1 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:18,920 Beautiful. 2 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:22,360 Really beautiful. 3 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:35,800 Let's stop. 4 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:42,200 Maya, you need to create the rhythm of a fall. You're really slowing down. 5 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,360 Way too much control. Did you sense it? 6 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:56,400 Your hand was ready. 7 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,880 You need to lose conscience when you're up, not when you're down, 8 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:02,440 before you fall. 9 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:05,200 Lose it now. 10 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:08,880 Are you okay? 11 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,400 You need to find a way to let go. 12 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:19,520 Instead of going back, 13 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:22,600 just let it happen. 14 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,840 Almost, almost, but you're guarding your head too much, 15 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:33,920 which you need to, but we shouldn't see it. 16 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,760 The more you let go everywhere in your body at once, 17 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,760 the softness of your flesh will protect you. 18 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,280 Are you stressed? -No. -So do it again. 19 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:04,440 I don't have any memory of me thinking I will be a dancer or a choreographer 20 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,320 or anybody else telling me. At the same time I was the dancer. 21 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,240 I was the dancer in the family, I was the dancer in the class, 22 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:13,760 I was the dancer in the school, 23 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,360 but it wasn't the future, it was the present. 24 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:26,760 The idea of physical pleasure from physical activity 25 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:33,600 was totally part of how I conceived myself as being alive. 26 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,680 Dance started in my life as long as I remember myself. 27 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:48,840 Not as a career, 28 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,400 but as something that I love, something that turns me on, 29 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,640 something that I enjoy watching and enjoy doing. 30 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:34,760 We would bang on tables, on the stairs, with spoons on pots. We made music all the time. 31 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,720 The years in the kibbutz is something I always missed growing up. 32 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,120 In the kibbutz you have animals, 33 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:55,920 you have agriculture, 34 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:58,760 your parents work in the fields, 35 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,280 you are out in the fields many times. 36 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,600 I would see my parents 3 hours a day 37 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,880 and the rest of the day I was with the kids that I grew up with. 38 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,520 We slept together, we washed together, 39 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,880 we ate together, everything we did together. 40 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:36,120 I was five and a half years old. I just remember the day we left the kibbutz. 41 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,640 It was like being torn from your siamese twin. 42 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,560 The kibbutz was paradise for Ohad, 43 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:59,680 and we tore him from it when we left the kibbutz. 44 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,160 I think it was very painful for him. 45 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:21,240 Life is full of tatters. 46 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:27,080 Try to reattach them, it doesn't work. 47 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,520 By the time I was in the army I thought I will be in a combat unit, 48 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,480 but because of an injury that I had in my ankle 49 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,600 I realized that I'm eligible to be in an entertainment group. 50 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:31,560 They could see that I have some understanding of movement. 51 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,840 There were songs, so I put movement to the music. 52 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,760 I was one of the people that performed, but also I did the choreography. 53 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,760 You know, it's very little choreography. 54 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,560 By the time it was the Yom Kippur War. 55 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,480 It was more than 3 years into the service in the army. 56 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,400 And we were driving through the Golan Heights. 57 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,320 I could see burned vehicles, burned tanks. 58 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:18,840 And I could see already blown-up bodies 59 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,920 from being dead for a week. 60 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,920 We had one show where I remember I really 61 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,320 wished I could disappear. 62 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:56,920 They're kinda forced to sit in this place with us and we're forced to perform for them. 63 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:05,560 but on this path, the wind is crying. The wind that accompanies him like a brother. 64 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:13,200 We will return tomorrow to the wildflowers, we will walk as lovers in the field. 65 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,280 All our days are legends. 66 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,120 Singing bad songs to traumatized soldiers. 67 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:26,720 It was an absurd theater. 68 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,440 I had friends my age dying. 69 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:58,560 Every day I hear about another friend who's dead. 70 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,320 When I was born, 71 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,600 I had a twin brother. 72 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,040 During the first year, 73 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,640 I was developing, 74 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,480 while my brother... 75 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:22,520 He was more introverted. He wouldn't respond. 76 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,760 My grandmother, in a certain situation, started to dance, 77 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:34,120 and when she danced, my brother suddenly opened up and began to respond. 78 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:38,960 That's how we would connect to him, through Grandma who would dance for him. 79 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:45,080 When we were 5 we drove to Tel Aviv, we had a car accident 80 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:47,960 and my grandmother died. 81 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,760 And we wanted to communicate with my brother again. 82 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,560 I wanted to connect with him. 83 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,280 I did something I'd never done before. I started to dance for him. 84 00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:11,680 I'm sure that played a part. 85 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,320 I don't know if that's why I dance. 