Michal Eshed

Batsheva Dance Company

Batsheva Dance Company is critically acclaimed and popularly embraced as one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in the world. It is Israel's leading dance company, maintaining an extensive performance schedule locally and internationally with over 250 performances and close to 100,000 spectators every year. Together with its junior Batsheva Ensemble, the Company boasts a roster of close to 40 dancers drawn from Israel and abroad, and is considered a model for an exemplary organization in the field of dance in the international dance community. Batsheva was founded in 1964 by the Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, who enlisted the legendary Martha Graham as its first Artistic Advisor. Ohad Naharin assumed the role of artistic director in 1990, and propelled the company into a new era with his adventurous curatorial vision and distinctive choreographic voice. Hailed as one of the world's preeminent contemporary choreographers, Naharin is also the originator of the innovative movement language, Gaga, which has enriched his extraordinary movement invention, revolutionized the company's training, and emerged as a growing international force in the larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers. Batsheva is a registered non-for-profit Association, with an annual operating budget of 5.5 M USD. 40% of its incomes are self-generated, 30% are government and municipal grants and 30% are donations from Israel and abroad. Since 1989, Batsheva Dance Company has been in residence at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv.