New Earth + Bolero X

Shahar Binyamini: The Vulnerable, Wild Self Becomes Community
By Maria Luisa Buzzi

“Beginning to dance was, for me, the path to feeling at ease with fear, with anxiety attacks—the most terrifying experiences of my childhood—and at the same time, the opportunity to discover who I truly am. I feel incredibly fortunate to have gone through it, because even though it was difficult, I believe it was the turning point that led me to become an artist, a creative being.”
Speaking with unflinching honesty in the documentary that accompanies the creation of his Bolero X—a 2023 choreography for Ballet British Columbia set to Maurice Ravel’s iconic Boléro—Shahar Binyamini, one of Israel’s leading choreographers and a former dancer with Batsheva Dance Company under the tutelage of Ohad Naharin, reveals his deeply personal approach to the art of dance.
His work goes beyond aesthetic beauty, seeking instead a new bodily awareness, a sensory dialogue with the self as a path to discovering new forms of expression. This artistic quest is closely linked to Gaga, the renowned movement and voice language developed by Naharin—now a globally respected pedagogical method in which Binyamini is a certified teacher. Gaga urges dancers to access their most primal, instinctive, and animalistic states—beyond intellect—and to explore the zero point of movement through bodily listening.
Binyamini absorbed this practice during his years at Batsheva in Tel Aviv, both as a company dancer and later as Naharin’s choreographic assistant. “Gaga is undoubtedly a fundamental part of my artistic journey,” he notes, “but I don’t draw on it during the conceptual phase of a work. At that point, I focus on the emotions and values I want to convey in relation to the music and the narrative I aim to tell. I turn to Gaga when I want to celebrate the power of dance itself—then, yes, it becomes part of the process, because it shaped me as a dancer.”
Binyamini designs the sets and costumes for his works, opting for a refined minimalism that foregrounds the dancers’ bodies and personalities. He draws inspiration from both the classical music canon and from electronic and Middle Eastern sounds, as seen in tonight’s program, which pairs his recent piece New Earth with the globally acclaimed Bolero X, now reimagined with a new cast.
Born in Lod in 1988, Binyamini currently directs the resident company at the House of Dance in Be’er Sheva, in southern Israel—a cultural venue housed in a former Ottoman-era train station, recently transformed into a dance incubator, a center for movement research, and a space for cultural events. From this base—and from the ten dancers who reside there—Binyamini’s art radiates outward through international tours and commissions that have taken him from Singapore to Sweden, Canada to Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, and Italy.
“Even though I choose dancers with strong technique from diverse backgrounds—whether classical or contemporary—what I look for in auditions is the performer’s willingness to take risks. That’s the only thing that allows me to keep creating.” This is evident in New Earth, a recent work for seven company dancers. Set on a stage covered in dark soil, it evokes a kind of evolutionary process of humanity—or perhaps, its transformation. Primordial energies erupt from the bodies as they claim space, revealing a continuous metamorphosis. At times, the dancers resemble ancient animals or camels crossing the scene on half-toe with a swaying gait; later, a depiction of homo sapiens, a primordial couple reminiscent of Adam and Eve, a small community that swiftly morphs into a floral orgy and internal strife, culminating in the controlled chaos of the finale. It is a stream of consciousness suspended between vulnerability and power, resistance and release—an emotional journey wrapped in warm Middle Eastern tones that shift into electronic soundscapes.
“The idea behind New Earth,” Binyamini explains, “was to create a vast sonic landscape—a journey through time from a distant past to the present and into an unknown future. Somewhere in the Middle East, perhaps, but untethered from any specific era. At one point in the piece, as the music intensifies, we’re transported somewhere unexpected—though elements from the beginning resurface. It’s about understanding where we come from, digging into our origins and roots—both cultural and as dancers—starting from a simple musical base of percussion and flute. That’s New Earth.”
There is a similar extraordinary simplicity in the famous opening of Ravel’s Boléro, which serves as the foundation for Bolero X. The faint whisper of snare drum introduces the rhythmic ostinato that underpins the work’s eighteen sections, followed by the flute’s first melodic theme. Binyamini’s relationship with this celebrated piece began almost accidentally, though across multiple encounters: “I never imagined I’d choreograph a version of Boléro, even though it’s one of my favorite pieces. It just happened, in the studio. At a certain point in my life, the score pulled me in—I couldn’t stop using it. So I started imagining a piece that would embody the orchestration through dance. The challenge was to find a new groove that could connect with the music and add something of our own era. It all began in Seoul in 2022 with an initial version, and then in 2023, Bolero X premiered in Vancouver—the version that synthesizes my earlier attempts to find, in the body, the minimalism and timelessness Ravel achieved.”
The hypnotic, collective explosion of Bolero X is brought to life by a large cast that varies depending on the venue. Tonight, thirty-five dancers will take the stage at the Teatro Romano—members of the House of Dance Company joined by talents from the Zürich University of the Arts and the Zürich Dance Academy. This is a trademark of Binyamini’s approach: using Bolero X as a platform for advanced professional training, offering gifted students from leading institutions the chance to perform alongside seasoned artists. At its debut with Ballet BC, for example, the cast included students from Arts Umbrella, Vancouver’s prestigious dance academy—fifty dancers in total. Re-staged in Buenos Aires with students from the Teatro Colón’s dance academy and professionals from Argentina’s top ensemble, the piece is soon to enter the repertoire of the Ballet School of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala Academy.
“For me, it’s essential,” Binyamini emphasizes, “to envision this choreography as a piece that gives young dancers a professional opportunity to blend with the generation that came before them—to dissolve hierarchies, to create an inclusive, universal dance that reflects the orchestral community envisioned by Ravel.”
As the light slowly rises, the stage gradually fills with a mass of four-legged dancers—bare-armed, heads gently swaying. The rhythm overtakes them; resisting it is impossible. Limbs hurl into space as inner impulses take over in a layered mash-up of vehemence and memory, joy and strength, seduction and connection. The choreography is written with such precision it functions like mechanical gears, yet within this framework, each dancer’s individuality shines through. Here, every performer sees, feels, and tells their own story, all while remaining part of the group. They are a single entity, like an orchestra—united in a collective consciousness that never stifles the individual.
A message for humanity, as Binyamini concludes:
“This is how we should coexist—by respecting each other, making room for one another. Bolero X is my response to what’s happening in the world today.”

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