International Dance Day 29th April – messages

International Dance Day Message 2018 – Europe

Ohad Naharin, Israel Choreographer, artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company, creator of the GAGA movement language.

Dancing is about being in the moment. It’s about listening to the scope of sensations and allowing that listening to become the fuel of all feelings, forms, and content. Yet, we should always remember where we came from. When asked what my work is about, I first answer that it is about itself. About how all of its elements meet to create its narrative. A dance narrative of volume, delicacy, the use of explosive power. The research of movement, organization and structure. Laughing at ourselves, dynamics, overstatement and understatement, the connection of pleasure and effort, and the sublimation of each dancer’s madness, passion, and fantasy into a clear form. At its best, dance can be sublime, even if far from perfect. We need to resist the conservative and conventional thinking that has roots in much of dance education and training, and let go of old ideas for new, better ones. And we must always remember to dance a little every day… And we must always remember to dance a little every day…and never in front of a mirror.