MOMO has two souls. One sends long roots to the depths of the earth – a soul that embodies archetypes and myths of hardened, raw masculinity, and the other is in a constant search for an individual and distinct DNA; one moves within its own autonomous and independent force field and the other is a constellation of elements that spin around the same nucleus – alternately drifting away and towards it, making room for necessary tenderness and catharsis.

With a soundtrack comprised mostly of the album Landfall by the legendary Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet, one of the foremost contemporary classical music ensembles, a shared passion of deep sorrow and beauty unfolds on stage. Relinquishment becomes a dedicated search for a crack, and glitches in the movement code turn out to be free, playful, and emotive material.

Duration: 70 minutes without intermission

Major sponsor:  Chelck Family Foundation

Supported by: Batsheva New Works Fund, American Friends of Batsheva, French Friends of Batsheva, The Zita and Mark Bernstein Family Foundation, Factory54

Co-producers: Orsolina28, Moncalvo

Presenting Co-producers: Torinodanza Festival / Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale / Festival Aperto – Fondazione I Teatri, Reggio Emilia / Fondazione del Teatro Grande di Brescia.

World Premiere: 10 December 2022, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel-Aviv.

In Venezuela, created in 2017, Ohad Naharin and his dancers explore the dialogue as well as the conflict between movement and its meaning. This dance with palpable energy is filled with jumps and ensembles, shaken bodies and spasms as well as uncompromising lifts. Faithful to his eclectic tastes, Ohad Naharin has given carte blanche to Maxim Waratt to imagine a soundtrack like a trip between two cultures. Gregorian songs, rap (The Notoriuos B.I.G.) or rock (Rage Against the Machine) give rhythm to the show. The urgency of the gestures, the volte-face of the performers who go from softness to frenzied virtuosity in a few seconds make Venezuela a piece with a message: Ohad Naharin still believes that living together is possible. The stage becomes his platform: but no long speeches here, just the strength and the generosity of a plural company. Dance has this power, the choreographer seems to say, of bringing together the public and the performers in the same communion. Art in movement.

“Seventeen dancers sweep the stage with an energy that no one can evade or resist”. (Dorion Weickmann, Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 2017)

Duration: 80 min.

A production by Batsheva Dance Company. In coproduction with Chaillot National Theatre, Paris, and Hellerau-European Center for the Arts, Dresden. With special support provided by the Dalia and Eli Hurvitz Foundation, as well as the New Works Funds of Batsheva and the American Friends of Batsheva. Special thanks to the Israeli Ballroom Dancing Fund.