Gaga (dance vocabulary)

Gaga is a movement language and pedagogy developed by Batsheva Dance Company director and teacher Ohad Naharin. Used in some Israeli contemporary dance,^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[1]

Gaga students improvise their movements based on somatic experience and imagery described by the teacher, which provides a framework promoting unconventional movement.^[3] 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.^[4] Mirrors are avoided, to facilitate movement guided by sensing and imagining rather than seeing.^[1]