Max

Accustomed to trafficking in emotional extremes, Ohad Naharin ascends to a new level of intensity in Max, a riveting exploration of the pains and pleasures of being alive. Most recently at BAM with Three (2007 Next Wave Festival), the Israeli choreographer continues to challenge the body’s limits, always pushing his outstanding dancers to risk more.

Set to a compelling, original score by Maxim Waratt, the movement veers from clenched and concentrated to lush and gorgeously expansive. A marvelously skewed solo–all flying limbs and nerve-rattling balances–melts into a sprawling ensemble from which a single dancer magically materializes. The work’s power lies in the accumulation of images and emotions, and Max gathers its steam through the juxtaposition of bodies in motion and at rest, alone and together.