Gaga (movement language)

Gaga is a movement language and pedagogy developed by Batsheva Dance Company director and teacher Ohad Naharin. Used in some Israeli contemporary dance, it has two educational tracks which are taught in Israel as well as several other countries:

Gaga/Dancers, intended for trained dancers, which comprises the daily training of the Batsheva Dance Company

Gaga/People, designed for the general public, which requires no dance training.

Many dancers have said that Gaga classes have reignited their passion for dance, and provided new ways to connect to their freedom and creativity in movement without self-consciousness.

Gaga students improvise their movements based on somatic experience and imagery described by the teacher, which provides a framework promoting unconventional movement. The imagery guides the performers' movement expressivity by focusing attention on specific body regions. For example, "Luna", "Lena", "Biba", "Tama" and many other words are used to experiment in a performer's body while they are dancing. Mirrors are avoided, to facilitate movement guided by sensing and imagining rather than seeing.