The Fusion Effect

Don’t ask Batsheva Dance Company director Ohad Naharin to scour his memory about his early days with the company he took over almost a decade ago.

“I have the memory of a dead cat,” Naharin said, speaking from Seattle, where the company was dancing ahead of its date tonight at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“It might be good exercise to reconstruct the history of the time since I came to Batsheva. But it’s an ongoing process. I’ve learned a lot about my own work since then.”

“Then” was 1990, when Naharin became artistic director of the Tel Aviv-based troupe. He had come for only a six-month trial period.

“I wasn’t sure how it would work out,” the 45-year-old choreographer said. “During that time, I realized I could do my best work because they give me support.”

Batsheva was founded in 1964 by Baroness Bethsabee (Batsheva) de Rothschild, a strong supporter of Martha Graham. At that time, Graham’s works formed the backbone of the company. But Rothschild lost interest in the troupe, founded the Bat-Dor Dance Company in Tel Aviv in 1967 and withdrew her support completely from Batsheva in 1974.

Batsheva survived with state support. It was led by various directors until Naharin’s arrival. Since then, he has reshaped the company with his own works as well as those of other contemporary choreographers.

Naharin was born in an Israeli kibbutz, trained in Graham technique at Batsheva, danced in Graham’s New York company for a season and continued studies at the Juilliard School. He danced in New York and choreographed for various companies between 1980 and 1990.

When he arrived, “Graham [repertory] already was done with, many years before,” he said. “Since I came to Batsheva, all the new works I’ve done are full-evening works.”

Because those programs are costly and difficult to tour, the troupe will dance excerpts from two--”Kyr,” his first work for the company, and “Queens of Golub,” created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 1989.

The rest of the program consists of works Naharin created for other companies--”Black Milk” (1985) for the Kibbutz Dance Company and “Arbos” (1989) for the Sydney Dance Company.

Although most of these works were created before he took over Batsheva, they remain “core repertory and [are] still representative of what we do.

“The fact is, I continue to work on the pieces and develop them,” said Naharin, who occasionally dances with the company but won’t be appearing in any of the works on tonight’s program. “The date of a premiere is not the date the work is finished or done. On the contrary. ‘Black Milk,’ for example, when I first did it, was done by women. Now it’s all men.”

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What remains, he said, is “the soul of the piece. I was connected to something I believe is a female force. It deals with longevity, suppleness and stamina. Also, there’s a real sense of ritual in the piece. But a lot about it has changed and developed. That has a lot to do with my movement research, to give it a name, anyway. It makes it simple.

“But what turns me on in this piece and all the others is not the idea, but the composition,” he said. “When I talk about ideas, I talk about the less important thing.”

What is the more important thing?

“Tensions of the bodies in space, relationships, relationships of movement. The research of movement is completely separate from music,” he said. “My approach to movement is much more connected to movement in silence. But I find the fusion of music and movement creates a third ingredient. I’m interested in that one.”

Costume designer Rakefet Levi and lighting designer Bambi are important collaborators, too.

“We talk about the work way beyond costumes and lights,” Naharin said. “They come to rehearsals and also collaborate there. Costumes and lights are very important elements, even though many times they are very simple. But to reach the simplicity, we have to go through a lot together. This point is, what turns me on finally is the form, and the costumes and the lighting have to do with form.”

Both “Queens” and “Arbos” are danced to music of Arvo Part.

“I find his music very inspiring to choreograph to,” Naharin said. “I never try to illustrate music. I just meet it in places, like meeting some things you have in your subconscious storage. I feel the storage [power] of this music is huge.

“A queen is always a little bigger than life and at the same time, a queen has to go to the bathroom,” Naharin said. “ ‘Golub’ is a made-up word that seems to have a historical reference. The very truth of this name is that it’s a nickname for a woman artist I collaborate with. It’s known between me and people who know her. But it gives a feeling of a place far away.”

As for “Arbos,” Naharin originally misunderstood the word. “For some reason, I thought ‘arbos’ was the waiting place before you go to hell,” he said. “I like that idea. Then last year I spoke to Arvo Part actually, and he told me arbos means tree. That changes my feeling about it. But actually ‘Arbos’ is the name of one of the sections of the music by Part.”

Titles obviously are important to the choreographer, but he comes to them in a curious way.

“I have respect for words,” he said. “Maybe it has something to do with my fondness for poetry and the duality of language. It’s a little like a game, too, to give a work a name.

“It’s like choosing a name for a dog. When you get a dog, it’s not like a baby, which you usually give a name to before it’s born,” he said. “With a dog, you see the dog, the dog sees you, you play with the dog. After you’ve been with him several days, after a little bit comes the name.”

* The Batsheva Dance Company will dance four works by company director Ohad Naharin today at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 8 p.m. $25-$30. (714) 854-4646.