86 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,440 I might have danced anyway. 87 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,640 But it gives a very different meaning to why I dance. 88 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,800 Guys, you have to make contact. 89 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,320 Build it up now. 90 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,360 It was like one month or two months before my release from the army. 91 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,240 My mother called Batsheva Dance Company 92 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:51,000 and said: "My son is very talented, you must see him dance." 93 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,080 And she packed a bag for me with some dance clothes 94 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:59,120 and arranged for me to go to Tel Aviv and take a class with Batsheva Dance Company. 95 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,240 He has these green eyes that keep looking at you, 96 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:15,920 he's very aloof. 97 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:21,960 And he's very much like what I would say is the Cheshire Cat 98 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,840 in the story of Alice in Wonderland. 99 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,400 But there were moments when Ohad would dance 100 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,560 that I, as a dance teacher, have never forgotten. 101 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,000 He had this very unique lowness, 102 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,080 this very unique way of... 103 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:46,000 feeling himself in the space, 104 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,480 that meant what he did was different. 105 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:05,840 I think I was lucky that I started formal dance training so late, 106 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:07,520 at the age of 22. 107 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,280 So I was a lot more connected to the animal I am. 108 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,720 Many times when I dance, I connect to feminine forces. 109 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:37,160 Forces that create availability to both yielding and explosiveness, 110 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,120 to both delicacy and aggressiveness, at once. 111 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:05,080 Martha Graham comes to Israel 112 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,560 for the first time to do a new work for Batsheva Dance Company, 113 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,080 and she's falling in love with me, 114 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:17,840 because I'm reminding her of Bob Powell, who was a beautiful dancer. 115 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,560 He was opposite of macho. 116 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:22,800 He was like a cat 117 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,840 and I wanted to move like that. 118 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,640 And six months later I'm in New York, Dancing with Martha Graham. 119 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,000 I came to New York full of hopes and fantasies. 120 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,640 Dancing with Martha Graham did not fullfill these hopes and fantasies, 121 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:17,760 and after ten months I had to leave. 122 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:25,560 And I find myself in New York, out of work, with no idea what I want to do. 123 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:35,720 Nobody knows 124 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:43,320 the troubles I've seen 125 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:56,360 Glory hallelujah. 126 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,240 Oh Jesus, 127 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,920 I said bye bye to Martha Graham and I was guided by one of my teachers, 128 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,680 and she tells me about Juilliard. 129 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,880 I auditioned for the school and I also auditioned for The School of American Ballet, 130 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:34,680 and they both accept me, 131 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,440 and I go to both schools at the same time because it's in the same building. 132 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,800 They put me in the advanced ballet class where I didn't know what to do, 133 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,360 because this class is totally occupied 134 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:50,600 by these very high, professional, accomplished dancers, big names in dance. 135 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:54,680 In my class one day there was Rudolf Nureyev, 136 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,160 Peter Schaufuss, Peter Martin, 137 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,880 and I'm there, hardly know the basic, basic of ballet. 138 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,960 But I could somehow imitate it. 139 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,640 I don't think they've met someone that at such a late time in his life 140 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:14,360 can still become a dancer. 141 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:37,680 I'm in New York and the Maurice Bejart, the ballet of the 20th century, is coming to New York. 142 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,200 And they're holding an audition. 143 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:48,040 Afer 15 minutes they do eliminations, and they come to me and they say thank you very much, 144 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:49,560 and I leave the audition. 145 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:51,960 And I go down Broadway, 146 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:56,360 and Maurice Bejart with a bunch of dancers is coming towards me. 147 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,240 I look in his eyes, he looks in my eyes, 148 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:01,880 and I'm a young and handsome man, which he likes. 149 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:07,280 I smile and I say, "I'm just coming from your audition, I wasn't accepted." 150 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:09,760 Then he said, "Do you want to audition again?" 151 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:11,480 And I said, "Sure." 152 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,240 And he takes me to an empty studio, 153 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,360 he takes a seat and he says, "Dance." 154 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,560 So I improvise for maybe 3 minutes. 155 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:35,240 And he stands up, comes to me, shaking my hand and says, "Welcome to my company." 156 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,840 And I have the worst year of my life. 157 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,280 It's lucky I wasn't hospitalized in a mental institute that year. 158 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,640 I learned a lot about what I don't want to do. 159 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:57,320 That my body cannot study material, movement, choreography 160 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:02,080 that I don't appreciate, that I don't connect to. 161 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:33,320 When I first came to New York I went to see an Alvin Ailey performance. 162 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,120 And I see this woman and I'm thinking to myself, 163 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,240 this is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. 164 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,960 So I meet my friends and I ask them about her, 165 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,520 and they tell me, "If you'll come to the party tonight, she'll be there." 166 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,120 So I'm coming to the party. 167 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,640 It took a few more months and we got married. 168 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,640 When Ohad came to New York he was basically nobody, 169 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,640 and she was a star. 170 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,840 She was a leading dancer at the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, 171 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,360 which was then huge. 172 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,720 The big American dance company traveling all over the world, 173 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,760 and she was assistant to Alvin Ailey. She was a big star. 174 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,840 Alvin used to say Mari had this wonderful sense of rubato. 175 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,880 You never saw the transitions, the way she moved, 176 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,120 it was so smooth. He adored her. 177 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,880 She was a vision. 178 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:58,480 During the first three years Mari was earning a steady salary. 179 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,760 She payed the rent when I didn't have money. 180 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,680 The way Ohad moved, which was very unusual for a man 181 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,560 back during the '70s and '80s here in New York city. 182 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:52,600 He has that Mediterranean spine. 183 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:58,520 It's serpentine and sinewy and flowy and yet articulate. 184 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,440 It's not just a wet noodle of a movement. 185 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,320 So Ohad, in this country, in this city, 186 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,840 even in the "Dance Mecca," was a rarity as a male dancer. 187 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:10,920 Very womanly. 188 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,240 Push. And pushed. 189 00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:16,560 It's like you're being pushed from the back each time. 190 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:17,280 Right. 191 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:25,920 Like you are a little bit possessed, it's like not your voice almost. 192 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:30,640 Yeah, yeah, that's it. 193 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,520 Great. That's good. 194 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,080 Very good. 195 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,400 And then let him go down. Look for your arms. 196 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,680 And the feeling of coming together guys, a little bit... 197 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,200 The last thing I expected of you guys to be macho. Come on. 198 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:22,560 Dance, in its default, is the opposite of macho. 199 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:27,160 Movement, in its purest source, 200 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,200 is above gender. 201 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,520 Pas De Pepsi was the first solo that I choreographed. 202 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,560 Mari was addicted to Pepsi Cola. 203 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,840 She could drink it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 204 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,840 I think that was my comment to her about it. 205 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:49,160 And it also has a kind of naive approach to how I put drama into dance. 206 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,720 In New York I had like a pickup company. 207 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,760 It was based on projects. 208 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:30,880 When we had performances I'd gather a group of dancers and we would work. 209 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,040 Sometimes I called it "Ohad Naharin and Dancers," 210 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,720 sometimes it was like "Ohad Naharin Dance Company." 211 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,920 Mari quit the Ailey company and she joined my projects. 212 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:51,960 Alvin was not happy when Mari was leaving, 213 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,680 but he had to go with her decision. 214 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:02,160 You leave something you love, but you're going on to something you love... 215 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,120 more. 216 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:13,840 I remember Carl telling me, 217 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,600 you know, when I met Mari and Ohad, she would just jump on him, 218 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,480 cross her legs and complete flap turn-out over his waist 219 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,920 and they were passionate, kissing, in front of us, like these wild animals. 220 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,240 His company was just all over the map. 221 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,960 There was him, he's Israeli, there was his wife Mari who was Asian American, 222 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:43,520 there was Natalie who was Jamaican, there was Megan with a frilly curly hair like an Irish girl, 223 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:45,640 there was Ani who was from Eastern Europe, 224 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:50,240 there was David Tichnell who was tall skinny lenky pale white boy. 225 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,120 There were just dancers from everywhere. 226 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,160 When you come back from this one the first time... 227 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,440 Israeli choreographer, his name was Ohad. 228 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:03,680 Nahad, Naharin, Nazareth, Ohad... you know, Oh God, Nazareth. 229 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,240 We didn't know him, 230 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:12,880 we didn't know what we were in for... Because once you meet Ohad, 231 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,960 he's so powerful and he's so strong, he immediately intimidated us all. 232 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,560 We were all like, "Oh shit, what's this guy all about?" 233 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:27,440 I'm dancing "Passomezzo" in the dance theater workshop with Mari. 234 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,800 It's about their relationship, Ohad and Mari, their marriage, 235 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,640 I'm gonna be him in that dance. 236 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,000 The audience is loving it, I think it's great, I think I did a great job, 237 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,000 I see Ohad, I'm like, "Hey, look at me." 238 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,120 All of a sudden I see he's like really pissed off at me. 239 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,000 "What's going on?" He says, 240 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,240 "Never perform my work." 241 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,480 "Never perform my work. What were you doing out there? What was all the smiling? 242 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,480 "What was all this energy up here? You have to put that in your body." 243 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,880 You're on stage, performing in front of an audience, 244 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,800 the audience cannot see Ohad, but he's yelling at you. 245 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,080 During the performance. 