Batsheva dancers bring 'Max,' Gaga skills to YBCA

Forceful and enormously persuasive - an evening with the Batsheva Dance Company might portend dazzling, explosive zaniness or a visceral punch to the gut made of pure movement - or both simultaneously - and for that, credit Ohad Naharin, who has directed the 48-year-old company since 1990.

Speaking by phone from his home base in Tel Aviv, Naharin talked about the making of his 2007 "Max" - which Batsheva performs this weekend at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as part of the San Francisco Performances season - and what Gaga, the unique system of movement exploration his dancers use as daily training, is all about.

Batsheva dancers bring 'Max,' Gaga skills to YBCA