DNA is proud to have Gaga/dancers offered three days a week on the daily class schedule.

Gaga/dancers

Mondays and Wednesdays
5:45 - 7:00pm
Gaga/dancer

For the Gaga Class Schedule Click Here

The language of Gaga originated from the belief in the healing, dynamic, ever-changing power of movement. Gaga has two tracks: Gaga/dancers, which is the daily training of Batsheva Dance Company members, now taught also for other dancers in Israel and abroad Gaga/people, open to the public and available for anyone at any age, without the necessity of previous experience. Gaga is a movement language which Ohad Naharin developed over the course of many years and which is applied in daily practice and exercises by the Batsheva Dance Company members. The Gaga/people track was developed for everyone and at every age, and it is studied by an increasing number of people at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, in Jerusalem, and in other locations in Israel and New York.

photo by Gadi Dagon

Class Description:
Gaga/dancers
Gaga/dancers classes are open to professional dancers or advanced dance students ages 16+. These classes last for an hour and fifteen minutes and are taught by dancers who have worked closely with Ohad Naharin in Batsheva Dance Company. Gaga/dancers classes are built on the same principles as Gaga/people classes but also employ the specific vocabulary and skills that are part and parcel of a dancer’s knowledge. The layering of familiar movements with Gaga tasks presents dancers with fresh challenges, and throughout the class, teachers prompt the dancers to visit more unfamiliar places and ways of moving as well. Gaga/dancers deepens dancers’ awareness of physical sensations, expands their palette of available movement options, enhances their ability to modulate their energy and engage their explosive power, and enriches their movement quality with a wide range of textures.

Rotating faculty include:

Born in San Francisco, Olivia Ancona was raised in Portland, Oregon and London. Early training included summer programs at American Ballet Theater and Boston Ballet. She attended the Juilliard School, while simultaneously working with choreographers such as Lucas Crandall, Alejandro Cerrudo, and Luca Veggetti on various projects in the U.S. and abroad. Olivia was a member of the Batsheva Ensemble from 2010-2012. Currently, Olivia is freelancing internationally as well as teaching Gaga and Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal’s rep. In 2012 she became a founding member/dancer of Sharon Eyal/Gai Behar’s new group, L-E-V.

Saar Harari was born on a farm in Israel to an artistic family and danced until the age of 18. At that age, he joined the Israeli Army for 6 years. He left the Army and started to dance again at the age of 24. In 1998 he created his first work as an independent choreographer for a dance festival at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. In 2001, Saar established LeeSaar The Company with Lee Sher, relocating to NYC in 2004. The company has been commissioned to create full evening dance programs by theaters and festivals in New York City, Portland, Austin, Seattle, Vancouver, Montclair, and other places. The Company has 9 permanent dancers and rehearses daily. The creation process is built, evolves and draws from the Gaga movement language. Saar received an American green card for his art making. He is the recipient of the Six Point Fellowship in choreography, a Guggenheim Fellowship in choreography, and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.

Hsin-Yi Hsiang was born in Taiwan in 1983. She began her extensive dance training and received her high school diploma from Tsoying Senior High School and soon relocated to the United States where she received her bachelor of fine arts in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2007. Hsin-Yi joined LeeSaar The Company in Fall 2007. Hsin-Yi teaches in New York.

Jye-Hwei Lin was born and raised in Taiwan. She moved to the States to pursue the bachelor degree at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Upon graduation, she moved to NYC in 2006. She joined LeeSaar The Company in 2007 and teaches in New York.
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Anna Long is a freelance dancer based in New York City and the eastern U.S. She received her B.A. in dance and biology from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Anna trained and was certified in Gaga with the pilot Gaga Teacher Training Program in 2012. She currently lives and teaches in New York City.

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Navarra Novy-Williams was born in New York City and received her early training from Elaine Kudo and Buddy Balou in Verona, NJ. She graduated from The Juilliard School with a BFA in Dance in 2006. She joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal in 2006. In 2009 she moved to Israel where she spent a year dancing in the Batsheva Ensemble. She is currently living in New York City dancing for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.

Candice Schnurr grew up in Houston, TX and received her early training from the Houston Ballet Academy and Priscilla Nathan-Murphy. She attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts and graduated cum laude from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. She was a member of Wil Swanson/DANCEWORKS from 2003-2005, and from 2005-2007 worked with Ellis Wood Dance, touring nationally and internationally, teaching, and setting work on university students. She join LeeSaar the Company in the fall of 2008 with whom she has collaborated in the creation of three original works. Since 2008, she has been immersed in the study of Ohad Naharin’s Gaga method with Lee Sher and Saar Harari. She teaches in New York.

Lee Sher began her acting career at the age of seven, performing on Israeli television. At the age of 15, she was accepted to the High School of Arts in Tel Aviv. Lee joined the Israeli Army at 18 and served in the parachuters unit. Following her Army service, Lee studied at the three-year acting studio in Tel Aviv, where she played leading roles in school productions. She received an American-Israeli Foundation for the Arts scholarship from 1998-2000. In 2000, Lee established LeeSaar The Company with the choreographer Saar Harari. The Company received a scholarship from the Mosman Art Gallery in Sydney, Australia, where she wrote and directed the play Ester. The play was selected to open the spring season of the City Hall Theater of Tel Aviv and was performed there for two years. In January 2004, Lee moved to New York City with LeeSaar the Company and received the American green card for her art making. Lee started to learn Gaga in 2005 and lead classes to her company on daily basis. Lee works on Broadway as a physical director, most lately on The Miracle Worker revival, leading Gaga classes and using the Gaga movement language to direct the cast. NYFA and Guggenheim Fellow in Choreography.