Something special is coming up for dance lovers and enthusiasts! Friday, October 23rd, NETFLIX is showing a premier of MOVE – a documentary series featuring brilliant dancers and choreographers from all over the world.
We are excited to see this on NETFLIX! It is not surprising for a dance lover to watch a dance documentary on an arts channel, such as MARQUEE TV. Remarkable though is that this time the non-mainstream artists are featured on a mainstream medium! We hope that this is the sign of art of dance leaving the marginal space and reaching the general cultural audiences.
We haven’t watched the series yet, but the names of portrayed artists speak for themselves. In 5-piece-series, we will meet the choreographer of the opening ceremony of London Olympics 2012 Akram Khan, the artistic director of the world-renown Batsheva Dance Company and father of the revolutionary GAGA method Ohad Naharin, the avant-garde flamenco artist Israel Galván, the king of Memphis Jookin style Lil Buck (remember the dancer in the Apple AirPods commercial?), the co-founder of MAI – Movement Art IS – Jon Boogz and finally the only female – the dancehall artist Kimiko Versatile (she will be a discovery for HIBA).
To warm you up, we prepared short introductions about the featured artists. And after having watched the series, we will share our impressions and would be happy to hear yours!
Akram Khan is an English dancer and choreographer, one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists in the world of today. His background is rooted in his classical kathak training (which he brings from his Bangladeshi descent) and contemporary dance. The highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim. Over the last twenty years, Akram Khan Company has established itself as one of the foremost innovative dance companies in the world. Embracing an artistic vision, that both respects and challenges Indian kathak form and contemporary dance, Akram Khan has created a substantial body of critically acclaimed work. It ranges from classical and modern solos to artist-to-artist collaborations and company productions.
As an instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue, indie rock band Florence and the Machine, among many others. Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) and the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award. As per his own words on his social media, the MOVE will present the most intimate portrayal of Akram Khan known for us so far.
Israel Galván is a flamenco artist from Sevilla, Spain. Born into the family of dancers José Galván and Eugenia de Los Reyes, he learned to walk, talk, and dance flamenco at the same time. Flamenco is his family legacy, a secular tradition. It is a native soil in which he roots his quest as an inventive artist for whom each new production reflects another stage of life.
He came to fame thanks to his dancing steps with complicated feet movements, showing rapid-fire footwork punctuated by moments of stillness and silence. His art is a kind of avant-garde flamenco. For forty years, Israel Galvàn has performed solos in the tablaos, the flamenco academies, sometimes in the open air, on the greatest international stages and even in the leading venues of contemporary art, such as the Calder Foundation in New York. In his career, he already received numerous international prizes, including the New York Dance and Performance Award, better known as a Bessie and was recognized as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. This dancer tirelessly celebrates and reinvents the joy of being together through flamenco and his untranslatable, stately “duende.”
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Ohad Naharin, an Israeli choreographer, is one of the world’s preeminent contemporary choreographers, whose work has shaped the dance world. Born and raised in Kibbutz Mizra to the artists family, Naharin started dancing at the late age of 22. He trained at Batsheva Dance Company, The School of American Ballet, The Juilliard School, and Maurice Béjart‘s Ballet, among others. After living in New York from 1978-1990, he returned to Israel in 1990 when he was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company. Naharin has since choreographed over 20 works exclusively for Batsheva. He has restaged many of those works for companies around the world.
Parallel to his work as a choreographer and artistic director, Naharin has developed an innovative and continuously evolving movement language Gaga, that is available to both dancers and non-dancers. Gaga originated from Naharin’s need to communicate with his dancers and his curiosity in the ongoing research of movement. Gaga has revolutionized Batsheva’s training, enriched dancers’ interpretation of Naharin’s repertory, and emerged as a growing force in the broader field of movement practices worldwide.
Lil Buck – Chicago-born, Memphis-raised, world-renowned – is the formidable freestyler, Jookin dancer and choreographer. “For people who don’t know the style, Memphis Jookin consists of a lot of slides and glides and toe spins and a bounce that’s very native to the city. What makes Jookin so original is how we get from one place to another and move across the floor.”
After discovering Memphis Jookin at age 11, Lil Buck set his mind on making his mark within the scene. He is fuelled by limitless drive and patience for his newfound passion. Hence, he spent time honing the authentic bounce while putting his own artistic aesthetic and signature moves into the genre. Lil Buck’s moves got nominated for an MTV award for best choreography in a music video. Following his breakout video and a lengthy list of notable performances, Lil Buck became the first street dancer to lock down his own capsule collection with fashion house Versace. He has danced in numerous video commercials – you might have seen him featuring in Apple, Versace, Lexus and other video campaigns.
Jon Boogz is a movement artist, choreographer, and director. He seeks to push the evolution of what dance can be – sharing with audiences of all backgrounds an appreciation of the melding of art forms while inspiring and bringing awareness to social issues. Initially motivated to dance by the work of Michael Jackson, Boogz has choreographed for notable icons including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Naomi Campbell and Gloria Estefan. and has performed in a Movement Art Is: Standing Rock at ComplexCon. He worked as a creative consultant for ad campaigns for Apple and Lexus.
Boogz’s collaborators include TriBeCa Film Festival, DAIS, Lil Buck, and Flying Lotus. His choreography is used in projects like FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance”, Cirque du Soleil’s MJ ONE. Also, he was featured at the Geffen Playhouse’s “Backstage at the Geffen” with his dance company Control Freakz, Lil Buck. Spoken word artist Robin Sanders to honour Morgan Freeman and Jeff Skoll.
Kimiko Versatile is a Jamaican choreographer and professional dancer, and a Culture Ambassador at the same time. So far, we only know that she travels the world and conducts dancehall and Jamaican folk workshops. We are excited to get to know much more about her in the MOVE!
Directed by Thierry Demaiziere and Alban Teurlai, produced by Falabracks and Gaumont. Here is the trailer.
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