246 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,080 He yells, "You're boring me." 247 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,560 You don't say that to dancers while they're on stage, 248 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,480 dancing your work. 249 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:37,200 This is something I say to my dancers sometimes, just before the show. 250 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,800 I tell them, "Don't fuck with me, my life depends on you." 251 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,200 Ohad showed you and you did it. 252 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,200 And you did it over and over again until he said, "Yes." 253 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,600 Most of the time he said, "No. No. No. No." 254 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,280 You would try it again, "No." You'd try it again, "No." Again, "No." 255 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:29,040 Something would happen, "Yes." You had no idea what you were doing. 256 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,640 I told Ohad, we can't read your mind, Ohad. 257 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,600 You really need to tell us what you want. 258 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,080 Find ways and maybe be a little bit more patient, 259 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,720 because when you yell, then we freeze. 260 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,120 And he said, "To read my mind, 261 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:54,320 I really want you all to just read my mind and know what I want, 262 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,560 then we wouldn't have this tense situation." 263 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,680 We would never really fight with him, except Mari. 264 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:37,000 Mari would sometimes say, "What do you really mean?" and stop. 265 00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:40,920 And we would just wait for the... 266 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,160 tempest to be over. 267 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:54,480 Almost on a daily basis, 268 00:34:54,640 --> 00:35:00,760 somebody ended up leaving the studio because they were yelling or crying. 269 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:05,880 He was tough. He was really, really tough. 270 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,480 But everybody came back, 271 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,920 into the situation, because twisted or not, 272 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,960 they felt that the work was worth it. 273 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,200 The movement is so full and luscious, 274 00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,720 and especially at that time, it was deep and heavy and weighted. 275 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,360 It had emotion in it, it had feeling in it. 276 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:16,440 Ohad is at this stage that he's discovering really his voice, 277 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,960 and shaping his voice. 278 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:24,520 What an exciting, special time to be a dancer, 279 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,720 helping a choreographer get his vision. 280 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:34,960 This is a blessing for a dancer to be part of a process that is 281 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:39,240 bringing something that will change the world of dance. 282 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:14,520 I first saw Ohad's work in 1986. 283 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,720 I was 19, 284 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:19,880 and I remember the row. 285 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:34,120 The "Tabula Rasa" row which is one of Ohad's early works. 286 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:38,400 I remember being amazed. I was like this... 287 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:51,760 If someone can hypnotize you with only a row, he's a genius. 288 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:59,200 Because there's the essence of everything in nothing. 289 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,200 And that's art. 290 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,840 The essence of everything in nothing. 291 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,760 You lock the air inside your fingers, in a soft hand. 292 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:56,680 And this makes a sound. 293 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:04,400 And, guys, I appreciate when you hurt yourselves there a little bit, 294 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,480 it doesn't work if you don't. 295 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,320 And I don't think it's excruciating pain that you cannot... 296 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:15,000 you just have to inflict yourselves that pain in order to make the sound. 297 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:11,640 Over the years I had a lot of wrong information about 298 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,640 how I carry my body, how I use my body. 299 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,720 Slowly I really damaged more and more my back. 300 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:29,120 Until one show my leg collapsed under me. 301 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:32,800 The show finished and my leg was numb. 302 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:45,840 The doctor said that there is a lot of irreversible nerve damage. 303 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,760 I was told that I will not be able to dance. 304 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:09,640 When I had the back operation and I was practically paralyzed, 305 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,800 I didn't know if I will be able to just walk normally again, 306 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,360 I started the recuperation. 307 00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:28,920 Dealing with my limitations, 308 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,120 it was the most meaningful learning experience 309 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,280 of studying my body. 310 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,480 And it was also where I started to develop 311 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:51,160 what I can say is my movement language, Gaga. 312 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,080 I needed to be able 313 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:18,600 to explain myself and create a language both with words and with movement, 314 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:25,080 that will enable me to better the dancers' interpretation of my work. 315 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,840 I want to feel it much more like.... 316 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,360 Let's say from here. 317 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,440 This. Don't go up. 318 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:35,280 Let me see this. 319 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,120 But then, 320 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:42,640 Good, nice. 321 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:48,640 Here too, you can already feel the letting go here. 322 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,160 Feel yourself letting go. More, Good. 323 00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,160 I didn't feel the palpitating heart. 324 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:02,240 Oh, it's palpitating. 325 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:06,760 Feel a soft hand, like this. Not closing, opening. 326 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:33,920 What unique about Gaga is the demand to listen to our body, 327 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,400 before we tell it what to do. 328 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:38,840 And the understanding 329 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:45,320 that we must go beyond our familiar limits, on a daily basis. 330 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:59,800 I had once an amazing experience with my father. 331 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:06,040 My father had basically two strokes. 332 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:12,680 He physically became handicapped and limited. 