Batsheva Archive
Project Director:
Iris Lana
Research
Hagar Cygler
In 2014, Batsheva’s Jubilee Year, the company inaugurated an archive documenting its fifty years of existence, creating an infrastructure for documentation and preservation of Israeli dance, and dance research in general. The fiftieth anniversary served as an opportunity to integrate the present reality of the company’s extensive endeavor with an awareness of a disappearing world, a new historical consciousness emerging from a developing appreciation of dance as an art form and cultural reference point richly imbued with social, political and economic ideas. As part of the establishment of the archive, materials dating from the company’s inception in 1964 until today were collected, recorded, and digitized to create a resource accessible to students, scholars from diverse disciplines, and the general public
The main elements in the assembly of the Batsheva Dance Company’s archive included compilation of the company’s materials and data, and digitalization and installation of the collection in Beit Ariela – the Israeli Dance Archive, where it will be preserved and made accessible to all. The archived materials comprise dance films, rehearsal and performance films, photographs, programs, posters, reviews, newspaper and magazine clippings, artistic discussion protocols, notebooks, and production files such as scenery photos, costume sketches, lighting programs, scores, and musical recordings. In addition, there are administrative documents including official letters, payment receipts, bookings, meeting minutes, and more.
In addition to the Batsheva Dance Company’s physical archive at Beit Ariela’s Israeli Dance archive, which is accessible to the public, an online platform was created where some material- subject to copyright and individual privacy – can be reviewed. The company’s archival website includes records of Batsheva members (some with detailed CVs), the complete repertoire list accompanied by selected photographs, and tour lists.
Curtains by Rina Schenfeld
Dancers:Rina Schenfeld, Rahamim Ron | Photo by Mula Eshet