Decades of Dance
Brighton Dome welcomes the exciting Batsheva Ensemble
Batsheva Ensemble, the youth branch of the world-renowned contemporary dance group from Tel Aviv, Batsheva Dance Company, will bring their gritty urban energy and rare groove to Brighton Dome on Friday 9 November. They will be performing Deca Dance by Batsheva’s Artistic Director Ohad Naharin as part of a special UK debut tour.
Deca Dance is a showcase of memorable and exciting segments from Ohad Naharin’s dance productions from the past 20 years, set to an eclectic mix of music, from Vivaldi to The Beach Boys and Goldfrapp, and it is constantly updated to incorporate Naharin’s latest pieces, offering a fresh look at the work created for Batsheva each and every time it is performed.
The Ensemble’s talented dancers, who are all aged 18 to 24, are hand picked by Naharin during a rigorous annual audition process. The ensemble is made up of an international collection of 16 young dancers, many of whom are graduates from some of the world’s most prestigious dance schools.
While many of the dancers from Batsheva Ensemble go on to perform in Batsheva Dance Company, the Ensemble is proud to function as an independent dance group, presenting dynamic and technically superb performances in their own right. Among Batsheva’s notable alumni are choreographers Hofesh Shechter, one of Brighton Dome and Festival’s Artists in Residence.
Ohad Naharin said, “Deca Dance is about reconstruction. I like to take pieces or sections of existing works and rework it, reorganise it and create the possibility of seeing it from a new angle. It always teaches me something new about my work and composition. It was like I was telling only the beginning, middle or ending of many stories, but when I reorganised it the result became as coherent as the original, if not more.”
Batsheva Ensemble was established by Naharin in 1990, upon his appointment as Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, with the mission of developing, encouraging and cultivating young dance talents as well as younger audiences. Admission to the ensemble provides a two-year intensive training programme that includes work in the studio studying Naharin’s famous ‘Gaga’ movement language, repertoire classes, local performances with an emphasis on educational outreach work and international touring.
Naharin is the originator of the innovative movement language, ‘Gaga’, which has revolutionised the company’s training, and emerged as a growing force in the larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers, with classes in Gaga technique growing in popularity around the world.
Batsheva Ensemble perform Deca Dance, Brighton Dome, 9 November 2012, £10 – £18.50 (school groups £6), 01273 709709, www.brightondome.org
