Going Gaga in Israel, Part Two
November 27, 2009
Batsheva Dance Company’s studios at the Suzanne Dellal Centre
Last Friday morning, I returned to Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre to take my second Gaga class. After reawakening my body in Thursday evening’s class and getting a good night of sleep, I was eager for more Gaga. About thirty other people and I entered the top floor of Batsheva’s studios for our class with Yaara, a former dancer with Batsheva Dance Company who started her own company last year. The spacious studio was flooded with morning sunlight and had a fantastic view of the sea.
Yaara’s verbal instructions provided plenty of imagery that was useful for increasing awareness of the body’s dimensionality, dynamics, and movement in space. Her prompts included the following, many of which felt like continuations of the instructions from Thursday’s class: float; taste something good in your mouth; make circles with different parts of your body; imagine two snakes in your body – one running along the spine and the other through your arms; increase the gravity around you, as if you are moving through rubber; take a cold shower. Yaara also emphasized the importance of taking risks. While balancing on one foot, we were instructed to shift our weight in a variety of ways, knowing that it was okay to fall off balance.
Music throughout the class included techno and reggae, and during the final minutes of the class, when the momentum reached a high and then slowly descended, it was liberating to “move like liquid” to MIA’s “Paper Planes”. In Gaga, I realized that I was moving in a way that was entirely different – more honest and open, more connected to sensations – from how I would move if I were told to improvise in a non-Gaga environment. This is due, in part, to the mirror-free requirement for Gaga. When Wendy Perron interviewed Ohad Naharin – the creator of Gaga and artistic director of Batsheva – in the October 2006 issue of Dance Magazine, he said, “Abolish mirrors; break your mirrors in all studios. They spoil the soul and prevent you from getting in touch with the elements and multidimensional movements and abstract thinking, and knowing where you are at all times without looking at yourself. Dance is about sensations, not about an image of yourself”. It sounds right in print, but feels even more accurate while experiencing Gaga.
All photos by Evan Namerow
Going Gaga in Israel, Part One
November 24, 2009
The entrance to the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre
Since first experiencing Gaga – the movement language created by Batsheva Dance Company’s artistic director Ohad Naharin – in early 2008, I have been yearning for more, and so has most of the dance world. When the Israel-based company performs abroad, they try to offer Gaga classes not only for dancers, but also for the general public. After all, Naharin developed Gaga after years of working with both dancers and non-dancers while also recovering from his own back injury. Batsheva trains daily in Gaga, and since 2001, open classes in several cities throughout Israel have been available to the public.
Fortunately, my recent trip to Israel gave me an opportunity to once again experience Gaga (in Hebrew, גאגא) – this time at the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre in Tel Aviv. I could hardly contain my excitement as I approached the Centre and arrived at the studios. With a heartfelt todah raba – thank you – to Deborah Friedes Galili, a dance scholar and expert on Israeli contemporary dance, and Yossi Naharin (Ohad’s brother), who oversees Gaga classes, I was able to take two classes while in Israel, and therefore immerse myself in two unique, transformative experiences that are now a part of my growing understanding of Gaga and sense of self.
The first class took place last Thursday evening and was taught by Ohad – not Ohad Naharin, but another man named Ohad who has worked frequently with Batsheva. I was exhausted from my travels all over Israel in the days prior to the class, but I knew that one of the most essential guidelines for Gaga is listening to the body and becoming aware of its sensations, limitations, and abilities. Furthermore, maintaining connection to pleasure in movement is critical, especially while exerting effort. In my sleepy state, I knew it was acceptable – in fact, encouraged – to work at a pace that was best for me. The introductory Gaga sheet that I received before class also assured me that taking class while feeling tired wasn’t such a bad idea:
Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self awareness through your body. Gaga is a new way for learning and strengthening your body, adding flexibility, stamina and agility while lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations and offers ways for their elimination. Gaga elevates instinctive motion, links conscious and subconscious movement. Gaga is an experience of freedom and pleasure. In a simple way, a pleasant place, comfortable close, accompanied by music, every person with himself and others.
