What is Ohad Naharin All About?

"I like to watch trees grow. I meditate all the time. You know, I don't sleep much - it's a known fact that sleep is required more for the brain than the body because the brain needs sleep to dream. But I dream all the time. I dream when I'm awake, when I create work, with my eyes open. So who needs sleep?"- Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin rehearsing Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet for "Decadance"

So what is the true meaning behind Ohad Naharin and his work? I think that if you asked him this question, he would say "whatever you want it to be." I believe that Naharin does everything that he does so that everyone involved, including dancers and non-dancers, can be open to "pleasure." As a dancer myself, this is why I think Ohad Naharin is so important to dance today- because he narrows all of the hard work, or "effort" of dance down to the most significant element, which is pleasure. That is the reason why people dance, because they find pleasure in it. Naharin's theories of dance  and it being full of pleasure are so important, because he reminds everyone that pleasure is the source of all that we do- why else would we do everything in life? 

I also believe the significance behind Naharin is to remind the world to keep testing limits and pushing past boundaries. After all, it was due a back injury that led to Naharin's discovery of Gaga. Instead of letting his injury hold him back, he allowed it to reveal new boundaries and ways of dancing. It is this kind of discovery, or "research" as said by Naharin, that is the core of  all movements.  Ohad Naharin has shown me that I can discover new possibilities in myself everyday.

To get a better idea of Ohad Naharin's outlook on dance, watch the following "BAM Next Stage" Video: http://www.bamnextstage.org/#/intro/ohad-naharin

"I move to survive."- Ohad Naharin

Naharin's Impact on the Dance World

"As a spectator, when I watch a performance, I don't think there is a barrier or wall. We all share one space, just different roles."- Ohad Naharin

Without a doubt, the content and substance of Ohad Nahrin's work has made a hugely significant impact on the world of dance as we know it. At the core of Nahrin's work is, as previously stated in older posts, is Naharin's desire to push past boundaries in dance, both physically and mentally. This desire translates into Naharin's gaga technique, which allows a template of vocabulary through which people and dancers alike can research their bodies while moving. All of these ideas make up the true essence of Ohad Naharin and the content of his work. 

Justified with many awards such as the  2009 Samuel H Scripps American Dance Festival Award as well as the 2009 Dance Magazine Award, Ohad Naharin has indeed impacted the world of movement. Besides pledging a completely new and innovative technique of his own, Ohad visually delighted all audiences worldwide with his clever and masterful choreography. One of the ways in which Naharin has made a great impact on dance is by influencing and inspiring others to look at dancing in a different way than it has always been looked at, such as the up-and-coming Lauri Stallings, who took Ohad's thoughts and ideas and made them her own to give a fresh outlook on site-specific movement. 

Not only has Naharin impacted dancers and their art all over the world, but he has also made a great impact on non-dancers everywhere, especially in his home country of Israel. Naharin is one of the only world-renowned choreographers to open weekly gaga classes to the non-dancing people around him that he himself often teaches. Naharin believes that dance is for everyone, allowing anyone with the desire to move to get involved. Personally, this is one of the reasons that I am very moved by Naharin and his work, because he makes it available for everyone.

Batsheva Dance Company's "Telophaza"

Naharin's Early Training and Lineage

"Connect to pleasure."- Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin began his training when he was 22 years old at the newly found Batsheva Dance Company, under the direction of Martha Graham and Batsheva de Rothschild. He soon became the troupe’s newest member and was then asked by Martha Graham to join her company in New York around 1975.  Nahrin was very influenced by Graham, but often sought out something different in his training. When asked in a 2006 interview about  his days working with Graham, Naharin says," You know, I have a lot of respect and love and admiration for what she did, but it's not her movement vocabulary or aesthetic that inspires me. I'm more attracted to minimalist dance, and Martha, she was completely different. She also separated women from men in dance, she had these roles, and there was a lot of presence of ego. But she was really a genius, amazing. Her influence on me is limited - I mean, it was only for one year of my life - but what I learnt from her was her spirit and her love of dance." 

