When I left Israel for the US back in January, I didn't know the next time I would get to take another Gaga class. Ohad Naharin's movement language, though expanding rapidly throughout the world, can be difficult to come by if you don't live near a city where it is offered. It turns out that it would be much sooner than I had thought. Once COVID-19 lockdowns began around the world, Gaga began offering online classes on a donation basis 7 times a day, 7 days a week. Overnight, Gaga became the most accessible it has ever been, reaching a much wider audience.
Personally, I was a bit surprised by this decision—grateful, but surprised. From my experiences with Gaga, the physical presence of people together is so integral to the practice, something an online platform cannot support. How would this change affect the movement language? Would these effects create a fundamental difference in the movement language? How are people's experiences with Gaga changing as a result of the online classes?
An experiment for both teachers and takers, I hoped to capture the effects of digitalization Gaga as I simultaneously researched the changes myself. This past summer, I kept a journal documenting my movement findings from online Gaga classes and the online intensive. With help from the Gaga Organization, I had the opportunity to speak with Gaga teachers, dancers, and non-dancers about their experiences with Gaga and the online transition, including some who tried Gaga for the first time online.
Here, you will find a collection of several stories: mine and yours. Mine are of my Gaga Online journey—both ups and downs, new discoveries, and old reminders. Yours are curated selections of stories that have been shared with me by Gaga Online takers around the world, accompanied by visual depictions of the imagery we work with in Gaga.
Hearing these stories have impacted how I perceive Gaga, and I hope it will do the same for you. If you've never taken Gaga before, there's no better time to start than now.
This project was made possible by a grant from Pomona College and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I would like to extend my gratitude to John Pennington, my project advisor, for your neverending support. A big thank you to Deb and Ana with the Gaga Organization for helping me with my research, as well as every Gaga teacher I've taken class from this summer. And to everyone I spoke with—Bret, Tony, Sasha, Yankalle, Savannah, Emilie, Lee, Adi, Michael, and Susannah—thank you for sharing your experiences and being so generous with me.