spectrum, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-four, but they are working in a rigorous professional environment.  They are not simply learning multiple roles in a single dance and jumping from part to part at a moment’s notice – they are doing so for several full-length works.  Currently, the group’s repertory includes Naharin’s Zachacha, Kamuyot, Seder, and Deca Dance, and they also join with the main company to perform versions of Naharin’s Telophaza and Anaphaza as well as Sharon Eyal’s Bertolina. They typically present four to six shows per week selected from the above repertory. When they are not in the theater, they spend seven hours per day warming up with Gaga and rehearsing in their studio at the Suzanne Dellal Center. It is a demanding schedule that can take its toll on the dancers’ bodies, but I got the sense that the Ensemble members, who were selected from a competitive pool of approximately 300 dancers, were happy to meet the challenge.

With spacing and sound checks finished, the company retreated to do makeup and get dressed. Last minute questions were answered backstage, and then I returned to the audience with Claire.  One dancer was already downstage entertaining the entering audience with a gentle, bobbing groove.  After the other dancers filtered into the space, company manager Eldad Mannheim made a brief introduction and the show took off.

Performing in front of chatty school groups can be a test of focus, and the Batsheva Ensemble successfully survived both rowdy crowds. They may not have had the benefit of a captive audience, but they gradually won over a fair portion of the first show’s viewers, and I myself was entranced by Zachacha during both concerts.  Naharin mixes excerpts from his rich repertory in his Deca Dance, and in previous performances of that work I had seen parts of Zachacha including “Diva,” with a fiercely glammed-up woman strutting on stilts and lip-syncing downstage; “Names,” with dancers’ solos accompanied by recorded text of them introducing themselves; and the ever-popular “Dancing with the Audience,” in which dancers pull unsuspecting audience members onstage and boogie with their partners.

Most of Zachacha, however, was new to me.  In two early segments, I enjoyed the visual trickery of having dancers suspended by Velcro on a wall upstage.  Later I was charmed by the theatricality of “Carolina,” in which two dancers told a story (in Hebrew) of a sad girl with a rare disease and recurring dream; meanwhile, five men tugged, twisted, shook, and lifted a woman center stage to match the narration with puppet-like movement.  And throughout, I feasted my eyes on the performers’ sumptuous dancing.  I started musing about what makes Naharin’s work so satisfying for me while watching the second show.  Purely from a movement standpoint, I am consistently struck by the range he elicits from his dancers.  They juxtapose tight, tiny motions with explosive, full-bodied movement; they are equally adept at sliding low across the floor and soaring high through the air; they can slink, slice, jerk, shake, snake, squirm, undulate, pop, and float.  Thanks in large part to Gaga, they have a full menu of movement options, which is something I discussed later that day with Ariel Freedman, a Juilliard-trained Ensemble dancer from Maryland who is now performing with the main company.

I talked with a few other dancers on the ride back to Tel Aviv, though after their two shows and multiple rounds of notes, many took well-deserved naps (and yes, I was tempted to shut my eyes for a bit as well).  I am tremendously grateful for Eldad’s invitation to join the Batsheva Ensemble for this trip – it’s an experience I won’t forget any time soon! – and I look forward to watching the company perform and talking more with the dancers throughout my time here. Many thanks to all of the company’s dancers and staff for making me feel welcome, humoring my never-ending questions, and keeping me engaged and entertained on very little sleep!

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The Batsheva Dance Company is performing Ohad Naharin’s Project 5 and Mamootot this week at the Suzanne Dellal Center.  After more performances this month including Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance 2009 and Sharon Eyal’s Makarova Kabisa, the company will tour North America from January 28 through March 7.  For more details, visit Batsheva Dance Company’s website and see Dance In Israel’s Events page.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Mamootot” – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide
• “Ohad Naharin’s ‘Deca Dance’ in Israel: A Cycle Completed”
• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”

*This post was made possible thanks to a Fulbright student grant funded by the U.S.-Israel Educational Foundation and hosted by the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.