BIOGRAPHY
Born in Israel, Naharin began his training as a dancer with Batsheva and continued his studies at Juilliard. He danced for one season in the Martha Graham Company and with Maurice Bejart. Between 1980-1990 Naharin was active in the dance scene of New York and worked with various companies. Jiri Kylian, of the Nederlands Dance Theater, saw his work and their encounter was the basis of a long comradeship, both with Kylian and NDT, and the beginning of a series of commissions from the leading dance companies in the world.
Already a renowned choreographer, Ohad Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990. The Cullberg Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, Compania Nacional de Danza de Madrid and other top international dance companies have commissioned works from him.
Naharin also appears on stage as a performer in his own pieces, and is involved in the total act of creating, from words to costumes, lighting and stage design.
Seeing movement as healing and strengthening, Naharin's main source of inspiration is the human body and its individual abilities
CLASS DESCRIPTION
"Gaga challenges multi-layer tasks.
We are aware of the connection between effort and pleasure, we are aware of the distance between our body parts, we are aware of the friction between flesh and bones, we sense the weight of our body parts, yet, our form is not shaped by gravity... we are aware of where we hold unnecessary tension, we let go only to bring life and efficient movement to where we let go . . . We are turning on the volume of listening to our body, we appreciate small gestures, we are measuring and playing with the texture of our flesh and skin, we might be silly, we can laugh at ourselves. We connect to the sense of "plenty of time”, especially when we move fast, We learn to love our sweat, we discover our passion to move and connect it to effort, We discover both the animal we are and the power of our imagination. we are "body builders with soft spine."
We learn to appreciate understatement and exaggeration, We become more delicate and we recognize the importance of the flow of energy and information through our body in all directions. we learn to apply our force in an efficient way and we learn to use "other" forces.
We discover the advantage of soft flesh and sensitive hands, we learn to connect to groove even when there is no music. We are aware of people in the room and we realize that we are not in the center of it all. We become more aware of our form since we never look at ourselves in a mirror; there are no mirrors. We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities. Yielding is constant while we are ready to snap...
We explore multi-dimensional movement, we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it. We change our movement habits by finding new ones, we can be calm and alert at once.
We become available . . ."
--Ohad Naharin