Batsheva Dance Company: Shalosh (Three)

Batsheva is a dance company with a royal pedigree and a wildly contemporary sensibility. Founded in 1964 by no less than Martha Graham and the Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild, the Tel Aviv-based company has wowed 'em world-wide under Ohad Naharin's electric direction. His dances mix raw physicality with fiendishly complex coordination in a dizzying fusion of styles. The bodies of his 17 dancers seem hard-wired for any eventuality, from extreme club dancing to intergalactic warfare. One critic described the movement in "Shalosh (Three)" as "a vacilating physicality that takes [the dancers] from human, to dancer, to animal, to machine, all in one phrase." The three sections—"Bellus" (beauty), "Humus" (earth), and "Seus" (either "this" or "not this")—are performed to music that includes Bach's "Goldberg Variations," Brian Eno and the Beach Boys, and Kid 606 + Rayon. (photo by Gadi Dagon)
Wed., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., 2009