333 00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:24,920 In one of my visits with him, I talked to him about how he get up from a chair. 334 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:30,800 He got up like the cliche of an old old man. 335 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:38,680 And I told him, lets try something. I want you to just say: piece of cake. 336 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,840 That's it, piece of cake, and just get up with me. 337 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:44,200 And we did it, and he got up 338 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:48,040 like a 15 year old boy. He just got up. 339 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:21,080 I think Ohad was creating really important work here in New York City. 340 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:23,360 He would have continued to do great work, 341 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,560 but the dimensions of what he went into in terms of the Gaga work, 342 00:45:27,720 --> 00:45:31,680 and the universality of it, I don't think would've taken pure root. 343 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,560 To really spring forward from a genuine place of integrity, 344 00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:39,360 culturally and aesthetically and ultimately spiritually with the work, 345 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:40,840 he had to go home. 346 00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:51,600 I'm on a public phone, in the street, 347 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,040 and they're telling me that they want me to come to Israel 348 00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:01,360 to talk, discuss the possibility of taking the directorship of Batsheva. 349 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:12,360 I knew, before talking to Mari or anyone, that I'm gonna do it. 350 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:17,480 I wasn't really aware maybe of how big this will be for her. 351 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:20,160 Maybe she wasn't either. 352 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:28,680 The desire to go back to Israel is not because I want to go back to direct a company, 353 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,520 it's because I want to go back home. 354 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,240 I don't feel at home in New York. 355 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,640 It's the morning of February 1st, 1990. 356 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:47,600 Ohad and myself are coming, on the same day, to start our work with Batsheva Dance Company 357 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:49,680 and we go together to see a morning performance 358 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:52,560 and there are literally 8 people in the audience. 359 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:57,080 And I think the average age was much higher than 60 years old. 360 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:07,800 At this time, the company consisted only of Israelis. 361 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,920 A bunch of hot guys. 362 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,480 The rehearsals were short. 363 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:16,520 Because we had to go to other jobs to earn money. 364 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:26,040 Ohad comes and says, "everything you do, you do great, 365 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,600 but that's not what I want, I want things differently." 366 00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:32,000 Good guys. 367 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:53,880 We weren't sure what was going on. There's this guy, Ohad Naharin, 368 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:59,120 He looks like someone from a kibbutz and he's talking to us about dance. sounds cool. 369 00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:02,440 So we decided to make together music for dance. 370 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:06,760 He tells us, "there's a part where all of the dancers are on chairs, 371 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:09,560 I want something there to relate to Israeliness. 372 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:16,320 Something traditional, involving the Passover story." 373 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,400 Who knows seven? I know seven. 374 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:26,080 We collected tapes from the old Tel Aviv central station, 375 00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:30,160 to have inspiration for different rhythms. 376 00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:46,440 The audience wasn't impressed. 377 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:51,320 100 people, elderly, came to the first performance, some left in the middle. 378 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:56,520 Days went by, and there was still no audience. 379 00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:00,800 But Ohad is projecting absolute confidence. 380 00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:09,000 This is a bomb, it's dynamite in our pockets, and it will go off soon. 381 00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:12,600 On the 13th day of the performance suddenly everyone showed up. 382 00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,760 Those who wear The Cure shirts, Bauhouse, young, old, showed up. 383 00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:22,720 Who knows eleven? I know eleven. 384 00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:30,320 I was walking on a very tight rope. 385 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,640 Luckily I was able to go through this very rough time 386 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:39,440 while being able to create work that was meaningful to me. 387 00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:52,960 That was the end of an era, and that's when Ohad's company started. 388 00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:17,560 When you meet a dancer that enlarge your heart, that open up your imagination, 389 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:24,240 there is something very very strong and very inspiring, it's like a life force. 390 00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:45,280 Come for a second. 391 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:46,680 Now... 392 00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,040 Just give me your weight. 393 00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:50,880 Give me, give me. That's it. 394 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:51,840 Go up again. 395 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,080 Now, Come and fall. 396 00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:56,040 Fall. Once more. 397 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:57,280 Fall. 398 00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:00,880 You're okay? 399 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,800 But you felt the difference? -Yes. 400 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:08,440 But you understand? Okay. 401 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:10,920 You're angry at me? -No. 402 00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,120 But you see how simple it was? 403 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:21,920 I think choreography takes a lot of trust. 404 00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:25,200 Choreography and dancers have to trust one another, 405 00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:27,640 the dancers give themselves up to the choreographer, 406 00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,480 saying here's my body, you know, 407 00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:33,480 use it, make your piece out of it, and the choreographer 408 00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:35,440 has no control on stage, 409 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:39,080 once he's made his dance he's given it over to the dancers. 410 00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:50,120 He hires special individuals 411 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:53,640 that have specific talents that he's attracted to. 412 00:51:53,720 --> 00:51:56,920 Like if he enjoys watching that person and what they do, 413 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,040 so he figures the audience is going to like them too. 414 00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:15,600 For Ohad, every name and every face has a significance. 