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Truth in movement: Ohad Naharin talks about his choreography, his world view, and why the mirror always lies.

Article Excerpt
Ohad Naharin is taking his Batsheva Dance Company to the Midwest and the West Coast this month. Known as one of today's most interesting choreographers, he creates funny/sad/fierce collages of pure dance and interactions that invite the audience in--sometimes literally. The dancers in this Tel Aviv-based company perform with an exploratory feeling that gives them a quality of vulnerability. Part of the secret of why his dancers look so human, rather than highly polished, is a technique he has developed called gaga (see sidebar). Last July at the Lincoln Center Festival, his piece Telophaza was performed to standing ovations. While he was in New York, I got a chance to sit down with him at his hotel and talk about his work. The conflict between Israel and Lebanon had just begun.--Wendy Perron

You danced with both Graham and Bejart. Can you talk about them as influences? Bejart and Martha Graham were stations in my career. I spent time in their companies, but they influenced my work very little. I learned from those experiences, but they didn't influence me like Merce Cunningham, Billy Forsythe, or Pina Bausch. David Gordon did a solo for me when I was working in New York. I really liked him. He has a nice sense of multidimensional movement. The way he perceived the relationship of space to our body was important for me to learn.

What is "gaga"? Gaga's the name of the movement that the company is now trained in daily. With gaga we discover our movement patterns, and we become attuned to our weaknesses and to the...