Dance Review | Batsheva Dance Company Put on a Mesmerizing Show at the Granada in Santa Barbara

Poignant and Moving Work, ‘MOMO’, by World-Renowned Choreographer Ohad Naharin, Filled the Theater, Despite Protests

Batsheva Dance Company | Credit: Batsheva Dance Company

Modern art can be disturbing and, I daresay, it is meant to be. Picasso’s “Guernica,” Dali’s “Crucifixion,” Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” and even the gentle, surreal paintings by Marc Chagall are meant to shake up one’s world view and smash one’s preconceptions of what is art and what is beauty. The same can be said of modern dance, especially when it is accompanied by modern, abstract, sometimes dissonant, music. One must ask, “What does it mean?”

The performance of Ohad Naharin’s MOMO by Batsheva Dance Company on February 25 was as technically amazing as it was both mesmerizing and disturbing. The choreography was fascinating and captivating, the dancers unbelievably flexible and strong. There were moments of humor, mystery, surprise, and shock when the dancers literally screamed. (Were they screaming at the audience? At each other? Or just into the void, hoping someone would hear?)

There were moments of sadness, loneliness, yearning, and searching, when one dancer repeatedly called out, to the audience or whoever would listen. The audience was constantly called upon to hold multiple viewpoints throughout the piece: thoughts of war, peace, loss, triumph, fear, and the yearning for things to be different. In a letter to the people of Santa Barbara, Naharin said of the Batsheva performance: “it is a show of trust in the power of art in the face of the cruelty, abuse of power, extreme nationalistic sentiments and ignorance.”

During the performance I found myself constantly asking, “What does it mean?”

I recall a performance by Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet a number of years ago. Someone from the audience asked King, “What does it mean?” King’s response has remained with me ever since: “However many people were in the audience tonight — that is how many meanings the piece had.”

According to a 2022 article published in the Jerusalem Post, MOMO has two meanings: the Magic of Missing Out (in contrast with FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out), and “Also, Also,” taken from the Japanese word “mo,” which means “also.” Both meanings are reflected in the piece, in which two stylistically disparate groups dance simultaneously, seemingly unaware of each other.

The first is a group of four men who dance in perfect unison. They are so deeply connected with each other that their movements are perfectly synchronized, giving the sense that they are not of this world.

To me, the four men represent Four Watchers. They never got involved with the other dancers, even when one or two of the women appeared to try really hard to flirt with them and distract them. Their focus straight ahead, neither resisting nor complying, they remained uninvolved. At one point the Four Watchers (as I shall call them) climbed up a black wall at the back of the stage, and planted themselves near the top, silently observing the chaos below. I also wondered if the Four Watchers could be a reference to the Jewish mystical tale of the Four who went to Paradise. Their presence gave the entire piece an otherworldly feeling.

The Four Watchers, foreground; soloists on the wall | Credit: Batsheva Dance Company

The second group of dancers consisted of seven individual soloists who seemed largely disconnected from each other. The style of Batsheva is based on “Gaga,” the somewhat loose movement vocabulary developed by Naharin. Nevertheless, it is apparent that the dancers are exquisitely trained, highly technical, strong and flexible, their scant costumes revealing Athenian musculature. In one section they danced with individual ballet barres, and at different times they climbed on the black wall at the back of the stage.

According to the Batsheva website, “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.”

But masculinity is really an individual experience, a socially constructed definition that varies across cultures. How does one define masculinity today? Is it the iconic male character of Rambo (Sylvester Stallone)? Or is masculinity defined by the calm, quiet, aloof Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) in the science fiction series BattleStar Galactica? In the spirit of Alonzo King’s comment, I prefer to see The Four as simply Watchers.

The music that Naharin chose was mesmerizing, bringing out the soul of the choreography and expressing its raw emotions. As described on the Batsheva website, the music brought a “shared passion of deep sorrow and beauty.” I could not agree more. The music was mostly slow and trance-like, giving the performance a quasi-undertow feeling, as if the audience was being carried along by a powerful invisible current. It was magical.

The “Four Watchers” observing the soloists at their individual ballet barres. | Credit: Batsheva Dance Company

The music for MOMO included sections of Landfall, by Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet, with curious titles such as “Helicopters Hang Over Downtown,” “All the Extinct Animals,” and “The Dark Side,” Philip Glass’s haunting “Metamorphosis 2,” and “Madre Acapella” by Arca, which ended the performance. This final, otherworldly piece was the only one with words and a human voice, with intonations reminiscent of Jewish cantorial singing. The words are devastating, depicting the deep, entangled love for a mother from whom one must get distance in order to survive. “My Mother, my origin and my end.” Chilling.

The costumes, designed by Eri Nakamura, supported the choreography by not calling attention to themselves, with the exception of a chest-revealing corset and a short tutu worn by one male-bodied dancer. Pushing the normative gender boundaries …

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the political climate surrounding this performance. I was not aware that there were planned protests against Batsheva when I was asked to review the concert. Full disclosure: I somewhat panicked when I heard there would be protests and increased security! I found a letter to the editor in the Independent dated February 22, urging citizens of Santa Barbara to boycott the performance.

Costume highlight, ‘MOMO’ | Credit: Batsheva Dance Company

So I contacted a number of people in town, from UCSB Arts & Lectures, the UCSB Middle East Ensemble, and the Jewish Federation, representing all sides of the controversy. All had differing views on whether to attend or not. It is clearly an extremely painful topic, but rather than focus on the politics, I will share the words of Santa Barbara’s prima danseuse and scholar of Middle Eastern dance, Alexandra King: “Censoring art is wrong, just like censoring speech/books, etc. Art is used for social justice and change, so, depending on the side of the fence one is on, art has a place. We don’t have to agree, but we have to open our minds to consider why, when examining an artistic or political agenda.”

In my own experience as a ballroom dancer, studying with premier Russian coaches when their government chose to invade Ukraine, I saw the pain on all sides. Ukrainian dancers were urging all dancers to boycott Russian coaches and judges. I donated money to help the Ukrainian people, but I chose not to abandon my coaches, who did not agree with their government. So I must admit that I, too, as a dancer, have been caught in the midst of political controversy. I am not one to judge.

Soloist Londiwe Khoza from South Africa in ‘MOMO’. | Credit: Batsheva Dance Company and Ascaf

The great Jewish sage Hillel the Elder is reported to have said, “Do not judge a man until you have stood in his shoes.” My version of this statement is, “Once you dance in the shoes of another culture, and have danced to their music, you cannot hate them.”

I am very grateful to the Independent for inviting me to review this show, and to have the opportunity to learn more about this tremendous company and innovative choreographer Ohad Naharin, a major player in the international world of dance.

You can see a trailer of MOMO here and find out more about Batsheva on their website here and find a Gaga class online here.