Batsheva Dance Company

Batsheva was founded as a repertoire company and initially drew heavily on Martha Graham’s technique and choreography. Its later repertory combined work by international choreographers with creations by Israeli artists, including company dancers encouraged to develop choreography of their own.[1][7]

The company describes itself as Israel’s largest dance company, with about 40 Israeli and international dancers across its senior company and Junior Batsheva Ensemble. It reports around 250 performances annually for more than 100,000 people in Israel and abroad.[4]

Batsheva also maintains a junior ensemble, educational programs, and an archive documenting its repertoire, tours, personnel, and institutional history.[3][8] Its stage use of religious and political imagery has periodically provoked public debate, while its international tours have encountered boycott protests.[5][9]

Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild, who assumed the name Batsheva after moving to Israel, conceived a new Israeli dance company in 1963. The company was formally established and gave its first performance in 1964, distinguishing the initial conception from its public launch.[10][11] De Rothschild served as its patron and chief executive through its first eleven years.[10]

De Rothschild invited Martha Graham to act as artistic adviser. Israeli dancers were sent to study with Graham in the United States, and the company’s early approach drew heavily on her technique.[12][7] Batsheva describes itself as the first troupe outside Graham’s own company permitted to perform her dances.[1]

The first performance took place at the National Theatre Habima in 1964. The early repertory included The Learning Process, Herodiade, and Errand into the Maze.[13] Graham authorized seven dances for Batsheva, an arrangement the company archive calls unprecedented. In 1974, she created a work identified as Jacob’s Dream by the Encyclopaedia Judaica account and as Dream by the company archive especially for Batsheva.[7][14]

The repertory soon expanded to works by Robert Cohan, Glen Tetley, Norman Morrice, Jerome Robbins, and José Limón. Graham and de Rothschild also encouraged company members to choreograph, with Oshra Elkayam and Moshe Efrati identified as notable dancer-choreographers who emerged from that policy.[7]

The founding generation included Rena Gluck, Rina Schenfeld, Moshe Efrati, Ehud Ben-David, Galia Gat, Ruth Lerman, Yair Vardi, Ahuva Anbari, Moshe Romano, and Rahamim Ron.[1] Gluck recalled that de Rothschild sought to consolidate dancers she had supported into one central troupe. Gluck and five Israeli dancers then in New York were invited to join, followed by additional dancers in Israel.[11]

Rina Schenfeld worked with Batsheva as a soloist and choreographer; archival records list works including Jephthah’s Daughter, Blind Man’s Buff, Elegies, and Corners.[15] Oshra Elkayam-Ronen left in 1967 and returned during the 1970s under Caj Lottman, creating works including Journey to Nowhere and Eclipse of Lights.[16]

In 1968, de Rothschild established the Bat-Dor Dance School and subsequently the Bat-Dor Company. Calcalist links its creation to Batsheva dancers’ rejection of Jeannette Ordman as artistic director. A later proposal to consolidate Batsheva and Bat-Dor also met resistance, and de Rothschild ended her support for Batsheva in 1975.[10][11]

Batsheva faced possible closure in 1974. A public committee formed in response recommended government support for a dance company for the first time in Israel’s history, and the troupe subsequently began receiving public backing.[12][11]

The following period was marked by repeated leadership changes. Jane Dudley arrived as the company’s first artistic director in 1968, and later directors included Norman Walker, William Louther, Brian McDonald, Robert Cohan, and Paul Sanasardo. Many remained only briefly, contributing works before departing.[11][7]

After de Rothschild withdrew, Batsheva became more open to Israeli choreographers who were not company members. Caj Lottman became its first Israeli artistic director, followed by Moshe Romano, Sheli Shir, and David Dvir. Workshops in 1983 and 1986 promoted local creation and introduced choreographers including Yossi Tmim, Siki Kol, Alice Dor-Cohen, Tamar Ben-Ami, and Nir and Liat Ben-Gal.[7]

Accounts characterize the 1980s as a period in which the company lacked a clear artistic identity and relied heavily on ballet classes.[12] More broadly, the growth of professional Israeli companies improved technical and teaching standards and expanded international touring, although one historical account argues that competition to import international choreographers coincided with declining local creativity.[2]

