Yag

Choreographer: Ohad Naharin

Hailed as one of the world’s preeminent contemporary choreographers, Ohad Naharin’s work is quite distinct and is imbued with his own innovative movement language called “Gaga.” Gaga employs dancers’ capacity for physical hyperawareness to experiment with various concepts of gesture, friction, release, tension, timing, gravity, and connectivity to produce multi-dimensional, instinctive movement. Yag was created in 1996 by Ohad Naharin for Batsheva Dance Company which has been under his artistic direction since 1990. The relationships between the six dancers on stage in Yag are gradually revealed through the work’s deft storytelling through dance, speech, and visual symbolism. As the ballet’s intriguing narrative progresses, the audience is left to interpret the family dynamics at play, informed by the work’s audacious, curious, and imaginative staging.

L.A. Dance Project Premiere
June 13, 2017 at The Joyce Theatre in New York City, New York
Created in 1996 for Batsheva Dance Company, restaged in 2016

Assistants to the choreographer
Rachael Osborne, Ian Robinson

Lighting
Avi Yona Bueno

Costumes
Eri Nakamura

Music 
Gaetano Donizetti – Una furtiva lagrima from L’Elisir D’Amore – Tenor: Jussi Bjoerling – 1987 RCA/ARIOLA USA
Ennio Morricone – Ric Happening from Metti una sera a cena – Cinevox 1969
Ran Slavin – Bum Carib from Thermo Swing – 1999
John Taverner – IN NOMINE – Lute: Christopher Wilson – Virgin Classics 1991
Maxim Waratt
John Zorn from the CD ABSINTHE (Naked City – The Complete Studio Recordings, Tzadik Records)

Ohad Naharin wishes to thank John Zorn for his inspiration and generosity.

Length
43 Minutes

Dedicated to Roni Azgad and her family

* L.A. Dance Project developed this work thanks to a Technical Residency Partner with The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College.

Yag