VanLieshout, 1

Virginia VanLieshout

DANCE 324

Sarah Cullen-Fuller

15 February 2017

Ohad Naharin: A Human Body Laboratory

Martha Graham is arguably one of the most influential dancers to have lived in the past

century; her technique and work changed the scope and intent of dance and influenced artists for

decades after her. One of her most significant contributions to the present dance community was

her foundation of the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel in 1964. Originally this company was

created as a sister company to the Graham Company in New York to teach Graham technique

and repertory. In 1990, after Ohad Naharin, a former student of Grahams, was taken on as

artistic director the company underwent a drastic transformation that launched Batsheva Dance

Company to the front of dance innovation and also set the pace for dance evolution into what

could be described as the post-postmodern dance age.

Ohad Naharin was born 1952 in Kibbutz Mizra, Israel and until his 20s had little dance

experience. During his first year training at Batsheva dance company, he was picked out early in

his career by Martha Graham during her visit to the Batsheva Dance Company to join her

company in New York. While in New York, he took the opportunity to study at Juilliard and the

School of American Ballet and with Maggie Black and David Howard. He went on to set works

on many prestigious companies including, but not limited to, the Netherlands Dans Theater,

Ballet Frankfurt, Paris Opera Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 1990, he moved back

to Israel to assume the position of artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company. After Naharin

took over, Batsheva gradually went through a complete reconstruction phase in which Naharins
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own movement language, Gaga, was incorporated into instruction, leading to the decline and

eventual elimination of Graham technique, classical ballet, and Graham repertory.

By this point Gaga had taken on a developed philosophy in which movement originates

through sensing, imaging, and listening to the body. There is no codification in Gaga language,

unlike many other forms of dance, and is instead used to enhance the visceral experience of the

dancers, allowing them to create their own movement, sense the physical limitations of their

bodies, and move out of their comfort zones.

Though Ohad Naharins dance career was essentially jumpstarted by Martha Graham, her

legacy does not have a large influence on his work; he instead draws upon the Feldenkrais

method, with movement initiation through sensing and imaging along with his usage of group

think approach as his objectively major contributions to modern dance.

For many, dancing without a mirror would be confusing and uncomfortable, however for

Gaga, it is expected. According to Naharin in the Gaga instruction pamphlet, Gaga is a new way

of gaining knowledge and self awareness through your bodyGaga raises awareness of physical

weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations and offers ways for their

elimination. All of these products stem from the initiation of movement from sensing and

imagery. In a Gaga class, one might be asked to embody sensations of circling, heaviness,

lengthening different parts of the body in addition to more obscure commands such as feel like

youre kneading dough with your hands, sense and explore the space behind a certain body

part and move as if your flesh has melted off and you are just bones (Gaga Instructional

Sheet, Batsheva Dance Company). All of these movements are used to create awareness

throughout the body. Unlike many other forms of dance in which the brain tells the muscular

system what to do, Gaga involves listening to the body as it moves in a way natural for each
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dancers body. In this way, it could be hypothesized that Gaga movement would be one of the

safest styles of movement for the body because it involves bodily introspection and pushes

physical limitations in a setting for discovery and research, instead of pushing the body to

unnatural limits to achieve a particular product. In movement research such as this, the body

learns to articulate the smallest and most precise motions. With this discovery comes the ability

to work more efficiently, allowing a dancer to become more aware of their physical bodies in

space, unnecessary tension they hold, and their relationship to gravity. To get to this level of

kinesthetic awareness, there can not be codification of the movement. Gaga involves

practitioners to create and break hundreds of motor schemas each class as they push their

physical boundaries and span untapped muscular areas. There can be no such thing as a habit in

Gaga movement.

Another interesting aspect of Naharins contributions has been introducing Groupthink

into the context of dance. Groupthink in political and business settings is typically described as

approach to problems where participants decide matters are best dealt with by consensus of a

group rather than by an individual. However, when applied to dance, the net result is a group of

individuals moving to together, no matter the speed, without counts or with acutely camouflaged

counts. In this way, Gaga dancers find rhythm, not in music, but by feeling and sensing their

own bodys flow along with the rhythm of objects around them. This allows Gaga dancers to take

key performance qualities off each other such as timing, intensity, and intent. This is

accomplished by working with dancers well familiarized with each other, allowing them to build

trust and understanding about how each individual member dances. Groupthink is then

accomplished by group members sensing the energy of each other, which would theoretically

work exceptionally well for Gaga dancers, due to their enhanced training in the ability to sense
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themselves and objects in space. While this seems to be fairly simple to understand, its much

harder in execution. While rehearsing for Communal Rite with Brain McGinnis, he requested

that the opening section of pulsing in the huddle to be done without counts and instead by

sensing each others internal rhythms. As someone who is not trained in Gaga and who does not

know how to effectively listen to their own body, let alone others bodies, this was an extremely

difficult task. Eventually McGinnis was forced to put counts into the section because as a group

we were not able to sense each other well enough. Even though we never accomplished what he

asked of us originally, there was a lot of value in realizing what kind of limitations dance has

without basic Gaga training.

