Out of Focus

Invited

Ohad Nahirin is the fascinating, enigmatic Israeli choreographer, and director of the Bathsheva Dance Company, who has developed a philosophy of movement he calls Gaga. In accordance with its tenets, he trains dancers from around the world to plumb the depths of their own, personal experience and transform what they find there to movement. The process can be intensely uncomfortable for the dancers, and Naharin brooks no reticence. Filmmaker Tomar Heymann captures the controversial choreographer in action as he rehearses with the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet of New York, framing his intimate portrait in “13 Notes on Dance.”  Tantalizingly elusive, Naharin seems to resist the camera, concerned that it will freeze him in time, in a particular moment—unlike dance, which allows him to reinvent himself with every performance. In the end, however, he yields to the gaze of Heymann’s camera as assuredly as we succumb to the pull of his magnetism. ST

Director

Tomer Heymann

Producers

Anat Zeltzer, Naama Pyritz, Ami Amir

Editor

Lavi Ben Gal

Cinematographer

Itay Raziel

Release Year

2007

Festival Year

2009

Country

United States, Israel

Run Time

52 minutes