415 00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:19,280 One is like this, one is like that. 416 00:52:19,720 --> 00:52:24,720 And that's what makes the ensemble interesting, fascinating, special. 417 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:35,320 When someone lets you express your uniqueness, you feel special all the time. 418 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:10,960 I opened my coat and the ticket was not there. 419 00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:15,000 I panicked and couldn't remember where the ticket might have fallen. 420 00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:17,640 I started to run home. 421 00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,360 I didn't know where I was, and because of despair, 422 00:53:20,440 --> 00:53:22,520 I didn't really look, and they caught me. 423 00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:26,440 I thought he wanted to rape me. I was scared, so I did what he said. 424 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,600 Do you want to dance? 425 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,520 This is not just a groovy moment, this is like... 426 00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:50,640 If you have a hammer and you want to put a nail 427 00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:55,240 into the cement floor in one time. 428 00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:57,600 Not in many times. 429 00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:01,160 In one time. Put it all the way through. 430 00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:03,840 Stephan? 431 00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,360 You can knock a nail through. 432 00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:11,280 Let me see you knocking a nail with your body. 433 00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:15,560 Go for it. 434 00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:21,280 I think you think too much about your movement 435 00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:23,320 and you don't get enough... 436 00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:27,360 You don't just mean it enough. Let's say that by nailing this, 437 00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:32,120 by nailing it you're gonna save somebody's life. And if you don't, he's gone. 438 00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:37,600 He's gone. 439 00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:40,200 He's gone, he's gone. 440 00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:44,000 Better, better. Okay, okay. 441 00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:56,480 Guys, this is a moment when you want to sense and feel a lot, 442 00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:59,280 and do a lot less. It's not about this. 443 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:03,440 It's about doing very little and feel so much. 444 00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:05,400 So try to find that. 445 00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:27,440 Often in auditions you don't see what's locked inside people. 446 00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:32,640 My challenge is to discover those locked people, 447 00:55:32,720 --> 00:55:35,120 because eventually you can open them up, 448 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,040 and enjoy that treasure. 449 00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:45,760 Here is someone who immediately gets the essence. 450 00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,320 I immediately see her physical limitations, 451 00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:56,880 but her fantasy is so right, so she's already moving me. 452 00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,600 She's a poet. 453 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:22,760 When you watch dance there is a narrative 454 00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:26,440 that comes out of what you can call - the choreography. 455 00:56:31,720 --> 00:56:35,640 But there is the narrative that comes from 456 00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:38,280 the interpretation of the dancer. 457 00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:12,480 Too busy Eyar. 458 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,760 This is lovely guys, okay. You know what I mean Eyar? 459 00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:21,760 If you simply believed 460 00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:26,600 that you're more when you're less. 461 00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:33,480 You're so strong, so beautiful, so able, 462 00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:40,080 sometimes when you're in the zone of giving 30%, you really enjoy it, 463 00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:43,560 you don't have to find the... to enjoy it. 464 00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:47,840 Stay in this pose and exaggerate it. 465 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:51,640 Exaggerate it inside you, without changing it. Without moving. 466 00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:57,080 Feel as if you can exaggerate it in your skin, without changing it. 467 00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:00,360 Find the exaggeration inside. You're changing. 468 00:58:00,720 --> 00:58:03,720 Without changing. Exactly, that's it. 469 00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:06,160 Try to find it without changing. 470 00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:29,160 Now, I don't separate anymore the interpretation of the dancers 471 00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:31,640 from the act of choreographing. 472 00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:40,160 The act of choreographing, is also the act of helping my dancers 473 00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:43,720 to interpret my work, it's not separate any more. 474 00:59:46,560 --> 00:59:49,640 In order to be able to continue the performance, 475 00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:56,840 I would like to ask the audience to stand up. 476 01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:06,240 Those who believe in reincarnation, please sit down. 477 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:12,720 Those who earn over 50,000$ per year, please sit down. 478 01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:17,720 Those who are willing to die for someone else, please sit down. 479 01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:24,360 Slowly, the entire audience is sitting. I was the last one standing. 480 01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:27,240 Come to the stage please. 481 01:00:33,840 --> 01:00:43,240 The audience thinks that an ordinary person is getting up on stage. 482 01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:48,040 At the end I flip him, and then give a freestyle solo. 483 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:01,280 Then it ends. 484 01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:14,520 I wanted to do a commercial, popular work. 485 01:02:16,840 --> 01:02:19,840 I wasn't becoming a victim of rating 486 01:02:19,960 --> 01:02:22,800 or wanting to be loved by as many, 487 01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:26,520 I was curious. It has a lot to do with the child in me 488 01:02:26,680 --> 01:02:29,800 that wants to arrive to places that I've never been before, 489 01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:32,680 and couldn't even imagine exist. 490 01:02:36,840 --> 01:02:40,240 Don't lie 491 01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:43,280 Mama say 492 01:02:48,680 --> 01:02:52,560 Don't lie 493 01:02:55,400 --> 01:02:58,120 Papa say 494 01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:07,160 We must lie 495 01:03:07,880 --> 01:03:10,600 I say 496 01:03:11,280 --> 01:03:16,040 We must lie. 497 01:03:16,920 --> 01:03:18,840 The situation is that 498 01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:22,480 I'm in a press conference in Australia, 499 01:03:22,600 --> 01:03:27,560 and someone asked me, why did I start to dance. 500 01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:39,120 And then I just started telling a story. 