«Even the Colossus of Rhodes was not just, as it was said, a “wonder of the world” – it was visible from afar, helping helmsmen on their journey toward the Asian coast or the Holy Land.»
Predrag Matvejevic, Mediterranean Breviary
In an entirely empty scenic space, Ohad Naharin (re)assembles with Deca Dance one of his countless patchworks: a sort of re-editing of nine individual pieces taken from some of his previous works, reassembled here in a new order (subject to variations and additions from night to night) that testifies, on the one hand, to the richness of a creator and a company’s repertoire that has now crossed the globe with full recognition. But on the other hand, it also shows the happy irregularity of his more than anxious pursuit of that universe so difficult and elusive, the aesthetic and gnoseological autonomy of choreographic composition which, as is well known, requires time, dedication, a great soul, and much, much—it's worth repeating again—much study.
Thus, it is futile to try to trace the pieces back to their original works and name them by their provenance. What matters more is to understand and share the new sense of unity that the montage proposes, starting with that “Welcome!” shouted by a dancer at the front of the stage toward the audience, behind which the company members appear, lined up: a figure, this, of the recomposition in line, to be broken and reassembled, very dear to the Israeli choreographer.
In this abundance, there is once again the frequent and sudden alternation of stops, the insistent pose, and then the restart at various speeds, according to a familiar and tested scheme by Naharin, punctuated by a recorded voice; as well as the game with the audience, called up onto the stage. And then, again, shouts and laughter for a more populist participation in being on stage; overall, the collective dimension of the work generally dominates, with an obsessive use of the proscenium’s liminality. With the Batsheva Dance Company, Naharin has perfected a type of speed in the execution of gestures, often to a pounding musical rhythm that also lightens the heavy off-balance required of the dancers, along with the nervously bent jerks and the extreme flexibility of the back, the omnipresent modernist pelvic rhythm, and finally, not least, the group movement organized in a chain. A figure always so symbolically and polyphonically complete that it meets the needs and demands of any gaze. To the notes of an ancient, sung music, a well-composed pas de deux brilliantly sums up all of Naharin’s choreographic knowledge, and then the mix could not be more complete: as in the citation here from Matvejevic, the wonder does not merely provoke astonishment but trains the eye (and the mind) to see farther.
Trained at the Bat-Dor School of Dance in Israel and at New York’s Juilliard and School of American Ballet, Ohad Naharin (who was also a dancer for Martha Graham) became director of the Batsheva Dance Company in 1990. He is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and in-demand choreographers internationally; many of his creations are in the repertoire of the most important contemporary dance and ballet companies.
www.batsheva.co.il
