Founded to Tel Aviv under the artistic supervision of Martha Graham, it is now directed by the brilliant Ohad Naharin, who has been able to revolutionize the language of contemporary dance, making the company one of the most exciting realities of the international choreographic scene. The Batsheva Dance Company takes its name from Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, who in 1964 obtained artistic supervision from Martha Graham. The company becomes the first ensemble to be allowed to perform the legendary artist's choreography. Today, the Batsheva Dance Company along with the youth company, Batsheva Ensemble, consists of 40 dancers from from Israel, but not only. Ohad Naharin took over as artistic director in 1990 (in 2009 Adi Salant became associate artistic director), enhancing and expanding the repertoire. Naharin is the creator of Gaga, a movement language developed within his experience at Batsheva. Gaga offers a new way to achieve deep self-knowledge and awareness through the body and its movements. This technique requires the participant to be agile/vigile, quick, flexible, full of imagination and skilled in the use of his or her body. "I like to break down and reconstruct my work. It involves a subtraction of weight (so from can fly or at least float...)." Batsheva dancers train daily with special research into the infinite possibilities of movement and the development of their own sensitivity. Their curiosity and enthusiasm make them actively participate in the creative process, expressing their individual talents at the annual Batsheva Dancers Create project.

Born in 1952 in Kibbuz Mizra in Israel, he came to the study of dance in 1974 at the Batsheva Dance Company. Immediately noticed from Martha Graham for his extraordinary talent, he is invited to join her company to New York, the city where he completes his artistic training, thanks to an America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, first at the School of American Ballet then at the Juillard School. He also collaborates with Maggie Black and David Howard. His performing career took him to working with numerous international companies including the Israeli Bat-Dor or Ballet Bejart to Brussels. In 1980 he returned to New York and in the same year created with his wife Mari Kajiwara, who died in 2001, the Ohad Naharin Dance Company. For ten years the company presented new creations both to New York and around the world with great success. Because of his fame for his new choreographic language, he is commissioned to create new works from by major companies, including the Batsheva Dance Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1990 he was appointed artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company. Over the years he has created over thirty new works for the company, and for the Batsheva Junior Ensemble. Equipped with a solid musical training, he uses this skill to amplify the impact of his choreography. His extraordinary inventiveness and unique movement vocabulary make him one of the most sought-after choreographers from part of the world's most prestigious companies. For his undisputed contribution to the world of dance he has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors: Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1998), New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award for the creation Virus (2002), New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award for the creation Anaphaza (2004), Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa from the Weizmann Institute of Science (2004), Israel Prize for dance (2005), Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa from Hebrew University (2008), EMET Prize in the category of Arts and Culture, (2009), Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2009), Dance Magazine Award (2009), Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School in New York (2013), Honorary Fellowship from the Tel Aviv Museum (2014) and Honorary Fellowship from the Rupin Academic Center (2015).