GAGA is a movement language developed over the last decade by Ohad Naharin, in the Batsheva studios, and is used daily by dancers of the Batsheva Dance Company and Batsheva Ensemble as the basis for their distinctive training.

GAGA offers a new way to reach a deeper knowledge and understanding of one's self via the body and its movement. The technique requires the participant to be alert, quick, flexible, imaginative and dexterous in the use of his or her body. Yet, one need not be a professional dancer to benefit from the tools imparted when learning the GAGA movement language.

Gaga encourages, teaches and cultivates multi dimensional movement, efficiency and texture of movement, the use of explosive power, the connection between pleasure and effort, quickness, clarity of intention, stamina. It enables recognition of one's own movement habits and helps to acquire new ones.

Through GAGA, one works to breakdown physical barriers to reach a greater comprehension and control of instinctive movements, ultimately empowering the experiences of pleasure, stillness, positivism, and happiness.

Gaga classes can be taught by Batsheva dancers both to professionals of the dance community and to those without dance experience.

Metropolis, a TV programm for Arte, broadcasted on june 26th 2010 -  By Olivier Lemaire

Thanks to AGAT FILMS

www.agatfilms.com

Born in 1952 on Kibbutz Mizra, Ohad Naharin began his dance training with Batsheva Dance Company in 1974. During his first year with the Company, guest
choreographer Martha Graham singled out Naharin for his talent and invited him to join her own company in New York. Whilst in New York, Naharin studied on a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation at the School of American Ballet, The Juilliard School, and with Maggie Black and David Howard. He went on to perform one season with Israel’s Bat-Dor Dance Company and Maurice Bejarts Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels.

Naharin returned to New York in 1980, making his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio. From 1980 until 1990, Naharin has presented his works in New
York and abroad and was invited to create works for different companies, including Batsheva, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. Simultaneously, he regularly worked in New York with a group of dancers on different projects, together with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara. Naharin and Kajiwara worked together for many years, up to her death from cancer in 2001.
 

Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990 and has served in this role until today. During his tenure with the company, Naharin choreographed over 30 works for Batsheva and its junior division, Batsheva - the Young Ensemble. Alongside his work as a choreographer, Naharin developed Gaga, an innovative movement language intended for everyone. The dancers of Batsheva Dance Company train with Gaga on a daily basis, and it is also taught to dancers and the public worldwide by certified teachers.

Source: Batsheva Company 's website

More information : batsheva.co

Artistic direction: Ohad Naharin

Creation: 1979

Batsheva Dance Company has been critically acclaimed and popularly embraced as one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in the world. Together with Batsheva - The Young Ensemble, the Company boasts a roster of 34 dancers drawn from Israel and abroad. Batsheva Dance Company is Israel's biggest company, maintaining an extensive performance schedule locally and internationally with over 250 performances and circa 100,000 spectators every year. Hailed as one of the world's preeminent contemporary choreographers, Ohad Naharin assumed the role of Artistic Director in 1990, and propelled the company into a new era with his adventurous curatorial vision and distinctive choreographic voice. Naharin is also the originator of the innovative movement language, Gaga, which has enriched his extraordinary movement invention, revolutionized the company’s training, and emerged as a growing international force in the larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers. The Batsheva dancers take part in the creative processes in the studio and even create their own works in the annual project "Batsheva Dancers Create" supported by The Michael Sela Fund for Cultivation of Young Artists at Batsheva. Batsheva Dance Company was founded as a repertory company in 1964 by the Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild who enlisted Martha Graham as its first artistic adviser. Since 1989, Batsheva Dance Company has been in residence at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv.

Source: Batsheva Dance Company 's website

More information: batsheva.co.il/en/home