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