Ohad Naharin’s new work ZŌ will premiere in December, performed by the dancers of the Batsheva Dance Company. ZŌ will take place in the intimacy of the Varda Studio, with the audience seated in a circle around the dance floor.
Naharin spoke about the work in a press meeting that took place on November 25, 2025 in the Varda Studio. Explaining that ZŌ means elephant in Japanese, he said, “There is an elephant in the room and during the process we had an elephant in the room. There is the collective elephant and your individual elephants – and we do not talk about elephants, so I will not talk about the elephant in the room. We will show you a chunk of the work, we will not show you the beginning or the end.”
With this intriguing opening, the dancers took the floor. ZŌ is a work with two casts – all dancers participate in the work but in each performance one cast will have the primary role while the other is supporting, then, in the next performance they switch. All the dancers are phenomenal, expressive individuals – if you possibly can, plan to watch both casts. There are interludes of explosive, visceral, surging energy as well as fine precision in ZŌ, and interludes of movement so soft and luxuriantly slow that it seemed as if the dancers were moving underwater. One of the significant aspects of the work is the merging of sound, words and song as sound, and movement. Naharin collaborated with DJ Tai Rona to create this uniquely immersive sound experience. Because the dancers perform on the floor of the studio, with the audience seated around them, there is literally less physical distance than in a typical stage performance. This intimacy is enhanced by the mutual gaze of dancer and viewer, as their eyes meet and acknowledge the presence of the other…and perhaps, too, the elephant in the room.
First performances will begin on December 11, 2025 and run through December 22, 2025. Tickets may be purchased online from the Batsheva Dance Company website.
Credits:
Dancers: Yarden Bareket, Emil Brukman, Adi Blumenreich, Zachary Burrows, Nathan Chipps, Holden Cole, Guy Davidson, Iyar Elezra, Eddieomar Gonzalez Castillo, Sean Howe, Londiwe Khoza, Adrienne Lipson, Bo Matthews, Sofiia Pikalova, Danai Porat, Igor Ptashenchuk, Leann Reizer, Kelis Robinson, Yoni (Yonatan) Simon, Gili Yaniv Amodai, Yarden Zana.
Co-creators: Batsheva company’s dancers and Annika Verplancke
Lighting Design: Avi Yona (Bambi) Bueno
Costume Design, Styling: Eri Nakamura
Soundtrack and Original Music: Tai Rona and Maxim Warrat
Assistant to Ohad Naharin: Annika Verplancke
Sound Design: Dudi Bell
Music: “Usseewa” by Ado, “Nana Del Caballo Grande” by Camaron De La Isla, “Anthem Berlin” by Alva Noto, “Blink” by Hiroshi Yoshimura, “Coro Delle Lavandaie” by Roberto De Simone performed by Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare, “Outro” by Sofie Birch & Antonina Nowacka, “Ksheor Dolek” by Elysian fields, “Wei Wei Wei” by Gong Gong Gong, “A Forest” by Alva Noto, “Showroom Dummies” by Señor Coconut, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” by Abba, “Born, Never Asked” by Big Science, “Waveguide” by Corticyte
