This week, OZ Arts Nashville is premiering Enactor, an evening of solo works developed by leading international choreographers and performed by acclaimed Nashville dancer and artist Becca Hoback. Enactor will be performed on June 24-26, 2021 in OZ Arts’ expansive creative warehouse. The three distinct works in the program explore the relationship between the body, womanhood, and a rapidly changing society, and establishing Hoback as a virtuosic performer and inventive independent artist in her own right. These solo dance works were developed by an internationally renowned lineup of choreographers, including Hoback’s longtime collaborator, LGBTQ dancer and choreographer Ben Green.
Originally from Las Vegas, Ben Green is currently based in Tel Aviv, where he is a company member of the acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company and also develops his own choreographic projects. Green's work plays between the line of dance and theater and focuses on obscuring daily gestures and familiar scenes from everyday life.
Hoback and Green met while he was living in Nashville. The two created the solo Offering during a residency in Tel Aviv in 2019. The piece, which will have its world premiere at OZ Arts as part of the Enactor program, explores the way ritual lives in our bodies and the cleansing power of vulnerability.
The second performance, a world premiere created specifically for Becca called Is this Good?, was developed by celebrated choreographer Ana Maria Lucaciu. Ana Maria graduated from the National Ballet School of Canada and immediately joined Canada’s National Ballet. She has performed with companies across the world, including the Royal Danish Ballet, Augsburg Ballet, The Portuguese Contemporary Dance Company and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and now teaches ballet, contemporary and improvisation workshops at professional programs and dance companies across the US, Europe and Asia. Her work has been performed by countless dancers, including those in the Norwegian National Ballet, New Dialect and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Is this Good? highlights the relationship between a performer and audience by placing a solo body on stage searching for affirmation in her own actions.
The final piece is the solo version of Roy Assaf’s wildly popular Girls, which was performed by New Dialect on the OZ Arts stage in 2019. The performance, titled A Girl, was developed in collaboration with Assaf’s frequent collaborator Ariel Cecelia Freedman while in Israel and has been performed in Europe, New York, and on the West Coast. The piece makes its regional premiere at OZ Arts as part of the Enactor program.
Assaf, born and raised in Israel and drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces at the age of 18, has become one of the world’s most sought-after choreographers, known for creating works that are provocative, humorous, and physically thrilling. His work has been performed all over the world, including at Jacob’s Pillow, Bolzano Danza, Biennale di Venezia, The Royal Swedish Ballet, Los Angeles Dance Project, and Batsheva Dance Company, among others.
“Becca’s solo work is evocative, theatrical, and virtuosic,” said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. “We’re delighted to spotlight one of our brightest local talents and feature her stunning movements on the OZ Arts stage once again. These three guest choreographers are influential forces in the contemporary dance field.”
Tickets for Enactor begin at $20 and are on sale now at ozartsnashville.org/enactor/. Health and safety protocols will be enforced, including limited capacities and social distancing. To learn more about upcoming performances, please visit www.ozartsnashville.org.