Batsheva Dance Company in Dresden

 

European premiere: the Israeli dance company presents its latest work at the International Dance Festival in Dresden.

Eleven different productions at three venues – the new International Dance Festival in Dresden is highly ambitious. Organized by Hellerau – the European Centre for the Arts Dresden – together with Semperoper Dresden and the Staatsschauspiel Dresden theatre, from 19 June to 8 July 2015 the festival will present a broad selection of contemporary dance.

 

The line-up includes Israel’s largest dance company: The Batsheva Dance Company is making a guest appearance with the European premiere of “Last Work”, which was performed for the first time in May 2015 in Tel Aviv. The dance company, which today is widely considered among the world’s outstanding contemporary dance ensembles, can look back on an illustrious history. Founded by Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964, its first artistic director was choreographer Martha Graham, whose influence on dance has been compared with Picasso’s influence on painting.

 

Ohad Naharin has been director of the Batsheva Dance Company since 1990. The multi-award-winning choreographer has honed a distinctive Batsheva style, namely complex sequences of movement performed at various tempi and with incredible precision. The basis is provided by the Gaga method, developed by Naharin, which helps dancers achieve a dynamic awareness of every part of their body and muscle, of time and space. As Naharin puts it: “With Gaga we discover our patterns of movement and learn to perceive our weaknesses and the withered parts of our bodies. The dancers become originators of movement going beyond the familiar vocabulary of dance.”

   

“Last Work”, Batsheva Dance Company:

On 19, 20 and 21 June at 8 p.m. at Hellerau – European Centre for the Arts Dresden