About the work
Minus 16 is a dance work by the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, premiered in 1999 at the Nederlands Dans Theater and assembled from excerpts of Naharin's earlier works. The title plays on Naharin's love of numbers. The creator of the globally widespread movement language "Gaga" combines an eclectic musical selection — from Cuban and Israeli sounds through cha-cha-cha to Chopin — into a rousing, life-affirming evening.
Plot
The piece breaks the conventions of the theatre evening: while the audience is still taking its seats, a soloist dances his heart out furiously on an open stage. Its most famous section is the chair sequence to the Jewish Passover song "Echad Mi Yodea", in which the dancers, dressed in black suits and seated in a semicircle, sing while springing up and down in a wave and gradually shed their clothing. At the end the dancers bring individual audience members onto the stage and encourage them to join in, so that the piece ends in exuberant turbulence.
Cultural significance
Minus 16 is among Ohad Naharin's best-known and most performed works and is danced by leading companies worldwide. It embodies the philosophy of the Gaga method — listening to one's own body, liberation from fixed notions, connection to joy and passion — and regularly earns standing ovations.