Ohad Naharin joined Batsheva as a dancer in 1974 despite having little formal training. During his first year, Martha Graham invited him to join her company in New York. He later worked with Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle before returning to Israel and becoming Batsheva’s artistic director in 1990.[3]

Naharin’s appointment brought a major change in the company’s movement practice. A historical account drawing on researcher Iris Lana says its approach changed radically under him as Gaga developed and became embedded in daily work.[12] The company credits Naharin with creating more than thirty works for Batsheva and its junior company; he stepped down as artistic director in 2018 and remained house choreographer.[3]

Gaga grew from Naharin’s research into movement. Weekly classes began with Batsheva dancers in the 1990s, later opened to others, and became available to the general public in 2001. Batsheva dancers requested it as their principal daily training in 2002, and the name came into use around 2003.[17] Batsheva describes Gaga as emphasizing sensation, imagination, awareness of form, new movement habits, and movement beyond familiar limits.[3]

Naharin also asked dancers to rehearse without mirrors so that they could experience movement internally. Discussing emotion in his work, he said, “I never speak of feelings. I provide room for feelings.”[18] During the COVID-19 pandemic, online Gaga sessions taught from New York and Tel Aviv reached about 5,000 people and included family and seated classes.[17]

Batsheva’s junior division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble, was established in 1990. A related account dates the Batsheva Ensemble to 1991 and describes it as a smaller troupe emphasizing local choreography; artists including Itzik Galili, Inbal Pinto, and Anat Daniel began important stages of their careers there.[3][7]

Gili Navot served as artistic director from 2018 to 2022, when Dr. Lior Avizoor succeeded her.[1] Avizoor described Batsheva as strongly identified with Naharin while outlining efforts to present other creators, including independent women choreographers and dancers supported through the “Batsheva Dancers Create” project.[19] Navot also described the Ensemble as a young company in which dancers could spend up to three seasons, and discussed a high-school program combining Gaga with company repertory.[20]

Batsheva’s repertory has combined works by international choreographers, Israeli creations, and pieces made specifically for the company. Graham’s choreography dominated its early identity, while later repertory included works by Wim Vandekeybus, Angelin Preljocaj, Arvo Pärt, William Forsythe, and Jiří Kylián.[7][14]

Anafaza, also rendered Anaphase, became a signature Naharin work. It debuted in December 1993 during the company’s thirtieth-anniversary season. Published audience estimates differ: Ynet reported that about half a million people in Israel saw the work, while a Jerusalem Post retrospective cited approximately 300,000 audience members in Israel and abroad.[19][21]

Its section Ehad Mi Yodea takes its name from a traditional Passover song. Dancers dressed in black suits and hats repeat movements associated with the song’s numbers and progressively remove and throw their clothing. Its visual references to yeshiva students and Jewish ritual contributed to public controversy.[19][21]

A 2018 account described Naharin’s Hora as commenting on Israel and Israeli culture without relying on folk dance or Jewish custom.[22] Another retrospective credits his earlier work, beginning with Kyr, with breaking local dance conventions and helping reshape the Israeli dance scene.[21]

The company lists Bessie Awards for Naharin’s Virus and Anaphase, the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for the Batsheva Ensemble’s performance of MAX, and the Minister of Culture and Sport Prize for Dance Companies for Sadeh21 among its honors.[1]

Batsheva is the house company of the Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater in Tel Aviv. Its Batsheva Center, designed by Ronit and Elisha Rubin, opened in 1999 during the Suzanne Dellal Complex’s tenth-anniversary year. The company says about fifty dancers and artistic staff members work in the building each day.[1]

Batsheva reports approximately forty dancers across its senior company and junior Ensemble, around 250 annual performances, and audiences exceeding 100,000. Its educational programs include a dance school opened in 2019, workshops for dancers aged 14–18, high-school enrichment programs, and a Dance Teachers Forum.[4]

