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Photo: Ascaf
In the ballet “Appropriation” Hillel Kogan visits the “dance company” institution, sending Batsheva Ensemble dancers on a quest full of quotes, tributes, and countless spectacular references to a bounty of cultures near and far – waiting to be plundered, decorated, erased, and eaten away.
Kogan’s ballet is a masquerade ball, where the lines of political correctness are crossed in the name of artistic and physical freedom, a carnival of body and flesh. The material (dancer) yields to the hands of the maker and the eyes of the viewer. His dancing body is virtuosic, seductive, and unattainable, elevated above the masses, sacred, and cool.
Batsheva Ensemble dancers, season 2023-2024:
Gili Yaniv Amodai, Emil Brukman, Holden Cole, Victor Duval, Maya Marom, Bo Matthews, Mermoz Melchior, Celia Merai, Kylie Miller, Sofiia Pikalova, Leann Reizer, Kelis Robinson, Adi Schwarz, Annika Verplancke, Yarden Zana. Apprentices: Zoe Bayliss Nagar, DanDan Cohen, Shira Kastenboum, Noga Sneh
Dramaturgy: Sharon Zuckerman Weiser
Lighting and Set Design: Nadav Barnea
Art Director: Laetitia Boulud
Costume Design: Evelyn Terdiman
Masks: Nothing’s Personal by Matan Meirson & Raz Sintova
Music: “The Nutcracker”, Op.17 Th.14 performed by The Mariinsky Orchestra | “Singing The Night Among Fishing Boats” by Vera Tsu, performed by The Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra | “Signore, Ascolta” by Giacomo Puccini, performed by Anna Moffo, Tullio Serafin and The Orchestra of the Rome Opera House | “Overture” by Leonard Bernstein, performed by The West Side Story Orchestra | “Batucadas” by Gerardo Frisina, performed by Mitoka Samba (courtesy of Edizioni Ishtar srl/SIAE C+p Edizioni Ishtar srl) | “The Planets”, Op.32: Jupiter ,The Bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst, performed by Herbert von Karajan and The Berliner Philharmoniker.
Special Thanks: Nirith Nelson, Yael Eshel
The piece pays homage to Michael Bennett and Bob Avian, the choreographers of the musical “A Chorus Line”.