In the opening scene of Hofesh Shechter’s “Political Mother,” a lone man stands onstage, clothed in a pared-down version of Japanese Samurai armor. Soft choral music sets in. The warrior lifts his sword and proceeds to slowly pantomime seppuku, the ritual of honorable suicide. The lights cut to black; the music screeches to silence, and…
The opening performance of an Israeli dance troupe at the Edinburgh International Festival was disrupted four times last night, as protesters in the audience shouted “free Palestine.” The Batsheva Dance Company members stopped as the protesters were removed by security, but then continued. The disruption was not a surprise, as pro-Palestinian activists had announced it…
Liz Lochhead, the Scot’s Makar, or national poet has joined a group calling for a boycott of the Israeli dancing group Batsheva, set to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival. Pro-Palestinian activists have announced they would attempt to disrupt the opening performance on Thursday night, which was attended by Israel’s Culture and Sports Minister Limor…
Photo by Gadi Dagon Yaara Moses, like many other little girls growing up in Jerusalem, wore tutus, danced ballet, modern, and of course, Israeli folk dances. When she was 11 years old her mother took her to see Batsheva Dance Company perform Ohad Naharin’s “Anaphaza.” It was an experience that changed her life. “My jaw…
After taking just a two week workshop with choreographer Ohad Naharin, dancer Brittany Engel-Adams knew she had to move to Israel. Growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida, Engel-Adams, 22, started studying ballet at the age of 9. She attended the Bak Middle School of the Arts and Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts,…
Crossposted from Haaretz The wonderful program of young artists that was presented at the Batsheva Dance Company’s Studio Varda on August 18 was surprising in the freshness and talent of the artists who do as they please based on solid technique and choreographic knowledge. The space is a roomy studio with no props, with uniform…
Beauty, confrontation, solitude, change: these are some of the things that make us feel strong emotions, and “Blush,” a 55-minute work from New York’s Gallim Dance, has them all. The desire to feel deeply is what motivated artistic director Andrea Miller to create the piece, which marked the company’s Portland, Ore., debut this month in…
On October 14 at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael, California, at a performance for 400 middle school students from six different Bay Area Jewish day schools, the members of the Beta Dance Troupe seemed to defy the laws of human kinetics. Their shoulders pulsed, their heads bobbed and their elbows flapped, while their…
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