Throughout the hour-long class, Ohad gave verbal instructions in Hebrew and English to me and the other fifteen participants in order to draw attention to our actions and increase awareness of how we were – or weren’t – moving. We started standing in silence, finding multi-dimensionality in the chest in order to breathe more freely while gently shifting our weight from one leg to the other. Some of the prompts and instructions included: finding quivers at the center of your body and allowing them to move outward to your limbs, back, neck, and even to your voice; melting into the floor and then moving as if you’re standing, but using the floor’s gravity; lifting your bones away from your flesh; sensing a cloud around your body while feeling the earth below your feet; imagining a pool of water in your stomach and a pole that connects your arms by running through your chest. Rather than each prompt replacing the previous one, Gaga layers one on top of the other, so the class is an accumulation of movement and sensations.
The home of Batsheva Dance Company’s studios
One of the most satisfying aspects of Gaga, for me, is the ability to move more honestly and openly, free from previous training, old habits, and technical do’s and don’ts (It’s also incredible to move in a judgment-free environment, since all mirrors are covered during Gaga classes). In the most exhilarating moments, I was able to move without exerting much effort or force, instead allowing the energy, quivers, and quakes pulsing through my body to guide me. Discovering movement that is based in pleasure and sensation does not abruptly end when the class does, but rather is part of an ongoing journey. As I left the studios on Thursday evening I felt awake, refreshed, in touch with my abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and limitations, and eager for my second Gaga class the following morning.
All photos by Evan Namerow
LeeSaar Brings “Prima” to PS122
November 18, 2009
LeeSaar dancers in February
LeeSaar The Company was established nine years ago in Israel by the actress and writer Lee Sher and dancer and choreographer Saar Harari, both of whom have been influenced by Ohad Naharin’s Gaga movement language. Not surprisingly, Gaga has informed the company’s process and technique. From November 18th through 22nd at PS 122, LeeSaar will perform Prima, an exploration of sensation, sexuality, and temptation for five performers, featuring the music “Like Something For Porno” by Felix Da Housecat. Videos from LeeSaar’s rehearsals for Prima are on the company’s website.
Prima will be performed November 18th through 22nd at PS 122: 150 First Avenue at 9th Street. Tickets can be ordered online.
JA!! An Exploration of Laughter
November 17, 2009
photo by Soledad Marambio
Venezuelan choreographer Luis Lara Malvacías and a group of “laugh researchers” – a dancer, composer, and artistic advisor – are coming to Danspace Project this weekend with an interactive installation. JA!! investigates the physical effects of laughter and glee. Just the thought of translating laughter into a movement vocabulary is delightfully amusing. JA!! will be performed November 19th through 21st at 8 PM. Danspace Project is at 131 East 10th Street at Second Avenue. Tickets can be ordered online or at the box office 45 minutes prior to each performance.
Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet Team Up
November 12, 2009
Lady Gaga
Yes, that’s right. Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet are performing on the same stage, the same night, in the same piece – at the 30th Anniversary Gala of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles on November 14th. This partnership is so obvious that I’m ashamed I didn’t see it coming. Perhaps it’s standard for Hollywood celebrities to attend gala events for LA arts and cultural institutions, but if I lived in La-la land, I’d be eager to see this unique pairing of a young, outspoken pop star and Russia’s most disciplined, classically trained ballet dancers performing in a contemporary art space. The outcome of this overly ambitious event: unpredictable.
The MOCA commissioned Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli to create and conceive the gala’s artwork, design, and décor, along with a one-time gala performance – which he has called Ballet Russes Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again) – for Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi dancers. On creating the work, Vezzoli said, “It is a dream that MOCA has given me the opportunity to utilize a social ritual as a blank canvas on which to create an artwork.” And the museum’s board is pleased, too, because a star-studded event undoubtedly attracts publicity and dollars. “This is going to be a night to remember,” said Maria Arena Bell, the MOCA Board of Trustees Co-Chair and Gala Chair. “It is my aim to further the extraordinary transformation that the museum has achieved this year with a fundraising event like no other.” Well done, MOCA. The question, really, is who decided to pair the Bolshoi with Lady Gaga? What do these artists think of each other? And how will they look together on stage?
Bolshoi Ballet in Swan Lake, photo by Tristram Kenton
