by Jonathan Krebs, Programming Associate, The Joyce Theater

Ohad Naharin is an Israeli-born choreographer and the artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company. His works have been performed by Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Frankfurt Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Cedar Lake.

I first experienced Ohad Naharin’s movement in 2001 when I saw Hubbard Street Dance Chicago perform his stunning work Minus 16. Originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater II, (who I also had the pleasure of watching perform the work), Minus 16 is a striking journey through movement, music and emotion notable for its theatrical invention, audience interaction, visceral impact and unique movement vocabulary.

I again experienced Ohad Naharin’s movement when I saw his company, Batsheva, perform the evening-length piece Decadance which is a reconstruction of 10 previous works. Again I admired his unique vocabulary and theatrical ideas but was immediately struck by the power, physicality and individuality of the dancers.
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In 2005, almost 3,000 French Jews immigrated to Israel from France, according to figures from the Jewish Agency for Israel.

WHAT?

The Jewish Agency is a global partnership committed to the Jewish future that has brought 3 million people to Israel to put Israel into the lives of the Jewish world’s next generation.

WHY IS THIS ON THE JOYCE BLOG?

Noted Israeli choreographer, Emanuel Gat, who will be presenting the New York premiere of K626, at The Joyce, on March 25^th - 30^th, recently went against the tide and relocated his company from Israel to Paris for a three year residency hosted by Ouest Provence. K626 will be set to the incomplete version of Mozart’s Requiem and originally premiered at the Festival de Marseilles in June of 2006. For tickets and more information

click here!

by Marlon Barrios Solano of Dance-tech.net

Wonder how it was done? Marlon Barrios Solano interviews Gideon Obarzanek, Artistic Director of Chunky Move, about his work Glow. This NYC premiere was co-presented by The Joyce and The Kitchen Feb 7-10.

Find more videos like this on dance-tech.netLast Thursday [Feb 7] , I interviewed Gideon Obarzanek, Artistic Director of the Australian dance company Chunky Move in occasion of the USA premiere of his choreographic essay”"Glow” at The Kitchen [co-presented by The Joyce Theater].
http://www.thekitchen.org/. He takes us inside the creative process and the impact of interactive technology on his work.
Glow ( in collaboration with Frieder Weiss/
www.frieder-weiss.de) is a brilliant example of dance and new media, and an interesting juxtaposition of shamelessly digital image generation ( an video tracking) with a fleshy expressive body. A digital expressionism.

Hello and Welcome to The Joyce Theater Blog! We are a 472 seat theater located in the heart of Chelsea fully dedicated to the presentation of dance.

This blog is here for you…our fans, loyal audiences, those new to dance and of course the New York Dance community. Come here for updates on dance, not only at The Joyce but across the city. We’ll have behind the scenes footage, blog exclusive videos, artist interviews, insider info, dance reports and your very own back stage pass to all things Joyce!

We encourage you to help us make this Blog as interactive as possible. Add your comments to our posts and engage in a conversation about this visceral, virtuosic and exciting art! Even write your own review if you so wish.

If you want to hear about something not discussed already, feel free to email us at joycedance@gmail.com.

We look forward to getting to know you better and helping you to Get Closer to Dance.

The Oscar winning movie The Last King of Scotland, starring Forrest Whitaker and James McAvoy from Atonement, is NOT about Scotland

What?
Ok, one of the characters is Scottish, but for those of you who haven’t seen it, (and you seriously should) the movie actually takes place in Uganda during the military coup of Idi Amin in 1971. Amin held power for nearly a decade, forcibly removing Indians from the country and costing nearly 300,000 Ugandans their lives.

And this is on The Joyce blog because?
Uganda’s political situation is much more stable today, and the economy is growing but the country is still plagued with social problems, especially regarding the AIDS epidemic. SPIRIT OF UGANDA, a troupe of Ugandan children orphaned by the AIDS virus, who sing and dance to the traditional songs of Uganda will be performing at The Joyce in March. They are touring the US to spread the news about the AIDS crisis and civil war, as well as to serve as ambassadors to the 2.4 million orphans of Uganda.

What do I do now that I have this knowledge?

Rent the movie and buy a ticket. Uganda is really cool!

Inhabit, by KT Neihoff, Aaron Swartzman, Bianca Cabrera, Oscar Gutierrez, Jessica Jobaris
by Clare Byrne

January 18, 2008
Joyce SoHo

It was a weird party, the kind of party where unexpected things happened that felt normal. It was the kind of party I wish had happened over my family holidays — an inner-world melt-down of movement emerging out of nowhere and necessity, plopped right there in the middle of the room and my conversation, demanding attention. It was a party where I witnessed a bar room brawl. I got to talk to someone I knew, two I had just met, and two crushes I hadn’t seen in a long time.

I didn’t know the hosts — Bianca Cabrera, Oscar Gutierrez, Jessica Jobaris, Aaron Swartzman, and KT Niehoff of Lingo Dancetheater — but they began as models of conviviality, ushering guests in to the Joyce SoHo performance space with wine, welcoming toasts and wishes. There was a bar in the middle of the space and good hors de oeuvres on the side. The hosts moved us around, skillfully maneuvering us to be right in the middle of the space — in clusters of chairs, here and there, sitting or standing. Music started and the hosts, minus KT, began short entrees of movement right among us, low and swinging to the floor, in peaceable unisons. I wondered how and why they’d decided to do these particular movements now, but the movements were easy to watch, innocuous. (more…)

“Choreography from the theatre world — including works by Twyla Tharp and Ronald K. Brown — will be presented at the Joyce Theater in February and March. “

Read the article

I had the great opportunity to sit with Ronald K. Brown, Artistic Director of Evidence, A Dance Company early this week. We chatted about his new work, One Shot, receiving the $25,ooo commission grant from The Joyce, as well as what inspires him and his work.

Enjoy,

Kathryn (e-Marketing and Design Associate)

Interview with Ron K. Brown of Evidence, A Dance Company

Hello all, Christina, The Joyce’s newest associate, here to share a few thoughts.

Going to college in New York City is really something I know nothing about, but I assume its awesome because everything is here. The museums, theaters, workshops, all the things you study in school are happening all around you. Where I went to school, in a small tourist town in Virginia, the biggest event that happened was a Caravaggio exhibit that came to the school’s small art museum. The turn out was huge, everyone went to see this amazing work of art. Yeah, Caravaggio is a big deal, but in the end it turned out to be one painting and not a cool one like the one where John the Baptist get his head cut off. It was just a bunch of fruit, a very well done bunch of fruit. Not so much groundbreaking history in the making.

Last night I went to see the Trisha Brown Dance Company here at the Joyce Theater and there was a small group of about fourteen students that came from The New School. They were part of a class called Dance and Theories of Community, taught by Danielle Goldman. After the performance there was a short talkback session with Trisha Brown herself, as well as the dancers of the company. Sitting there it made me think how cool it would have been to sit in class and learn about someone’s legendary work, like Trisha Brown and then that night, go see her company perform, a performance where she happens to passing on her signature solo to a young company member, Then, on top of all that, be able to ask her a question about it! Isn’t that education at its greatest? Isn’t this something that could be referred to as legen. . . wait for it. . . dary?! This is something that could probably only happen in New York, but at The Joyce it happens on a weekly basis.

So my question is: where are all the students? (more…)