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, November 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 send email to reserve seats.