A STATE-FUNDED ballet company has been accused of politicising its latest event after it chose to drop a performance of ‘Minus 16′ by esteemed Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.
The chairperson of Holocaust Awareness Ireland Oliver Sears wrote this weekend to the Irish Times to condemn the decision by Ballet Ireland and claimed it discriminated against Naharin based on his identity.
Last week, the director of Ballet Ireland Anne Maher said the company’s upcoming ‘Bold Moves’ show would not include the Minus 16 performance, choreographed by Naharin, over claims his work was funded by the Israeli Government.
Ballet Ireland, which receives funding from the State-run National Arts’ Council, had planned to stage the performance which it said featured “an eclectic score ranging from Dean Martin to mambo, techno to traditional Israeli music”.
In its promotional material, Ballet Ireland described the performance as using “improvisation and Naharin’s acclaimed ‘Gaga’ method, a unique movement language that breaks down old habits, pushing the dancers to challenge themselves in new ways”.
“The popular piece is renowned for its elements of unpredictability that makes each performance exciting for the audience and the dancers,” it added.
This description has since been removed from the show’s webpage.
The decision to drop the “popular” performance came after a protest movement, Apartheid Free Dance, called for the public to boycott the Bold Moves series, which is due to take place later this month.
Apartheid Free Dance said that Naharin is a former Israeli Defence Forces soldier who has benefited “from the existing Apartheid regime” by accepting money from the Israeli Government to fund his performances.
The group claimed that by Ballet Ireland licensing the performance from Naharin, the company was “normalising and promoting Brand Israel and its human-rights violations” and the Israeli Defence Forces’ actions in Gaza.
“No amount of fancy footwork can sidestep the amorality of performing Minus 16 while Israel commits genocide,” the group said.
As of this morning, the health ministry in Gaza said at least 31,819 people have been killed in the territory since 7 October, most of them women and children.
Maher told The Irish Times last week: “We stand by the right to freedom of artistic expression, and despite our belief that art should not be drawn into politics, we feel the time is not right to be performing this work.”
However, Sears this weekend said that the decision by the publicly-funded ballet performance company was discriminatory to Naharin and ignores the artistic merit of his work.
Sears said that Naharin was obligated to be a member of the Israeli Defence Forces under Israeli law, where few citizens are exempt.
He added that a “simple thought experiment” would see a Gazan, Iranian or Russian choreographer be in the same position for accepting funding from their respective Governments, of which many states have denounced.
“This cannot be the role of Government-funded art bodies as the decision discriminates against individuals based on their identity, ignoring the artistic merit of their work,” Sears wrote.
“That kind of censorship has a chilling effect on the cultural exchange of art and even thought itself, an act which only fuels a climate of increased racial tension.”
Ballet Ireland and the Arts’ Council have been contacted for comment.
Naharin, who was not due to attend the performance at the O’Reilly Theatre in Belvedere College in Dublin 1, recently commented on boycott movements in an interview with Israeli media.
The renowned choreographer said he believes boycotts “doesn’t help the Palestinians, unfortunately, but it does add drama”.
“Discussing how much we at Batsheva (Narahin’s Dance Studio) are affected is not important. We try to navigate amid the changes, but we are not a victim,” he said.
Naharin also spoke of being criticised for his stance on the current conflict in the region: “When I say that the cycle of violence did not begin on 7 October, people call me a maligner of Israel. It’s clear to me who the people are who are maligning Israel.
“They constitute a majority, if not all, of our government. Those who malign Israel are the settler-messianic right wing. They are the people who think that the IDF’s campaign should continue and who justify it; who maintain that one must not criticize IDF soldiers.”
In the same interview, published in January, he added that he is against the current actions being taken in Gaza and believes the public are being placed in a position of “bad and worse”.
“There is no clear distinction between good and bad, so everything is bad, everything is different shades of bad. I am helpless and I have no influence over anything.”
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