Annual Report 2013
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ANNUAL 2013 REPORT BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY 1 PAGE 0 PAGE Dear friends, Dear friends, In 2013, Batsheva continued its creative momentum. The pinnacle was Ohad Naharin's In the continuous flow of processes and progress, the call to summarize the year new creation, The Hole, in which he proved once again his innovative choreographic offers an opportunity to pause and look back. voice. This fascinating, unique creation won the audience’s heart and also received warm critical praise. In addition, within Batsheva's commitment to encourage and 2013 was full of significant creative processes in the studio and warm dialogue with nurture emerging talent, the Ensemble presented Shula by young choreographer the audience both in Israel and abroad. It was a year of evolution and profundity, Danielle Agami, and this piece, too, won great success. with many moments of beauty and quality. Approximately 94,000 people attended the Company's performances during 2013. The Company toured extensively around the world and held 51 performances for The year's accomplishments belong to everyone – the dancers who shone in their 36,000 spectators abroad, strengthening the Company's international reputation. work; the artistic team, the administration, and the technical crew who devoted Once again the Company was an excellent ambassador for Israel. themselves to creation with passion and inspired joy; the public council members The Company pursued its social and educational activity in Israel. In its series of and the board of directors who accompany us with involvement and love; the morning school shows, a tradition Batsheva has maintained for over a decade, the benefactors who believe in us and who enable us to excel; and the wide audience Ensemble performed for 10,000 students in cities across Israel. who supports us in our city and throughout Israel and the world. As a reflection of the Company's artistic excellence, an administrative excellence has also developed. The administrative team worked tirelessly to provide support and for In 2014, the Company is marking its fiftieth anniversary. This moment of annual the dancers to reach their best. A special effort was put developing tools and abilities review calls for a longer look back – and recognition – from where we stand today, of for development of necessary resources for the Company's activity and development. the glorious dynasty of dancers and choreographers who have made Batsheva over All this, along with responsible and meticulous financial management, enabled the the generations. Company to complete 2013 in sound financial shape. During the past year, we renewed activities to realize the vision of establishing a new To the future, 2 home for Batsheva that will suit its special needs and will hold the large audiences 3 who wish to attend the Company's performances. In association with Stockholm’s Magasin 3 Museum of Contemporary Art along with renowned architect David Adjaye Dina Aldor Ohad Naharin PAGE 0 PAGE and the Tel Aviv municipality, the Company conducted an initial feasibility study for 0 PAGE CEO Artistic Director the creation of an arts center in the old central bus station in Neve Sha’anan, as the heart of a municipal initiative for urban renewal in the neighborhood. We will continue promoting the subject in 2014 with the anticipation that the municipality will be an actual partner and thus increase the chances of the center’s construction and prosperity. On the threshold of its jubilee year, with enormous artistic achievements behind it, Batsheva is entering a new, exciting era. Sincerely, Ittamar Givton Chairman of the Board of Directors Cover: The Hole by Ohad Naharin | Photo: Gadi Dagon Decadance | Photo: Maxim Waratt CReation / STUDIO / Stage CReation / STUDIO / Stage In 2013, Batsheva produced two new works: The Hole by Ohad Naharin and The Hole by Ohad Naharin and the Batsheva Dancers Shula by young choreographer Danielle Agami, who was invited to create for the World Premiere: April 2013, Varda Studio, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv Batsheva Ensemble. In April 2013 Batsheva premiered The Hole by Ohad Naharin, a new piece created In addition, the Company staged works from its repertoire, mounted Uprising by especially for the intimate Varda Studio at the company's home in the Suzanne Hofesh Shechter, and presented evenings of the dancers’ own creations. Dellal Centre. The studio became a hole of happening within a unique architectural setting that enabled an up-close view of the dancers moving throughout the space. The Hole won great audience response as well as critical acclaim. -- "What sticks out in this language of movement is the contrast between the movements in which the energy weakens, almost evaporating into some sort of inner spiritual gaze, and movements in which the energy that has concentrated inside generates sharp and rapid movements like the stroke of a guillotine… It is an intriguing performance with an unresolved ending, 4 5 as if the Naharin virus entered