Q&A with Ohad Naharin about Gaga Online - Gaga

Q&A with Ohad Naharin about Gaga Online

Nearly 2 years after COVID-19 moved classes to a live-streaming format, Ohad Naharin - Gaga's developer - reflects on the impact of Gaga Online.
Ohad Naharin teaching Gaga

Ohad Naharin, house choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company, has been developing the Gaga movement language for decades. Nearly 2 years after COVID-19 moved classes to a live-streaming format – and enabled people around the world to reap the benefits of Gaga from the comfort of their living rooms – Naharin reflected on the impact of Gaga Online.

What do you think makes the Gaga Online experience meaningful?
The Gaga Online practice, and its benefits, have a lot of similarities to the practice of Gaga in the studio. Whether we are practicing Gaga with a group, or at home, there is always the intimate, personal experience that we share with the world. Gaga always requires the use of gravity, the connection between effort and pleasure, the ability to laugh at ourselves, the idea of going over the top, the virtue of lightness, the use of delicacy (even in an explosive moment), and the constant going beyond our familiar limits. I feel the physical benefits include becoming more agile, more efficient, stronger, and happier. 

Describe the benefits of experiencing Gaga from home.
I always thought of Gaga as an act of strengthening our engine. Life is heavy; carrying its weight is hard. By strengthening our engine, this weight becomes lighter, easier to lift. Instead of eliminating this weight, which is impossible most of the time, we learn to better deal with it. To me, strengthening our engine is fundamental to the ability to solve what is difficult.

Describe the growth Gaga users might experience over time from continued participation in classes.
The practice of Gaga helps us enlarge our range on a daily basis–we can increase flexibility, stamina, strength, and speed. I gain a tool box that is constantly renewing itself over time. In Gaga, we recognize how movement has the power to heal us physically and mentally, how it connects us to longevity, balance, flow of energy and our weaknesses. This recognition is supported by daily practice and the love of repetition, a little like walking, many steps will take us further…

How has your relationship with Gaga teachers changed since we went online?
The Gaga Online format continues to open up a new and meaningful dialogue with our teachers. It profoundly changes my research and my own teaching by being able to take/watch teachers’ classes, and then teach and share my discoveries with them, no matter which continent they currently live on. 

Any special memories from past Gaga/people online workshops? How does this format influence your research?
When I teach Gaga online, and when I teach in the studio, I always feel that there is one person in front of me, and that person is you. I feel privileged to be in your company, sharing my research, my discoveries, and dancing together with you.

View Gaga Online activities and join us for classes and workshops.

Photo: Ascaf

Photographer's credit: Gadi Dagon | Ascaf | Sharon Derhy | Maxim Waratt
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