Protest Batsheva Dance Company's 2012 performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - 6:45pm - 7:45pm
Event Video: 
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Adalah-NY is joined by the Palestinian Dabke Brigades and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra in a protest of Batsheva Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Batsheva used music from Star Wars in their performance, so here is our rendition of the struggle between good and evil!
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Event Press Release: 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY, March 7, 2012 – Eighty New York human rights activists and cultural workers gathered tonight to protest Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company’s performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Calling on attendees to boycott Batsheva due to its complicity with Israeli human rights violations, activists sang, chanted, played music, and danced. Parodying a piece of Batsheva’s newest show, Hora, Adalah-NY was joined by the Columbia University Palestinian Dabke Brigades and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra in a costumed Star Wars-themed dance representing the struggle between good and evil. Protesters chanted, “Their range of motion cannot hide / Their support for apartheid!” and “BAM, you’ve got to draw the line / Freedom for Palestine!”

Attendees were handed mock programs, whose cover identifies Batsheva as a “cultural ambassador for Israel.” Inside, the program explains why the group is being boycotted, and celebrates artists who have respected the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) call, including Gil Scott Heron, Roger Waters, and Cassandra Wilson. Upon reading the program, one attendee remarked, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have bought my ticket.” Dozens of others stopped to watch from the steps of BAM. At 7:35 p.m., five minutes after the performance was scheduled to begin, BAM staff informed protesters that the music and chanting had delayed the start of the show.

Event Downloadable File: 
A mock program handed out to performance attendees at our Batsheva protest on March 7, 2012.
Event Press Coverage: 
Publication: 
New York Times

In Mr. Naharin’s “Hora,” which is coming to the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday, dancers assert their individuality in virtuosic solos, only occasionally moving in sync. Instead of creating a dance of unity, Mr. Naharin, as he does in much of his work, explores the complicated dynamics of the individual within the group, rendering the classic hora completely unrecognizable, if not altogether erasing it.

Batsheva’s 2009 and 2010 tours to the United States met with calls for boycotts and protests from anti-Israel activists, who see the company as a type of ambassador for Israel because of its financial relationship to the government. More protests are planned for the company’s run at the Brooklyn Academy.

Publication: 
The New Yorker

Now and then, Ohad Naharin tells a journalist what he thinks about his country’s politics. “There is so much hatred,” he said to Anna Kisselgoff of the Times some years ago, “and I’m not talking about any particular group.” I think he is talking about a particular group, but that doesn’t mean that the other group likes him. Outside BAM last night was a group of pro-Palestinians, chanting and waving placards to the effect that BAM should not have invited a company from Israel.

Publication: 
NLN

Protesting “Art For Apartheid’s Sake,” a group of activists visited the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday evening — with signs and song the 80 protesters told BAM and the Batsheva Dance Company to “Stop Dancing Around Apartheid.”

Event Announcement:

 

Save the Date!

Join Adalah-NY to protest a performance by Batsheva, "Israel’s leading cultural ambassador".

In an exchange of letters with Adalah-NY, Batsheva's host, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, tried the excuse that Batsheva's performance won't "further a political agenda", but there's no denying it's part of the "Brand Israel" propaganda campaign. 

In solidarity with the Palestinian call for cultural boycott, don't let Israel use dance to whitewash apartheid!

Click here to read the exchange between Adalah-NY and the President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Karen Hopkins.

This event is part of Israeli Apartheid Week. See the full NYC calendar HERE.

 

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
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Work Category:
Cultural Boycott
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