501 01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:42,960 A totally made-up story that I invented at the spot, 502 01:03:43,040 --> 01:03:45,960 about my twin, autistic brother. 503 01:03:47,080 --> 01:03:54,080 I invented an autistic twin, I invented a grandmother who was dancing to him, 504 01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:58,160 I invented that she died and then I danced for him. 505 01:04:02,520 --> 01:04:06,240 So the point wasn't to manipulate them to believe in the story, 506 01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:10,160 the point was more about that there is no one clear answer, 507 01:04:10,800 --> 01:04:14,480 and sometimes making up a story can be the best answer 508 01:04:14,640 --> 01:04:17,320 for something that otherwise is a little bit elusive, 509 01:04:17,400 --> 01:04:20,160 to me too. Why did I start to dance. 510 01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:07,560 You know, when I think of dancing, it's a lot about echo. 511 01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:11,200 You move your hand and it makes the rest of your body move. 512 01:05:12,480 --> 01:05:17,760 It's also a lot about texture, it's a lot about what group of muscles do you use, where you let go. 513 01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:21,400 It's about the use of gravity. 514 01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:24,800 It's about not allowing gravity to shape you, but at the same time 515 01:05:25,080 --> 01:05:30,600 using this as one of the greatest force that make dance happen. 516 01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,440 I'm bringing it back to the animal we are, 517 01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:43,000 and to the hunters we are. 518 01:06:35,280 --> 01:06:40,760 May '98, this is the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel. 519 01:06:40,960 --> 01:06:44,160 We're invited to be part of the big Jubilee. 520 01:06:53,640 --> 01:06:56,840 Batsheva will present a big mega version of "Who knows one?" 521 01:06:58,240 --> 01:07:02,080 for the 50th anniversary of Israel, in this big event in Jerusalem. 522 01:07:12,760 --> 01:07:16,440 The morning after the general rehearsal I get this phone ringing. 523 01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:19,560 There was a lady last night at the general rehearsal 524 01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:24,080 who found the dance offending, offending the religious people. 525 01:07:24,880 --> 01:07:27,880 And she was calling one of the politicians, 526 01:07:28,280 --> 01:07:32,440 and said, we think that they should change the costumes. 527 01:07:37,920 --> 01:07:40,160 Good evening and Happy Independence Day. 528 01:07:40,280 --> 01:07:45,120 First, the Jubilee Bells performance, and the struggles continuing to surround it. 529 01:07:45,360 --> 01:07:50,000 Uproar in the Parliament's education committee regarding the Jubilee Bells scandal. 530 01:07:50,080 --> 01:07:52,400 All of a sudden, in the very few hours before the show, 531 01:07:52,520 --> 01:07:56,280 Ohad was being taken to the house of the president. 532 01:07:57,040 --> 01:08:01,600 The telephone rings and he says, "Naomi, I'm at the president's house now. 533 01:08:02,600 --> 01:08:06,240 They gave me 5 minutes to take a decision. Okay, I can't talk now." 534 01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:11,520 President Weizman was telling to Ohad, "what's the problem, instead of wearing underwear, 535 01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:14,120 let them wear long johns, it's the same, just long ones." 536 01:08:14,600 --> 01:08:16,760 You will not be able to see this tonight. 537 01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:19,760 The underwear will probably be covered by something more modest, 538 01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:24,760 something that the religious public can live with without overthrowing the government. 539 01:08:24,840 --> 01:08:27,360 And then he tells the dancers what happened, including 540 01:08:27,440 --> 01:08:30,720 the fact that he was now with the president, and he was threatened by the president, 541 01:08:30,880 --> 01:08:34,520 and he took that decision that we're gonna change the costumes for tonight, 542 01:08:34,600 --> 01:08:36,120 and then he resigns. 543 01:08:36,240 --> 01:08:40,480 And then immediately the dancers stand up and say, "no way, 544 01:08:40,560 --> 01:08:42,920 we're not going on stage. We're backing you. 545 01:08:43,320 --> 01:08:46,000 You cannot make us go on stage, we're not going on stage." 546 01:08:46,760 --> 01:08:49,480 Half an hour before, all the celebrities, 547 01:08:49,600 --> 01:08:53,520 international guests, the European Union, 548 01:08:53,800 --> 01:08:57,280 Al Gore, Vice President of the Unites States, 549 01:08:57,680 --> 01:08:59,880 all the Knesset members... 550 01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:03,880 I am sorry to inform you that the members of Batsheva Dance Company, 551 01:09:04,120 --> 01:09:07,040 decided not to perform here tonight. 552 01:09:07,120 --> 01:09:10,800 We wake up in the morning, huge headlines. 553 01:09:11,040 --> 01:09:14,760 There's a demonstration in Jerusalem, there's a demonstration in Tel Aviv, 554 01:09:15,240 --> 01:09:16,960 there's a demonstration in other places. 555 01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:21,000 Protests in Jerusalem following the decision to dress the Batsheva dancers in leotards. 556 01:09:21,160 --> 01:09:25,200 The political uproar around the Jubilee Bells continued today. 557 01:09:25,360 --> 01:09:28,960 This is the first time in the history of Israel, 558 01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:38,880 that we witnessed extreme religious censorship against culture in Israel. 559 01:09:39,400 --> 01:09:46,280 We identify with the Batsheva Dance Company, with Ohad Naharin, and with the culture in Israel. 560 01:09:51,800 --> 01:09:54,080 It was an amazing turning point for us. 561 01:09:54,720 --> 01:09:57,520 Right after, he became such a hero, a cultural hero. 562 01:09:57,640 --> 01:09:59,960 It made him really strong. 563 01:10:37,600 --> 01:10:39,360 When I'm asked 564 01:10:39,560 --> 01:10:44,240 why did I call my last creation "Last Work", 565 01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:48,320 one of the answers that I give is, 566 01:10:49,120 --> 01:10:51,240 maybe it is my last work. 567 01:10:52,160 --> 01:10:54,920 Since we live in a country 568 01:10:55,280 --> 01:11:00,280 that is infested with racists, bullies, 569 01:11:01,280 --> 01:11:03,440 a lot of ignorance, 570 01:11:03,680 --> 01:11:07,640 a lot of abuse of power, fanatics. 571 01:11:09,400 --> 01:11:11,960 And it reflects 572 01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:15,120 on how people choose our government. 573 01:11:27,880 --> 01:11:31,520 And this government puts in danger, 574 01:11:31,680 --> 01:11:34,160 not just my work as a creator, 575 01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:39,320 it puts in danger the existence of all of us here, 576 01:11:40,320 --> 01:11:43,080 in this country that I love so much. 577 01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:46,040 Are we going to be here? 578 01:11:56,080 --> 01:11:58,480 Oh come on Ohad, stop it. 579 01:12:01,120 --> 01:12:03,920 The move to Israel 580 01:12:04,240 --> 01:12:07,800 was very challenging for Mari. 581 01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:15,440 She missed New York. 582 01:12:17,240 --> 01:12:21,200 Mari never changed her watch actually to Israel time. 583 01:12:21,640 --> 01:12:24,280 Her watch was always on New York time. 584 01:12:26,440 --> 01:12:29,720 Learn Hebrew, dear. 585 01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:31,760 She laughs. 586 01:12:32,080 --> 01:12:36,640 You said she was going to study. Well? 587 01:12:37,040 --> 01:12:40,760 It's your fault, Ohadi. -It's my fault. 588 01:12:41,120 --> 01:12:45,560 You have to start speaking in Hebrew. -We do. 589 01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:49,160 She's just shy with you. She speaks much better than you realize. 590 01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:56,760 She didn't learn to dance in one day either. She studied and studied until she became a dancer. 591 01:12:57,640 --> 01:12:58,840 Right? 592 01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:00,000 Right. 593 01:13:14,640 --> 01:13:17,760 I can't imagine Batsheva without Mari. 594 01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:20,600 Sometimes he couldn't express exactly what he wanted 595 01:13:20,800 --> 01:13:24,800 and she would jump in, instead of him, and she gave the corrections 596 01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:27,200 and she showed us the combinations. 