Although Naharin was influenced by Martha Grahams legacy through his early work at

Batsheva and later the Graham company, his work was impacted by Feldenkrais method to a

much larger extent. When watching a Batsheva performance, it is not difficult to pick out

caricatures of Grahams signature motifs like the Graham hand or the pleadings. Despite these

homages to Graham, much of Gagas roots lay within the Feldenkrais method. The Feldenkrais

method is a type of somatic exercise therapy that works to establish a visceral connection

throughout the body using gentle and repetitive movement. It establishes awareness in

neuromuscular habitual patterns, tension in the body and physical restrictions. It is used to repair

or enhance connections between the motor cortex and both the musculoskeletal and nervous

systems. Though scientific data has not proven it this method effective, it still stands as a

foundation for the development of Gaga movement language.

It is logical that the Feldenkrais method was a large influence on Gaga since the language

was developed during a time when Naharin was recovering from a debilitating back injury. In

his journey to find an efficient way for his body to move without furthering his injury, he tried
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accessing movement in healthier parts of his body and thus Gaga movement was born. By

working in a way that seeks to activate untapped potential in the musculoskeletal system, dancers

increase proprioception in related muscle groups that allow the development of precise

articulation in minor muscular groups that are typically underdeveloped.

Though Narahin himself even claims to not have been influenced on a large scale by

Graham stating, Bjart and Martha Graham were stations in my career. I spent time in their

companies, but they influenced very little my work. (Perron ) There are noticeable similarities

beyond using using Grahams motifs in his work. One of the most obvious being the lena

which Naharin describes as the source of power located between the belly button and the pelvis.

(Subin) Similar to this is Grahams method of the contraction and release which initiates

movement. Despite this being similar on a basic level, they are fundamentally different in

motivation and execution. In Graham technique, the contraction and release originate from the

pelvis and are the source of all movement. They are also meant to insight a sense of deep-seated

emotions, usually pain and anguish. By contrast, Gaga uses the pelvic-naval connection as a

source of power from which other movements can be created. Although they are fundamentally

similar, the differences and nuanced but impactful.

Ohad Naharin has been hailed as one of the most influential living choreographers and its

not difficult to see why. His contributions to modern dance such as instinctive motion, conscious

and subconscious movement, sensing and imaging movement, and groupthink have irreversibly

changed the form of present movement styles. As someone who had known very little about

Naharin before college and even before writing this paper, I was stunned by the ingenuity

displayed in the development of gaga language. What interests me the most about Gaga is its

ability to satisfy anatomical principles in a way I have never considered. After doing preliminary
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research, I went through and watched portions of his work online and was completely stunned to

see the level of muscular precision these dancers were able to achieve. As someone interested in

physical therapy for performing artists, I could see Gaga being a useful tool for rehabilitation.

Researching Gaga movement has also made me aware of the ignorance surrounding movement

therapy in the scientific community as it is categorized as alternative medicine. In an attempt to

defend this method, it must be taken into consideration that this method was tested by a single

study by the Australian Department of Health in which research concluded that confidence for

this evidence was very low and caution should be applied when interpreting these result and

essentially stated that it was unclear if there had been any impact. While the Feldenkrais method

from which Naharin based his language wasnt technically proven to be effective in a study, it

seems unfairly harsh to loop it in with healing crystals for the sole reason that scientists can not

pin down why it works so well for some people. The potential for this method is manifested in

the physical capabilities of Gaga dancers and with time, mainstream science will hopefully

notice the vital necessity of brain-body connections in modern medicine.

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Sources:

1. "A Conversation with Ohad." Interview by Wendy Perron. Dance Magazine. N.p., 30

Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.

2. Baggoley, Chris. "Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Natural Therapies for

Private Health Insurance." Australian Department of Health Review (2015): 56-63.

Australian Government Department of Health. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

3. "Batsheva Dance Company: About." Batsheva Dance Company: About. N.p., n.d. Web.

12 Feb. 2017.
4. Bernat, Morgan. "Climb into Your Skin: A Look at Personal Intimacy in Gaga Practice

and Performance." Diss. The College at Brockport, 2016. Abstract. N.p., 13 May 2016.

Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

5. Danceconsortium. "Ohad Naharin Discusses Gaga Movement." YouTube. YouTube, 25

Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

6. Galili, Deborah Friedes. "Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga." Dance In

Israel. N.p., 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

7. Gittings, Diane J. "Building Bodies With a Soft Spine, Gaga: Ohad Naharin's Invention in

Practice, It's Roots in Feldenkrais and the Vision of a Pedagogy." Diss. U of Kent, 2013.

Web.
8. Katan, Einav. Embodied Philosophy in Dance: Gaga and Ohad Naharin's Movement

Research. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 20

9. Kisselgoff, Anna. "When Dance and Politics Both Dig Their Heels In." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 04 May 1998. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.
10. Musleah, Rahel. "Feeling Is Believing." Hadassah Magazine. N.p., Feb.-Mar. 2015. Web.
11. Perkovic, Jana. "Ohad Naharin Going Gaga Is the Difference between Dancer and

Gymnast." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Mar. 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.
12. Subin, Anna Della. "Going Gaga for Ohad Naharin." The New York Times. The New York

Times, 19 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

13. Theys, Emily Macel. "Gaga Everywhere." Dance Spirit 14 Apr. 2015: n. pag. Web. 12

Feb. 2017.
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14. "What Is the Feldenkrais Method?" The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.