DANCING with SOLIDARITY The Case for Boycotting Batsheva and Gaga by BYDANCERS FOR PALESTINE by DANCERS FOR PALESTINE A s organizers with Dancers for Palestine, we’ve spent the last year urging our field to embrace the power of art and culture to advance the cause of freedom, dignity, and self- determination for Palestine. We support a variety of tactics, including direct action, creative resistance, legislative advocacy, organized labor, and Boycott,
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Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). Through our relationships with experienced Palestinian organizers, we have come to under- stand the critical importance of BDS and its cultural component, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boy- cott of Israel (PACBI). We therefore must address the complic- ity of Israel’s most internationally dominant dance institutions, Batsheva Dance Company and the closely affiliated Gaga Move- ment, especially in light of Batsheva’s upcoming world tour.
Initiated in 2005 by a broad coali- tion of Palestinian civil society groups and modeled after anti-Apartheid boycotts in South Africa, BDS has increasingly been embraced by human rights advocates worldwide, including a growing number of Israelis. 1 Unfor- tunately, despite its liberal reputation,
Batsheva has repeatedly refused to dis- avow its role as “cultural ambassador” for the Israeli state and commit to Palestinian liberation. 2 We recognize that members of the dance field often feel conflicted about boycotting dance organizations. We hope that the following analysis can
1 Palestinians, Jews, citizens of Israel, join the Palestinian call for a BDS campaign against Israel
2 Open letter to the Batsheva Dance Company, January 19, 2017
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