Michael Getman is a Tel Aviv-based choreographer. The son of Dora and Zechariah immigrated to
Israel from Soviet Leningrad after a failed plane hijacking by young Jewish dissidents to escape
the USSR in 1970, "Operation Wedding.”
Michael examines and is curious about the intricate interplay and relationship between ideas,
words, and embodied knowledge, often using sound, visual, and linguistic stimuli, encouraging
real-time cognitive responses. His choreographic landscape lingers between the particular and the
abstract, tracing the essence of things and asking to celebrate the poetic transgression from one
domain to another, with the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with a range
of physical and emotional arousal.
He is commissioned to create and share artistic experiences utilizing various choreographic ex-
pressions. His works have been presented in festivals and venues, including the Israel Museum,
Akko Festival, Tel Aviv Dance Festival, Holland Dance Festival, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris,
Nowy Teater, Warsaw, Dance In Rete, Italy, Belgrade Dance Festival, Gender Bender, Bologna,
among others. Michael occasionally works in Theatre and Ethnography, researching and facilitating
artistic expression with various communities and cultures. Recently, he was involved with the
"Songs and Borders" project, tracing the liturgy, hymns, and traditional texts of the cultures and
minorities in northern Israel.
Photo: Yael Venetzia
He began his ballet training in a small living room with his grandmother.
Then, he attended the Bat Dor School of Dance, directed by Mrs. Jennette Ordman and founded by Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild.
His professional dancing career started with an invitation from Naomi Perlov to join the Batsheva Ensemble. He was soon invited to join the leading Batsheva Company. He had the opportunity to develop his skills and artistry, mainly with the Batsheva Dance Company, Ohad Naharin, and the
Ballet Freiburg Pretty Ugly, Amanda Miller.
Michael holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) from the School of Arts& Humanities at the University of Huddersfield, England.
His thesis delved into using words, ideas, and gestures in contemporary choreography practice, with a comparative study of the Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza's geometric method of inquiry.