Charlotte Ballet’s 2023/2024 Season kicks off with dynamic and exhilarating works that push limits and inspire audiences of all ages. Breaking Boundaries welcomes back the ground-breaking choreography of Ohad Naharin, best known for his smash hit Minus 16. Experience the unconventional masterpiece, Kamuyot, touching “on the mischievous, free, and playful places in all kids – whether they are five or 80 years old. An inspiring and moving experience that allows the audience “to be with” dance and not only watch it.” Rounding out the program, Charlotte Ballet is proud to present a much-anticipated world premiere by Mthuthuzeli November, a South African award-winning choreographer and recipient of the U.K.’s prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best Dance Production in 2020.
Note: Charlotte Ballet is eliminating the boundaries of the traditional theater setting throughout this performance series. Our team has designed a new setting in accordance to Ohad Naharin’s vision to be even closer to the dancers. There is no assigned seating for the second half of this performance.
Featured Choreographers:
Ohad Naharin: Ohad Naharin is a choreographer, the creator of the Gaga movement language, and former Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company.
Naharin was born in 1952 in Mizra, Israel. His mother is a choreographer, dance teacher, and Feldenkrais instructor, and his father was an actor and psychologist. He joined Batsheva Dance Company in 1974 despite having little formal training. During his first year, guest choreographer Martha Graham invited him to join her own company in New York. Between 1975 and 1976, Naharin studied at the School of American Ballet, The Juilliard School, and with Maggie Black and David Howard. He then joined Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels for one season.
Naharin returned to New York in 1979 and made his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio the following year. From 1980 until 1990, Naharin presented works in New York and abroad, including pieces for Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. At the same time, he worked with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara, and a group of dancers in New York. Naharin and Kajiwara continued to work together until she died from cancer in 2001.
In 1990, Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and in the same year, he established the company’s junior division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble. He has since created over thirty works for both companies. Other companies around the world have also performed his
works, including Nederlands Dans Theatre, the Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet Frankfurt, Cullberg Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the Royal Danish Ballet, and Les Grand Ballets Canadiens de Montreal.
In addition to his stagework, Naharin also developed Gaga, an innovative movement language based on research into heightening sensation and imagination, becoming aware of form, finding new movement habits, and going beyond familiar limits. Gaga is the daily training of Batsheva’s dancers and has spread globally among both dancers and non-dancers.
Naharin trained in music throughout his childhood and continues to infuse his work with a unique musicality. He collaborated with the Israeli rock group, The Tractor’s Revenge (Kyr, 1990), Avi Belleli and Dan Makov (Anaphaza, 1993), Ivri Lider (Z/na, 1995), and Grischa Lichtenberger (Last Work, 2015). Under the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed music for MAX (2007) and edited and mixed the soundtracks for Mamootot (2003), Hora (2009), Sadeh21 (2011), The Hole (2013), Last Work (2015) and Venezuela (2017).
Naharin’s work has been featured in several films. In his 2007 documentary, Out of Focus, Director Tomer Heymann filmed the process of restaging Decadance with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. And in 2015, the Heymann Brothers released their comprehensive documentary about Naharin, Mr. Gaga, to critical and audience acclaim.
After almost thirty years of leading Batsheva, Naharin stepped down as Artistic Director in 2018, though he continues to serve as House Choreographer. Batsheva will also continue to be the home of Ohad’s research, development, and teaching of Gaga. A citizen of both Israel and the United States, Naharin currently lives in Israel with his wife, dancer and costume designer Eri Nakamura, and their daughter, Noga.
Mthuthuzeli November: Mthuthuzeli November is an award-winning choreographer and dancer born in Cape Town, South Africa, Mthuthuzeli started dancing at the age 15 with Dance For All. Graduating in 2014, Mthuthuzeli won awards at the South African International Competition and he has danced with Cape Dance Company.
Mthuthuzeli created his debut choreographic work in 2014 on the Cape Dance Company. He danced in a South African production of ‘West Side Story’ before joining Ballet Black September 2015. Since then, he has made multiple award winning/nominated works for Ballet Black since 2016, which include the Laurence Olivier Award for ‘INGOMA.’ He was awarded South Africa’s Emerging Artist prize at Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees for his solo work and nominated for best soloist in a production (Black British Theatre Award).
Mthuthuzeli created short works for the English National Ballet Emerging Dancer competition in 2018 and 2020. He also created and danced for British Grime artist, Stormzy at Glastonbury Festival in 2019. He created a new work commissioned by Cape Town Opera and Cape Town City Ballet for a film production of ‘Pergolesi, Stabat Mater.’ He was also commissioned by The Grange Festival to create a work on the production of Precipice (2020). Toronto’s Fall For Dance North Festival commissioned a work ‘My Mothers Son’ in 2021. He has made two works for the Cape Dance Company, ‘Visceral’ and ‘The Rite of Passage.’
Mthuthuzeli has continued to make works around the world with The Washington Ballet (USA), Northern Ballet (UK), Luzerner Theatre (Switzerland), Cape Town City Ballet (SA), Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (UK), Ballet Central (UK) and The Grange Festival (UK). Other projects include work for The Chemical Brothers, Sanlam Bank South Africa and British singer Adam Hender. In 2022, Mthuthuzeli November was nominated for Best Classical Choreography by the Critics Circle National Dance Awards for his work ‘The Waiting Game.’
TICKETS:
Tickets start at $30
BLOG
2023/2024 SEASON
There has never been an ordinary artform. Art, in all forms, has transcended generations, languages and emotions. The 2023/2024 Season, Artistic Director Alejandro Cerrudo’s first fully curated season, brings new choreographers, stories and performers to the Queen City. We can’t wait to share this season with you all.
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