DURHAM: On June 27, 2026, Charlotte Ballet performed a raucous performance of Kamuyot, a 50-minute contemporary dance piece choreographed by the legendary Ohad Naharin, House Choreographer at Batsheva Dance Company. Originally debuted by Batsheva Dance Company, Kamuyot was, and continues to be, a groundbreaking dance performance that everyone deserves to experience. Naharin’s unmistakable Gaga movement language shined through brilliantly on Charlotte Ballet’s powerful dancers for American Dance Festival’s 2026 performance season.
In a refreshing release from the traditional proscenium, roughly 100 people sat atop four wooden, three-row bleachers arranged in a square around a portable Marley floor in the brightly-lit gymnasium of Jewish for Good. Kamuyot demanded the audience’s attention by happening in the round (or, the square, moreso). Suddenly, and with aplomb, a loud whistle resounds throughout the gym, immediately silencing the entire room. Rees Launer – a dancer in his 7th year with Charlotte Ballet – rises from his seat at the corner of the stage to announce that “the performance has already begun.” He reminds the audience to silence their phones and to refrain from photography, a common request in live performances. Music kicks in, and it’s then evident all of the dancers have been sitting amongst the audience since arrival.
In a total maelstrom of intricately choreographed movement, the full ensemble arrived onstage. Kamuyot featured a ragtag team of 17 dancers dressed in school uniforms, some with colorful torn tights underneath plaid skirts. Themes of tension and release bursted through each dancer. The playfully athletic choreography was no daunting task for Charlotte Ballet: their superb control, impressive stamina, and theatrical performances carried the heart and soul of Kamuyot from Israel all the way to North Carolina.
Naharin’s choreography characteristically strikes the perfect balance of playful violence, light heaviness, and chaotic stillness. In one moment of movement, the dancers’ torsos sunk into mud while their armpits lifted them to safety. In another moment, the dancers’ jestering evolved into dramatic barking, yelling, undulating, shaking, turning, falling… And in the most potent moments of stillness, the dancers’ bodies paused not in wait but in calculated pursuit of their next strike. Like caged animals, Charlotte Ballet bounced from each corner with a resigned dedication to repetitive headbanging in the despondent hope that they will, someday, be released from their small space.
And yet, amongst all the chaos, the dancers found clarity with purposeful pauses. Kamuyot’s non-traditional setting is not just unique for its own sake. The choreography satisfyingly leans into the entire performance space, including the audience. The dancers confronted the audience with soft hand holds, fun onstage offerings, and lingering eye contact. Several moments throughout the performance called for folks sitting in the front row to literally join the onstage energy by copying the dancers’ positions. Not one audience member protested. Truly, most had large, grinning smiles and gladly joined in the unpredictable movement. Even moreso, several audience members unabashedly moved and grooved to the eclectic music playlist from their seats, a welcoming development of the traditional audience member expectations to “sit still and observe.”
“Kamuyot touches on the mischievous, free, and playful places in all kids – whether they are 5 or 80 years old. At the heart of the show stands a simple invitation – to dance. Breaking away from the traditional theatre hall, the show also liberates the audience. A hand’s reach from the dancers, over 50 minutes with no clear boundaries, connections are weaved between the dancers and the audience, formulating a language that seems like it has always been there. An inspiring and moving experience that allows the audience “to be with” dance and not only watch it.” – Batsheva Dance Company archive (link)
Charlotte Ballet surrendered to Kamuyot’s bombastic absurdism. The company’s palpable chemistry made this special performance impossible to ignore and challenging to explain. A delightful feast for the eyes, Charlotte Ballet brought all of us into their wild world of sweatful dance-making. Not only did they surprise and delight us, they ignited and inspired us – inspired us to connect, laugh, dance, observe, question, and move outside of our comfort zones. No one could resist Kamuyot’s quirky yet remarkably human energy, and Charlotte Ballet honored the choreography in a way that made it surprisingly accessible to all of us, dancer or not.
Professional photos by Amber Bliss. Courtesy of American Dance Festival.
