Asian Improv aRts & API Cultural Center present the U.S. Premiere of
A Bridge to Now Un Puente hacia el Presente
A multimedia experience by the award-winning LENORA LEE DANCE in collaboration with MOYRA SILVA RODRÍGUEZ
Protest at 92NY, Oct 2024
guidelines of the BDS Call for Ethical Tourism/Pilgrimage. 13 For young dancers chasing their dreams, the formal separation of Batsheva and Gaga means little to nothing. Many in the dance field are instinc- tively against boycotting any move- ment form. But the BDS boycott only targets official Gaga classes—which are financially connected to Gaga Movement Ltd.—not any aesthetic principles dancers might associate with the form. BDS addresses mate- rial ties, leaving artists to make more personalized choices about how to engage with movement traditions with problematic histories. OHAD NAHARIN B atsheva and Gaga are boycot- table based on institutional complicity alone, regardless of the personal politics of any affili- ated artist. However, because the pub- lic persona of Ohad Naharin is nearly synonymous with the Batsheva/Gaga “brand,” and because his vaguely pro- gressive image has caused confusion
about institutional complicity, his pub- lic politics warrant their own response. Naharin is critical of Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing. 14 Yet this does not make him an ally to Palestinian liberation. Naharin has expressed sympathy for Palestinian suffering but undermines Palestinian political agency when he repeatedly misrepresents the BDS movement. Naharin characterizes BDS protesters as misguided foreigners, detached from Palestine and reality, recently declaring that “when BDS people demonstrate, it doesn’t help the Palestinians, unfortunately, but it does add drama.” 14 He neglects to mention that BDS is Palestinian-led, based on the historical precedent of success in South Africa, and shaped by twenty years of strategic refinement. One can understand why many American artists, working within their own problematic government and funding systems, sympathize with a choreographer who prioritizes funding over political conviction. But those who more easily relate to
one the most powerful choreographers in the world above the many Pales- tinian arts groups—working in much more challenging circumstances and still rejecting funding with political conditions 15 —should reconsider the limits of their empathy. DANCERS FOR PALESTINE (D4P) is an autono- mous group of dance workers who organize in solidarity with the global movement for Palestinian liberation. Formed during Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza beginning in 2023, D4P seeks to both cohere and create a dance community which is vocal and active in its support of the Palestinian people. D4P is a local and international endeavor with a core organizing group in NYC and an ever expanding network of dancers and organizers working toward a dance field free from complicity in genocide, imperialism, white supremacy, and all systems of oppression. D4P’s work has included protest and direct action, political education events, art-based fundraising, and campaigns to move dance institutions into alignment with the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and against repressive anti-boycott policies. To join the movement, email dancersforpalestine@gmail.com and fol- low us on Instagram @dancers_for_palestine
Dance Mission Theater 3316 24th Street (bt. Mission & Valencia), SF, CA 94110 Friday, March 28, 2025 at 8pm Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 8pm Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 3pm with post-show discussion
Tickets & Info:
ABridgeToNow.eventbrite.com More info: LenoraLeeDance.com, moyrasilva.com (415) 570-8615, LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com
13 Do No Harm! Palestinian Call for Ethical Tourism/Pilgrimage
14 On Stage and Off, Ohad Naharin Conveys a Powerful Message Amid Gaza War
15 Against Terrorism and Against Conditional Funding: Statement of the Palestinian National Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding
in dance WINTER 2025 24
WINTER 2025 in dance 25
In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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