Dance Review: Batsheva Dance Company

The Batsheva Dance Company’s new program supplied an exceptional, truly delectable double bill.

By ORA BRAFMAN
Toxic Exotic Disappearance Act 311 (photo credit: Gadi Dagon)
Toxic Exotic Disappearance Act 311
(photo credit: Gadi Dagon)
The Batsheva Dance Company’s new program supplied an exceptional, truly delectable double bill; The Toxic Exotic Disappearance Act by Yasmeen Godder and Hofesh Work by Sharon Eyal. Both choreographers are experienced, strong-minded and their craft is certainly on the bold side, yet each has a highly distinctive voice.
Godder chose five Batsheva dancers and molded each into an enigmatic soul of the type that typically populate her works. They seem to be moving in various directions at the same time, as if their inner compass has gone wild, pulling their limbs and attention to juxtaposing directions.
Her unique vocabulary, which shifts from the blasé to the intricate, always belies conventional modes. Each of the five phenomenal dancers offered a different flavor from what we expect of her company, yet their rendition was brilliant, particularly that of perfectly synced attention-grabber Eyar Elezra.
Sharon Eyal, relying on her senses and inner impulses as always, entered the stage dressed to kill, with tight, lacquered black overalls. The way she walks, glides and looks at the audience, projects two contradicting images – ice and fire. Her choreography is similar. She uses mostly unison acts. All 12 dancers were dressed uniformly in skin-colored, tight outfits, hair combed similarly, both genders wore shimmering red lipstick with heavily colored eye makeup and moved somewhat mechanically. It’s not the first time Eyal has gone for the expressionless unisex look, giving up on individuality of performers. Although the work was surprisingly subdued compared to her previous creations, the strong rhythms were lurking under the skin, erupting on occasion, with strong, overt sensuality.
Eyal produced some strong, magnetic scenes and had the great support of a cleverly chosen musical collage and lighting designed by Bambi, who transformed the space into a sci-fi universe.