Fall
Faculty Dance Concert to Feature 'In-Your-Face' Choreography
The annual
Fall Faculty Dance Concert, always a popular event, will
present Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s setting of the
Passover song “Echad Mi Yodea,” a large-scale dance work
from his piece Kyr, produced in 1990.
Naharin's acclaimed “Echad
Mi Yodea” (the "Chair" section from Decadance) will be restaged
by long-time Batsheva Dance company member Ariel Freedman
and performed by a cast of 16 dancers.
Fall Faculty Dance
Concert performances will be Thursday through Saturday, Nov.
15–17, at 8 p.m. in Theatre 14, Mendenahall Center. Admission
is $9, $5 for students and seniors.
This
year’s
concert will also present new works by Artist-in-Residence
Colleen Thomas, and by Angie Hauser, assistant professor
of dance, as well as a premiere, More
Clearly in Dreams,
a one-act dance by Rodger Blum, professor of dance, based
on the mind and imagination of Leonardo da Vinci.
Naharin’s
Kyr was the first dance that he created after assuming the
artistic directorship of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990,
and it featured a musical collaboration between Naharin and
the band Tractor's Revenge. A section of Kyr set to a driving
rock version of the Passover song "Echad Mi Yodea" has remained
Naharin's best-known choreography.
“Navigating between charged stillness and vibrant explosions of arms and legs,
Naharin's choreographies are dynamic, engaging, and insightful,” according to
a review in Dance Magazine. “An example of this winning blend took audiences
by storm in 1993, when Naharin unveiled Anaphaza, which includes the famous section "Echad
Mi Yodea" (originally from Kyr), in which dancers burst out of their chairs,
sloughing off layers of their black suits and hats. The piece has become a staple
for the company and a calling card for the volatile, in-your-face Israeli dance
aesthetic.”
Ohad Naharin has been hailed
as one of the world’s preeminent contemporary choreographers.
As Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company since 1990, he has guided the
company with an adventurous artistic vision and reinvigorated its repertory with
his captivating choreography. Naharin is also the originator of an innovative
movement language, Gaga, which has enriched his extraordinary movement invention,
revolutionized the company’s training, and emerged as a growing force in the
larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers.
Call 413-585-ARTS (2787) or to reserve seats. |