597 01:13:28,640 --> 01:13:31,800 I had the feeling that sometimes she knew him 598 01:13:32,640 --> 01:13:35,320 and what he wanted better than him. 599 01:13:37,840 --> 01:13:40,720 Ohad said that being a rehearsal director 600 01:13:41,520 --> 01:13:45,760 is to be able to be a queen and a slave at the same time. 601 01:13:46,160 --> 01:13:47,720 And she was. 602 01:14:10,680 --> 01:14:12,560 Earlier that year 603 01:14:12,880 --> 01:14:17,280 Ohad was planning a surprise birthday party for Mari, 604 01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:18,440 her birthday's in June. 605 01:14:25,240 --> 01:14:27,640 So as the time got closer, 606 01:14:27,960 --> 01:14:30,520 I didn't hear anything from them. 607 01:14:31,360 --> 01:14:33,160 And I decided I'm gonna call, 608 01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:37,800 and speak to Ohad. 609 01:14:38,320 --> 01:14:40,080 I said, "Ohad, 610 01:14:40,240 --> 01:14:43,440 I thought you all decided maybe 611 01:14:43,840 --> 01:14:46,880 to go off on a special honeymoon 612 01:14:47,280 --> 01:14:51,160 for Mari's birthday, and if you did, I totally understand. 613 01:14:51,440 --> 01:14:53,640 I wondered why I hadn't heard from you." 614 01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:58,080 He said, "Sylvia, I'm with Mari right now, 615 01:14:59,960 --> 01:15:02,600 and I'll let you speak to her." 616 01:15:04,560 --> 01:15:08,600 I said, "what's happened?" He said, "she will talk to you." 617 01:15:10,360 --> 01:15:16,040 And so she did, and she told me she was in the hospital, 618 01:15:17,520 --> 01:15:20,320 she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. 619 01:15:20,560 --> 01:15:23,840 And I said, "listen, I'm gonna come over." 620 01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:29,280 She said, "now is not a good time, because I'm gonna be doing some treatment. 621 01:15:31,400 --> 01:15:34,720 Now is not a good time." I said, "well, you tell me when. 622 01:15:35,880 --> 01:15:37,760 And then I'll come over." 623 01:15:39,880 --> 01:15:44,240 And just as I was about to make my reservation, 624 01:15:45,720 --> 01:15:50,240 that's when Ohad called me, it was Christmas day in New York. 625 01:15:52,240 --> 01:15:55,080 And it was... 626 01:15:57,080 --> 01:15:59,200 Really, really hard. 627 01:16:00,400 --> 01:16:02,320 Very hard. 628 01:16:40,240 --> 01:16:44,800 When someone dies that is very close to you, I think, 629 01:16:45,240 --> 01:16:47,080 you don't say goodbye. 630 01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:50,440 They leave, but you don't leave them. 631 01:16:50,960 --> 01:16:54,280 So I don't have a sense I said goodbye to her. 632 01:16:54,600 --> 01:16:58,480 Or that I even wanted to say goodbye or had a chance to say goodbye, because 633 01:16:59,000 --> 01:17:00,680 I didn't leave her. 634 01:17:06,960 --> 01:17:09,120 Mari died in 2001. 635 01:17:10,440 --> 01:17:11,960 She was 50. 636 01:17:15,760 --> 01:17:19,800 By the time we wanted children, it was too late. 637 01:19:30,040 --> 01:19:31,120 I feel like I needed, 638 01:19:31,240 --> 01:19:34,920 almost like owe her a big change, a huge change in me. 639 01:19:35,760 --> 01:19:39,400 I need to become like a better person, I need to be a different man. 640 01:19:40,920 --> 01:19:44,880 There is a saying in Hebrew: 'In their death they bequeathed us life'. 641 01:19:45,040 --> 01:19:48,440 That usually you say it about soldiers that die in the war, 642 01:19:48,600 --> 01:19:51,840 that with their death they kind of gave us life. 643 01:20:16,280 --> 01:20:20,360 To mourn a big loss and to dance, 644 01:20:20,960 --> 01:20:23,360 they don't contradict each other. 645 01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:27,240 It's like they live in the same space. 646 01:20:28,440 --> 01:20:32,440 I really believe in the power of dance, to heal. 647 01:20:37,040 --> 01:20:39,960 Soft, two, three. 648 01:20:40,240 --> 01:20:44,200 Mean it. And thick, two, three. 649 01:20:44,360 --> 01:20:48,920 Move in the thickness. And soft, two, three. 650 01:20:50,560 --> 01:20:52,600 And now that you're tired keep going. 651 01:20:52,680 --> 01:20:55,440 And let's say together: piece of cake. 652 01:20:55,840 --> 01:20:58,680 Piece of cake. Keep going. 653 01:20:58,960 --> 01:21:00,280 I can do it. 654 01:21:00,480 --> 01:21:01,480 I can do it. 655 01:21:01,560 --> 01:21:02,920 Piece of cake. Keep going. 656 01:21:03,480 --> 01:21:04,440 Piece of cake. 657 01:21:05,080 --> 01:21:07,720 When I came to Israel, I met Ohad, 658 01:21:07,800 --> 01:21:10,680 I learned about Gaga and took some of the open classes. 659 01:21:10,800 --> 01:21:14,360 And then I started learning, with him about, 660 01:21:14,720 --> 01:21:21,880 about Gaga which is this incredible sort of movement theory, 661 01:21:22,120 --> 01:21:24,520 practice that he came up with. 662 01:21:24,640 --> 01:21:28,080 He also talks so much about finding pleasure in it, 663 01:21:28,160 --> 01:21:33,600 and I think that's a huge thing too, because so much of dance is based in pain and injury, 664 01:21:33,680 --> 01:21:40,200 but it also is a way of healing. I mean people heal their injuries with this language, 665 01:21:40,280 --> 01:21:45,120 people express themselves in a very personal way with this language. 666 01:23:03,480 --> 01:23:11,040 There is no one, regardless of ability level, that can't be connected to physical sensations. 667 01:23:16,040 --> 01:23:20,080 There is no one that isn't capable of understanding slow-fast, thick-soft. 668 01:23:22,480 --> 01:23:27,440 There is no one that isn't capable of connecting effort and pleasure. 669 01:23:29,360 --> 01:23:34,280 There is no one that can't separate limbs in his body and move them. 670 01:23:34,840 --> 01:23:38,000 There is no one that can't bend, fold, straighten. 671 01:23:38,480 --> 01:23:43,120 There is almost no one that isn't able to listen to music and feel a groove. 672 01:24:05,680 --> 01:24:07,320 I dance every day, 673 01:24:08,080 --> 01:24:09,840 and I want everybody to do it. 674 01:25:37,040 --> 01:25:39,800 You had such a beautiful expression. 675 01:25:42,640 --> 01:25:45,560 You looked like you really love him, it was so nice. 676 01:25:52,400 --> 01:25:53,880 You are so nice. 677 01:26:04,440 --> 01:26:06,880 I invited Eri to come to Batsheva 678 01:26:07,080 --> 01:26:11,760 before we had any romances between us, and she refused. 679 01:26:16,680 --> 01:26:21,080 And then I met her a couple of months later, in Paris. 680 01:26:23,840 --> 01:26:29,040 During this visit we recognized our interest in each other, 681 01:26:29,240 --> 01:26:32,680 not as a director choreographer but as a man and a woman. 682 01:26:36,760 --> 01:26:40,120 Eri is not the first time I fall in love with someone I work with. 683 01:26:40,280 --> 01:26:44,120 And it will not be the last time I fall in love with someone I work with. 684 01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:47,800 But I want it to be the woman 685 01:26:48,080 --> 01:26:51,640 whom I am making a commitment 686 01:26:52,240 --> 01:26:55,760 that I haven't made before with anyone. 687 01:27:03,400 --> 01:27:05,320 All I see is waving arms. 688 01:27:06,400 --> 01:27:07,880 I just see arms. 689 01:27:10,640 --> 01:27:14,320 I want to see you walking away from the bucket. No. 690 01:27:14,720 --> 01:27:16,640 Not like this. Just walk away. 691 01:27:17,000 --> 01:27:18,440 And also here... 692 01:27:18,520 --> 01:27:20,360 Daddy. 693 01:27:22,080 --> 01:27:24,760 Hey Noga. 694 01:27:27,240 --> 01:27:28,960 Hello sweetie. 695 01:27:29,800 --> 01:27:31,160 Do you want to dance? -No. 696 01:27:31,240 --> 01:27:32,680 Why not? 697 01:27:33,280 --> 01:27:34,360 Try it. 698 01:27:38,760 --> 01:27:40,480 I did something very clear. 699 01:27:40,840 --> 01:27:45,440 I walked backwards. You're not looking again. 700 01:27:45,720 --> 01:27:48,920 Do you want me to call you so we can talk? 701 01:27:49,120 --> 01:27:52,560 You walk backwards. No. Don't do anything. 702 01:27:52,680 --> 01:27:56,240 You won't learn anything if you keep doing instead of looking. 703 01:27:56,320 --> 01:27:58,080 You're not listening. 704 01:27:58,160 --> 01:28:01,880 You're already in it. Wait, absorb it, easy. 705 01:28:24,200 --> 01:28:25,720 Come here. 706 01:28:59,200 --> 01:29:00,720 Mommy. 707 01:29:02,400 --> 01:29:03,920 Mommy. 708 01:29:06,600 --> 01:29:08,000 She's here. 709 01:29:17,720 --> 01:29:20,840 Sorry. Eri, we need to... 710 01:29:28,400 --> 01:29:29,720 Nut case... 711 01:29:30,400 --> 01:29:31,400 Sweetie. 712 01:29:32,560 --> 01:29:34,360 You need to go. 713 01:29:38,640 --> 01:29:41,960 Sweetie, you have to go with Laila, okay? 714 01:29:42,120 --> 01:29:44,680 Here is Laila. 715 01:29:58,400 --> 01:30:00,120 It's okay, sweetheart. 716 01:30:03,200 --> 01:30:05,680 She was so happy here, huh? 717 01:30:14,280 --> 01:30:15,720 Okay. 718 01:30:24,120 --> 01:30:25,240 Let's do it. 719 01:30:40,120 --> 01:30:41,560 It's okay, sweetheart.