"Appropriation" A ballet by Hillel Kogan Performed by The Batsheva Ensemble

About the show

Award-winning choreographer and performer Hillel Kogan returns to Batsheva Ensemble, where he danced in 1995-96 – this time, as a choreographer. His works We Love Arabs (2013) and THISISPAIN (2022) were a big success both in Israel and worldwide, positioning him as one of the most distinctive dancemakers currently working in Israel.

In his works, Kogan travels through various artistic worlds as a fascinated “tourist”, exposing how art in general and the dancing body in particular serve as sites of political and cultural constructs. In the ballet “Appropriation” he visits the “dance company” institution, sending Batsheva Ensemble dancers on a quest full of conquests, quotes, tributes, and countless spectacular references to a bounty of cultures near and far – waiting to be plundered, decorated, erased, and eaten away.

Kogan’s ballet is a masquerade ball, where the lines of political correctness are crossed in the name of artistic and physical freedom, a carnival of body and flesh. The material (dancer) yields to the hands of the maker and the eyes of the viewer. His dancing body is virtuosic, seductive, and unattainable, elevated above the masses, sacred, and cool.

Performed by the dancers of the Batsheva Ensemble season 2023-2024:
Gili Yaniv Amodai, Emil Brukman, Holden Cole, Victor Duval, Maya Marom, Bo Matthews, Mermoz Melchior, Celia Merai, Kylie Miller, Sofiia Pikalova, Leann Reizer, Kelis Robinson, Adi Schwarz, Annika Verplancke, Yarden Zana. Apprentices: Zoe Bayliss Nagar, Shira Kestenboum, Noga Senna.

Dramaturgy
Sharon Zuckerman Weiser

Lighting and Set
Design Nadav Barnea

Art Direction
Laetitia Boulud

Costume Design
Evelyn Terdiman

Masks
Nothing’s Personal by Matan Meirson & Raz Sintova

Special Thanks
Nirith Nelson, Yael Eshel

Photo by: Ascaf
Design: The League