Blog 3- Ohad Naharin

 

From a number of choreographers, we were given the opportunity to explore the one of our choosing, who most intrigued us. After being encouraged to look into a choreographer whom we knew nothing or little about, I chose Ohad Naharin.

We as a group then felt he best complimented the intention and style we would like to portray in our own choreographic piece.

 

Ohad Naharin is an Israeli choreographer who has worked with many well-known dance industry professionals such as Martha Graham, Maggie Black and David Howard. (Batsheva, date unknown)

After researching his choreographic style on youtube I become drawn to his real and personable movement style which I later learned was called ‘Gaga’.

Gaga is a movement style that involves being aware of each individual body part, how it feels and where it is in relation to space and other dancers. Being aware of where tension is in the body is an important component in being able to let go and dance freely. (Batsheva, date unknown)

Naharin understands the significance of underplaying movements as well as amplifying them. It is this juxtaposition that makes his work so intriguing. 

Often his pieces start completely still, or the dancers would just be walking around the stage and then, all of a sudden, the dancers would break out into exotic and dramatic movements, stretching what the body is thought to be able to do. He creates this sense of chaos and then absolute calm and harmony.

 

When creating and rehearsing pieces, his dancers are not allowed the aid of a mirror as he believes that this way his dancers become more aware of their body in space. So often as dancers we focus on how the movement looks from the audience. Eliminating the use of a mirror allows the piece to become more dimensional. (Batsheva, date unkown)

 

Explore more about Ohad Naharin and his movement style:

Batsheva dance comany:

https://batsheva.co.il/en/about/ohad-naharin/

Gaga training:

https://www.gagapeople.com/en/

Choreographic work:

https://youtu.be/iAcoWORaW6s?feature=shared

Resources:

Batsheva Dance Company. (2023) Hora by Ohad Hanarin. January. Available at: https://youtu.be/iAcoWORaW6s?feature=shared [Accessed 3 October 2023]

Gaga People. (date unkown) Gaga Movement Language. Available at: https://www.gagapeople.com/en/ [Accessed 5 October 2023]

Seibert.B.(2023).Review:Ohad Naharin Is More Than the Sum of His Imitators, The New York Times, 2 March. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/arts/dance/review-ohad-naharin-hora-batsheva.html [Accessed 16 October 2023]

Shaefer.B(2017).The Secret History of the Israeli Choreographer Ohad Naharin, The New Yorker, 1 February. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-secret-history-of-the-israeli-choreographer-ohad-naharin [Accessed 16 October 2023]