It was because of these minimal disagreements with the Graham technique that Naharin also studied with other dancers and choreographers who were in New York at the time. For example, Naharin sought out to work with those he was most influenced by, like Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe, and Pina Bausch. Naharin was especially influenced and inspired by David Gordon; Naharin took great interest in Gordon’s perception of space and its relation to the body, as well as Gordon’s ideas about multidimensional movement. In addition, Naharin took the time to study more technique at the Julliard School for about a year, and then left New York to dance overseas with such choreographers as Maurice Bejart and Israel’s Bat-Bor Dance Company. After dancing abroad, Naharin returned to New York to really develop his career as a choreographer.

 I truly believe that Ohad Naharin would not have been as successful as he is today without his training and lineage to the dancers mentioned above, as well as his ability to take all of their ideas and make them his own!

Naharin's Influences

"Don't take yourself too seriously."- Ohad Naharin

There have been many cultural and social happenings during Ohad Naharin's life that have influenced his work. One of these cultural happenings is the ongoing conflict over the land of Israel between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish people. As he was born in 1952, Naharin was surrounded by the founding of Israel in 1948, including the great conflict that went with it. Naharin is very conscious of this conflict of Israel in his choreography, though it is not his true intent to reveal that political struggle. Calling it a "social conscious," Naharin is able to be affected by the conflict in Israel subtly in his work.

Another influence that affected Ohad Naharin's work was the cultural trend of having Israeli dancing be very similar to American Modern Dance in the early 1960's. This trend began around 1964, when Batsheva Dance Company was founded under the direction of Martha Graham. It was evident to Ohad Naharin, who undertook the position of artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990, that Israeli dance should no long be that of America; instead, Israeli dance could be dance from Israel. Thus, the exoticism represented through Batsheva's American influences caused a great shift in Dance in Israel because of Naharin's desire for Israeli dance of its own.

Martha Graham

One of the greatest and most profound influence on Ohad Naharin's career is probably Naharin's back injury, because without it, Naharin would never have created the wonderful technique of Gaga. When he injured himself, Naharin was left with permanent nerve and spinal damage. Out of this injury came Naharin's original technique of "gaga," which is designed to find ways that the body can move outside of limitations. Therefore, without Naharin's back injury, Israeli dance and its inclusion of gaga technique would not be in existence today. 

The fact that Naharin suffered a back injury that led him to discover and create Gaga is perhaps what I find to be one of the most meaningful things about Ohad Naharin, for I too have suffered a major back injury. I am deeply inspired by Naharin's motives to create such a pleasurable technique out of something that one would think to be very devastating. I know that I was meant to find Gaga technique for these same reasons, and I am so thankful for that creation. I also value Naharin's outlook on dancing and life in general- it is something to be greatly appreciated.

Ohad Naharin teaching a Gaga class

Information pertaining to all three of these happenings and how they affected Ohad Naharin can be found at:http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Truth+in+movement:+Ohad+Naharin+talks+about+his+choreography,+his...-a0152433179.

"I believe people should dance."- Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin

Famous dancer/choreographer, and current artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company in Israel

A world renowned dancer and choreographer, and creator of Gaga technique, Ohad Naharin has always pushed past the expectations of the dance world, and continues to do so today.

He has had many wonderful reviews of works, including Minus 16, Three, and Naharin's Virus. Many scholarly articles have also been written about Naharin and his meaningful contributions to the dance world.

Naharin has inspired many people all over the world for his moving theories  and thoughts about dance. Apart from his work, Naharin is very well known for his founding of Gaga technique, which stemmed from an early back injury that allowed Naharin to explore different ways of moving. These thoughts and foundations can be seen and heard by Naharin himself in an interview between Charlie Rose and Ohad Naharin in 2005.