{"id":8816,"date":"2010-12-07T23:34:06","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T06:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=8816"},"modified":"2010-12-27T01:03:20","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T08:03:20","slug":"talking-to-batsheva-ensembles-nitsan-margaliot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=8816","title":{"rendered":"Talking to Batsheva Ensemble’s Nitsan Margaliot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Nitsan (crouching) performing in Kyr\/Zina\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The day before the Batsheva Ensemble brings Kyr\/Zina<\/em> back to the stage at Suzanne Dellal as part of International Exposure 2010, Nitsan Margaliot, a member of the Ensemble, shared his thoughts with Midnight East.<\/p>\n

Kyr<\/em> was created by Ohad Naharin in 1990 \u2013 the first dance work he made for Batsheva after taking on the artistic direction of the company. Born in Modi\u2019in, Israel, in 1991, Nitsan is a year younger than Kyr<\/em>, underscoring the sense of history imbued in this dance that is a significant landmark in Israeli contemporary dance. The dance includes several different sections, one of them \u2013 Ehad Mi Yodea<\/em> \u2013 performed in a semi-circle to the rock group Nikmat HaTraktor\u2019s<\/em> (Tractor\u2019s Revenge) version of the familiar Passover song, has become one of Naharin\u2019s most performed and best popularly known choreographic work. Ehad Mi Yodea<\/em> has been part of the choreographic collage Naharin created for Anaphase<\/em>, Zachacha<\/em> and Deccadance<\/em>, yet Kyr<\/em> in its entirety was not performed for many years, until its revival in 2010, celebrating Naharin\u2019s 20 years with the Batsheva Dance Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interesting to be part of the process,\u201d says Nitsan, who joined the Batsheva Ensemble in 2009, and participated in the experience of setting the work on the Ensemble as Naharin combined Kyr<\/em> with Zina<\/em>, created in 1995, into one dance program. \u201cAlthough the Ehad Mi Yodea<\/em> section has been performed many times,\u201d said Nitsan, \u201cKyr<\/em> is the original; it\u2019s exciting to see it from within, where it began. You can see something different in it each time, it\u2019s a never-ending process.\u201d The Ensemble attracts young dancers from all over the world, this year, 12 new dancers joined the Ensemble. Dancers typically remain in the Ensemble between 1 \u2013 2 years, so that the cast is continually changing, something that Nitsan says is \u201cvery refreshing and brings new energy to the work.” Nitsan compares this to the performances of works such as Kamuyot that has three different casts, with each cast he says, “the movements are the same but the interpretation is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nitsan\u2019s own beginnings in dance were casual. As a 4th grader in Modi\u2019in looking for an after-school activity, he began dancing in a local folk dance group. He was also involved in music at the time, playing the drums, but dance gradually became more important and he eventually decided to study dance more seriously. Attending the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance high school meant commuting daily from Modi\u2019in, but at that point he says, \u201cI knew that I wanted to invest more in dance and develop as a dancer. Dance became more meaningful to me in high school, in the last year I was dancing from 7:30 in the morning until 10 at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying dance at the Academy included classes in classical ballet, modern dance methods such as Graham and Cunningham, and learning a repertory of choreography. It was there that Nitsan first encountered gaga, the movement language that Naharin developed to work with his dancers. \u201cI learned the choreography of Israeli choreographers – Naharin, Yasmin Godder, Idan Cohen,\u201d recalls Nitsan, \u201cI learned the choreography of Mats Ek with Talia Paz. High school was a time of intensive study in which I worked with many people I admire, like Melanie Berson, and I also had the freedom to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Batsheva Dance Company the dancers train through gaga, of which Nitsan says, \u201cGaga gives you what you get from all the other systems \u2013 ballet, Graham, Cunningham. It gives you a lot of freedom without cancelling anything, it only adds to what you have learned elsewhere. It is a never-ending process of learning.\u201d Members of the Ensemble have many opportunities to perform, both in Israel and abroad. Nitsan has already been on one tour to Miami with Deccadance<\/em>, and performed countless times in Israel, including performances of Kamuyot<\/em> for schoolchildren. \u201cWe often appear in places where people don\u2019t have many opportunities to see dance,\u201d said Nitsan, \u201cperforming Kamuyot<\/em> in the schools is fun, and the children really connect to it. They change through the performance, they undergo a process with the dancers – it\u2019s a once in a lifetime experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiring others through dance, Nitsan draws his own inspiration from family and friends. When he has time off he likes to spend it with them. In terms of cultural activities he says, \u201cI like to see dance, to see the things that are happening here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The "hands" duet from Kyr\/Zina\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The evening\u2019s program begins with Kyr<\/em>, a work that is composed of several different sections. Within the dance company, each section is given an identifying name, usually related to a characteristic of the particular section. For example, the first section of Kyr<\/em> is known as \u201cMarch\u201d because of the tempo of the accompanying music. When asked about the feeling of performing Kyr\/Zina<\/em> with its fast pace and very articulated complex gestural language, Nitsan says, \u201cIt is an intensive experience, not demanding, but \u2026 March is not a \u201clight weight\u201d experience from my perspective. I think it is a combination of precision and freedom. From the outside it appears to be very restricted but I feel a great deal of freedom, letting go\u2026to take it to your own place, to your body. I can find it in my body.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transition within the work from Kyr<\/em> to Zina<\/em> is with Kamos<\/em>, \u201cand the atmosphere of Kamos<\/em>\u201d as Nitsan refers to it. Originally created for the NDT (Netherlands Dance Theatre) in1995, taking its name from the polar night in Finland that can last over 24 hours; Kamos<\/em> generates a very different mood. Performed to a soundtrack composed by Ivri Lider, the dancers wear earphones through which they hear a soundtrack different from the one played for the audience, creating an interesting dissonance. Zina<\/em> moves on from the initial scene of Kamos<\/em> to other moods and moments, but when asked for his take on the evening as a whole, Nitsan says, \u201cI don\u2019t like to interpret the dance; I prefer to let each person take it to his or her own place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyr\/Zina<\/em> is a very dynamic evening with many transitions and, as Nitsan says, \u201clots of emotions,\u201d in which every viewer can connect to a different journey. The absence of a single narrative creates the freedom to imagine several narratives or none, making each performance a different experience. \u201cWhat is beautiful about art,\u201d says Nitsan, \u201cis that it changes before your eyes. You change, your \u201chead\u201d changes, your life changes, and you can see a painting differently\u2026 but dance on the stage \u2013 moves!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyr\/Zina<\/em> by Ohad Naharin
\nPerformed by the Batsheva Ensemble: Bret Easterling, Olivia Ancona, Gon Biran, Danielle Ben-Hamo, Omri Drumlevich, Danielle Gal, Nitsan Margaliot, Eduard Turull, Marija Slavec, Stav Struz, Lotem Regev, Nitzan Ressler, Gil Shachar, Maayan Sheinfeld, Or Schraiber, Maya Tamir.<\/p>\n

Performances will take place at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, 8 Yehieli Street, Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv. Tickets: 03-5104037 and the Batsheva Dance Company site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Performance Dates: December 27, 28 & 29 at 21:00.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The day before the Batsheva Ensemble brings Kyr\/Zina back to the stage at Suzanne Dellal as part of International Exposure 2010, Nitsan Margaliot, a member of the Ensemble, shared his thoughts with Midnight East. Kyr was created by Ohad Naharin in 1990 \u2013 the first dance work he made for Batsheva after taking on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}