19 Facts About Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin served as artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company from 1990; he stepped down in 2018.

Ohad Naharin's father was a psychologist specializing in psychodrama and an actor who performed with Habima and the Haifa Theater.

Ohad Naharin's mother was a Feldenkrais instructor, choreographer and dancer.

Ohad Naharin is married to Eri Nakamura, a Batsheva dancer and costume designer with whom he has a daughter.

Ohad Naharin is currently the House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company.

Ohad Naharin served as Artistic Director as well until 2018.

In 1990, Ohad Naharin was appointed Artistic Director, there by launching the company into a new stage.

Ohad Naharin is international in nature, made up of individually unique dancers from Israel and other countries.

Ohad Naharin is known to be a reserved and private person, and this is apparent in the studio as well.

Ohad Naharin explains that such a practice is meant to provide a framework or a "safety net" for the dancers to use to "move beyond familiar limits".

Ohad Naharin's works have been commissioned by the Frankfurt Ballet, Opera National de Paris, Grand Theatre de Geneve, Sydney Dance Company, Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Rambert Dance Company, Compania Nacional de Danza, Cullberg Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Bale da Cidade de Sao Paulo, Bavarian State Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Royal Danish Ballet.

Ohad Naharin seeks to create movement that is universal yet personal.

Ohad Naharin always has a clear social and political conscience in his works, but his dances are not meant to be political.

Ohad Naharin finds storytelling of suffering and the world's problems boring in comparison to a person's ability to use texture and multi-layered movement.

Ohad Naharin's philosophy, shared with many who devote their lives to choreography, is that everyone should dance.

Ohad Naharin uses the cumulative nature of the song and matches it with his own type of repetition, specifically with the chorus.

Government officials argued with Ohad Naharin, urging him to "let the dancers wear gatkes because conservative officials would be in attendance".

Explosive and fast, Ohad Naharin's dancers move as if their bodies are possessed of an inner strength, yet governed too by external forces about to tear apart the body.

In 2015, a documentary about Ohad Naharin called Mr Gaga by Tomer Heymann premiered.