Gaga is the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin in Tel Aviv, Israel and is the daily practice of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company. Gaga classes are a guided movement experience of images, ideas, directions, and prompts. We move (however large or small) for the entire class, adding layer upon layer. We will float our flesh, pull our bones, experience physical climaxes, challenge what we think are our limits, and take pleasure moving and dancing in a welcoming studio. We work at our own volume, so whether you have never moved or move every day, you can connect to Gaga. We allow no mirrors, and no observers.
“We can be calm and alert at once.” – Ohad Naharin
OSU Dance Alum James Graham, originally from Columbus, Ohio, USA, is based in San Francisco. In 2007, he went to Israel to study Gaga, made possible by the Kathryn Karipides Scholarship in Modern Dance, and has returned many times since then. He was chosen by Ohad Naharin to be a certified Gaga teacher and to take part in his pilot training program of international dancers/teachers. In 2010, Graham received an M.F.A. in Dance from The Ohio State University, focusing on performance, choreography, and video. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005 with a B.A. in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. He has recently worked with Tino Sehgal, Hope Mohr, Sara du Jour, Nol Simonse, Joe Goode, Heather Baer, Sean Dorsey, Lisa Wymore/ Sheldon Smith, Lizz Roman, FACT/SF, Bebe Miller, Nik Haffner, and Amy Raymond.
His own choreographic work, James Graham Dance Theatre, has recently been presented in the Daegu International Dance Festival, the Nourse Theatre with the SF Gay Men's Chorus, National Queer Arts Festival, Kunst-Stoff Arts, Too Much! Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, Joe Goode Annex, The Ohio State University, and in the Golden Gate Park National A.I.D.S. Memorial Grove. He is thrilled to be sharing this language.
For more information: http://gagapeople.com/english/