The company’s 2025 annual report says Dina Aldor retired as chief executive in December 2025 after sixteen years and Sharon Bar Lev was appointed to succeed her. It credits Aldor with developing the education department, initiating the archive, and advancing the Neve Sha’anan campus project. Although a later staff list in the report still names Aldor, its transition announcement and the company’s current navigation identify Bar Lev as chief executive.[23]

Batsheva formally launched its archive in 2014 for its fiftieth anniversary, while the National Library of Israel describes a project developed over 2012–2014 under choreographer Iris Lena. Materials were collected for deposit at the Israeli Dance Library and Archive at Beit Ariela in Tel Aviv, with selected items made available online.[8][24]

The collection covers 1964–2014 and includes rehearsal and performance videos, photographs, programs, posters, reviews, workbooks, production files, costume and set documentation, musical materials, correspondence, work orders, and meeting minutes. The National Library describes the digital archive as containing 833 records and 70,000 files and says it entered the National Digital Collection of Dance Archives in 2024.[24]

The project responded to gaps in the historical record. In 2014, Ynet reported that only 20 percent of works presented since the company’s founding had been documented and that visual material through 1998 was of borderline quality. The same report said more than 1,000 people had passed through the company, about 200 had died, and only half of those deceased had then been located.[12]

The archive collected oral testimony and materials from private donors and institutional collections. Batsheva says the digitized collection is preserved according to international archival standards and is publicly accessible subject to copyright, commercial-rights, and privacy restrictions.[12][8] Its records also preserve individual histories, including the choreography of Rina Schenfeld and Oshra Elkayam-Ronen and Graham’s role in the early repertory.[15][16]

Batsheva’s contribution to Israeli dance is associated with both professional institution-building and the arrival of sustained American modern-dance influence. Its founding provided Israeli dancers with a professional arena, while its repertory and encouragement of dancer-created work gave local choreographers an important platform.[7][2]

The National Library describes Batsheva as having an international reputation from its founding and identifies Rina Schenfeld, Moshe Efrati, and Sharon Eyal among former members who became important figures in Israeli dance.[24] The Ensemble likewise offered early opportunities to artists including Itzik Galili, Inbal Pinto, and Anat Daniel.[7]

Naharin’s choreography and Gaga gave the company a distinctive contemporary profile, while subsequent leadership has sought to support additional choreographers and company dancers developing their own work.[3][19] Batsheva’s 2025 annual report also describes a planned arts campus on the historic Neve Sha’anan bus-terminal lot, including a green public cultural plaza and cultural facilities, with a projected opening in 2028.[23]

A dispute over Anafaza arose during Israel’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations in 1998. A nationally televised performance was to include dancers in black clothing resembling Hasidic dress who stripped to their briefs while dancing to a Passover song. Religious Israelis objected, and President Ezer Weizman suggested during mediation, “Let them wear gatkes.” Batsheva withdrew rather than alter the work under political pressure.[5]

The same account says the company’s state subsidy, then more than $1 million annually, was not reduced and that the work was later performed unedited in Tel Aviv. It also recalls a 1995 Israel Festival performance in which dancers appeared to simulate masturbation before revealing that they were cleaning army-issued guns, prompting gasps from an audience that included Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.[5]

The meaning of Ehad Mi Yodea has been interpreted in differing ways. Sapir Journal contributor Deborah Waxman retrospectively described it as joining ancient religious custom with contemporary culture and exploring what she viewed as oppressiveness in Orthodox Judaism. That characterization is her interpretation rather than a neutral description established by the source.[25]

Batsheva has also faced political protests while touring. On March 5, 2009, a small crowd demonstrated outside a Brooklyn performance as part of a campaign to boycott its U.S. tour.[9] A campaign ahead of its 2025 U.S. tour named venues, called for protests, and promoted a wider cultural and academic boycott of Israel.[6] Artistic director Lior Avizoor said in 2023 that Batsheva pauses performances when BDS protesters enter the stage, permits them to express themselves, and resumes after they leave.[19]

In December 2024, Culture Minister Miki Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to reconsider Batsheva’s state funding after a performance included a Palestinian flag among other national banners. Batsheva said the flag appeared “in a broad artistic context.” The boycott campaign reported in January 2025 followed less than a month later.[6]