to activate it and left it with a characteristic feeling of an unclosed circle..." PAGE 0 PAGE (Ruth Eshel, Ha'aretz) 0 PAGE -- "The fact that its unique location and space dictate interpretation, makes "The Hole" a piece that enables Naharin's creative characteristics to stand out, in addition to laying the foundations for a new movement language… a terrifyingly crazy, haunted, and beautiful world." (Tal Levin, Achbar Online, 10.4.2013) -- "Because it's a piece full of surprises and at times heart-touching, because you can't take your eyes off the Batsheva dancers, and also because the ending can be perceived as very optimistic." (Yael Efrati and Marat Parkhomovsky, “Ten Best Dance and Theater Performances of the The Hole | Photo: Gadi Dagon Year,” TimeOut, 24.12.2013) CReation / STUDIO / Stage CReation / STUDIO / Stage Sadeh21 by Ohad Naharin and Batsheva Dancers Batsheva Dance Company won the Performance Prize for a Large Company from the Minister of Culture and Sport (2013) for the performance of Sadeh21, Ohad Naharin's 2011 work. In the past two years, the Company has staged Sadeh21 in Tel Aviv and all over the world. -- -- "Once again Ohad Naharin has "It might be the precise dosage demonstrated that dance reflects between dancers who've been thought… the work begins with a series following Naharin for a long time, of solos, which share the same rare and new dancers who injected emotional force… we can simply allow their individuality into the existing the work's deep sensuality to carry us… condition, but have already managed Without conforming his style and way to absorb the choreographer's of thinking in any way, Ohad Naharin’s language. They are strong, stretched oeuvre continues to provoke reflection to the limit, tuned like instruments and involvement and... to bewitch." in a legendary orchestra, remarkably (Sonia Schoonejans, Ballet Magazine precise, and it's beautiful as a dream." 2000, France, June 2013) (Merav Yudilevitch, Ynet, 27.5.2011) 6 7 Shula | Photo: Gadi Dagon PAGE 0 PAGE 0 PAGE Shula by Danielle Agami -- "Inside the same movement gushing World Premiere: June 2013, Suzanne from within, are entwined passages Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv that parody the oriental representation of the east as the dancers spread their Danielle Agami, veteran Company dancer arms aside, coiling like snakes. I find and current independent choreographer, was these dance fragments marvelous invited by Ohad Naharin to create an original in their combination of cultures and piece for the female Batsheva Ensemble statement, admirably executed by the dancers. The creation process was significant, Ensemble dancers." enriching, and inspiring for the dancers who (Ruth Eshel, Ha'aretz, 11.12.2013) devoted themselves to working with Agami and delivered a superb stage performance. -- Uprising by Hofesh Shechter "The bursting physicality in Shechter's men-dance is invigorated by the passion Hofesh Shechter's 2006 work, established for purposeful action. The young, the choreographer’s name in the international energetic Ensemble dancers cross the dance arena. Shechter, a Batsheva alumnus, stage back and forth, running on all contributed this work to the Batsheva fours, gliding with bottoms virtually Ensemble whose seven male dancers provided touching the floor, as the hands push the a gorgeous interpretation and performance. surface. Roaming through vast imaginary Sadeh21| Photo: Gadi Dagon spaces and territories…" (Ruth Eshel, Ha'aretz, 11.12.2013) CReation / STUDIO / Stage REPERTORY / PERFORMANCES Dancers Create Performances This year, celebrating a decade, the Company The Hole (2013) > Tel Aviv, Varda Studio (61). produced its traditional Dancers Create evenings, which included 23 short new works. Shula/Uprising (2013) >Tel Aviv (15), Ashdod (1), Herzliya (3) Supported by the Michael Sela Fund for Sadeh21 (2011) >Tel Aviv (7), Paris (3), Dresden (2), Moscow (3), Marseille (1), Vienna Cultivation of Young Artists at Batsheva, this (12), Minsk (1), Sandvika (2), Sandnes (1), Draguignan (1), Châteauvallon (2), Aix-en- project provides the dancers a framework for Provence (3), Montpellier (2) creation and production, and gives the audience an opportunity to become acquainted with the Tabula Rasa/Lost Cause (2012) > Tel Aviv (10), Haifa (1), Ashdod (1), Mizra (1), Company dancers' creative, vigorous, and varied Netanya (1), Modi'in (1) -- talents. "… the marvelous honesty Decadance (1990-2013) > Tel Aviv (5), Herzliya (3), Hof HaCarmel (1), Rehovot (1), with which both dancers- In intimate studio performances, the Company Ganei Tikva (1), Nantes (2), Paris (2), Moscow (3), Voronezh (2), Saint Petersburg (2), actors-creators deliver the staged the work of Company dancer Bobbi Yekaterinburg (2), Novosibirsk (1), Marseille (1), Istres (1) questions, the answers, and Smith, Arrowed (created for the 2012 dancers' the minute yet fantastically workshops), which was composed of a series of Decadance for school students > Netanya (1), Megiddo (2) precise movement, create interviews written, choreographed, and directed a small and magical by Smith.