Batsheva Dance Company to Open The Joyce's Spring Season With HORA

The Joyce Theater Foundation has announced the opening of its Spring 2023 season with a powerhouse performance from the world-famous Batsheva Dance Company performing in house choreographer Ohad Naharin's Hora from February 28-March 12 at The Joyce Theater.

Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Widely recognized as one of the foremost contemporary dance companies, Batsheva Dance Company returns to The Joyce Theater with Hora, created by house choreographer Ohad Naharin. Inspired by electronic music pioneer Isao Tomita's reimagining of familiar classics into revolutionary musical programming, Hora creates a "green, disquieting, and hauntingly beautiful world." Simultaneously primordial and futuristic, moving bodies create an emergent folklore and embody the beauty of the struggle to distinguish oneself amongst a collective. Hora is an evergreen bubble-both natural and synthetic, permanent and ever-changing-and places the audience between the familiar and the foreign.

Performed by the Batsheva Dance Company season 2022-2023

Chen Agron, Yarden Bareket, Billy Barry, Yael Ben Ezer, Matan Cohen, Guy Davidson, Ben Green, Chiaki Horita, Li-En Hsu, Sean Howe, Londiwe Khoza, Adrienne Lipson, Ohad Mazor, Eri Nakamura, Gianni Notarnicola, Danai Porat, Igor Ptashenchuk, Yoni (Yonatan) Simon

Lighting and stage design: Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi)

Sound design and editing: Maxim Waratt

Costume design: Eri Nakamura

Bench design: Amir Raveh

Sound mastering: Nir Klajman

Hora is dedicated to Sofia Naharin.

Ohad Naharin

is the House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company and creator of the GAGA movement language. Born in 1952 in Mizra, Israel, Naharin joined Batsheva Dance Company in 1974 despite having little formal training. During his first year, guest choreographer Martha Graham invited him to join her own company in New York. Naharin made his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio in 1980. From 1980 until 1990, Naharin presented works in New York and abroad, including pieces for Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1990, Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and in the same year, he established the company's junior division, Batsheva - the Young Ensemble. He has since created over fourty works for both companies. After almost thirty years of leading Batsheva, Naharin stepped down as Artistic Director in 2018, and continues to serve as the Company's House Choreographer. In addition to his stagework, Naharin also developed GAGA, an innovative movement language based on research into heightening sensation and imagination, becoming aware of form, finding new movement habits, and going beyond familiar limits. GAGA is the daily training of Batsheva's dancers and has spread globally among both dancers and non-dancers.

The Batsheva Dance Company

was founded in 1964 as a repertoire company by the Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, who appointed Martha Graham as its artistic consultant. The company was the first troupe in the world, aside from Graham's own company of course, to perform the dances of the legendary choreographer. In it's first decades the company was led by various artistic directors from Israel and abroad. In 1990 Ohad Naharin was assigned to the role of Artistic Director and led the company into a new era. During his years as artistic director Naharin developed Gaga, a radical movement language which serves as the Company's daily training, and is also offered world-wide to dancers and the wide public. In 2018 Naharin stepped down as artistic director and continue to serve as the company's House Choreographer. Gili Navot served as Artistic Director in the years 2018-2022, and in July 2022 Dr. Lior Avizoor was assigned to the role and replaced Navot. Dina Aldor has been the company's CEO since 2009. Thanks to the bold choreographic voice of Ohad Naharin and to the uncompromising quality of the company's dancers, Batsheva Dance Company has been critically acclaimed and popularly embraced as one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in the world. Together with The Batsheva Ensemble, the Company boasts a roster of 40 dancers drawn from Israel and abroad. It is Israel's largest dance company, maintaining an extensive performance schedule locally and internationally with over 250 performances and circa 100,000 spectators every year. Alongside its artistic activity, the company has considered the nurturing and training of young dancers and creators as part of its core mission and works tirelessly to promote dance education.

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for almost four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Art Center, and outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances - both digital and in-person - for audiences of over 150,000.

The Joyce Theater opens its Spring 2023 season with Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin's Hora from February 28-March 12. The official press opening will be Wednesday, March 1 at 7:30pm. The performance schedule is as follows: Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.