GAGA dancers

Gaga is the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin throughout many years, parallel to his work as a choreographer and artistic director (1990-2018) of Batsheva Dance Company. 

The instructions are deployed to increase awareness of and further amplify sensation, information is layered, building into a multisensory, physically challenging experience. While many instructions are imbued with rich imagery, the research of Gaga is fundamentally physical, insisting on a specific process of embodiment. Gaga provides a framework for discovering and strengthening the body and adding flexibility, stamina, agility, and skills including coordination and efficiency while stimulating the senses and imagination. 

 

Gaga/dancers classes- 75 mins

Repertoire- 90 mins

OBS! Träningen är öppen och utan kostnad för professionella frilansdansare och ingen föranmälan krävs. Den öppna sommarträningen genomförs i samarbete mellan Dansalliansen och Danscentrum Syd och i samverkan med IlDance.

 

Gaga/dancers deepens dancers’ awareness of physical sensations, expands their palette of available movement options, enhances their ability to modulate their energy and engage their explosive power, and enriches their movement quality with a wide range of textures. The classes employ the specific vocabulary and skills that are part and parcel of a dancer’s knowledge. The layering of familiar skills with Gaga tasks presents dancers with fresh challenges, and throughout the class, teachers prompt the dancers to visit more unfamiliar places and ways of moving as well, unlocking the endlessness of possibilities. Dancers are guided to connect their effort to pleasure and to discover the virtue of silliness.

 

This class gives dancers an opportunity to learn excerpts of Ohad Naharin’s choreographic works and to apply their training in Gaga to the repertory. 

 

Gaga photos: Ascaf

 

Matan David was born in Rishon LeZion, Israel in 1982.  He started dancing as a folk dancer and at the age of 15 was accepted to Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts.  During these years, Matan also studied at Bat Dor Dance School, and at age 17 he attended the Juilliard summer program.

 

After high school, at age 18, Matan was accepted to the Batsheva Ensemble. He performed there for two years before dancing with the main company for ten more seasons.  In the twelve years Matan danced in Batsheva, he was a part of some of Naharin’s greatest creations such as Three, MAX, The Hole, and many more.

 

From 2013-2017, Matan was the director of Batsheva – The Young Ensemble, which has become one of the leading young companies in the dance world. The year he became director, he also won the Yair Shapira award, and the ensemble was named the best performing company by Israel’s Ministry of Culture. Matan was later rehearsal director for Batsheva Dance Company between July 2022 - January 2022.

 

Matan has undertaken a long, meaningful process with Naharin’s movement language and is a senior teacher of Gaga.  He teaches Gaga around the world and is one of the main Gaga teachers for the Batsheva Ensemble and company.