Born and raised in Los Angeles, Barak Marshall is the son of acclaimed choreographer, musician and former star of the Inbal Dance Theatre Company, Margalit Oved.
Since his accidental entrance into dance in 1995, Barak fast established himself as one of Israel’s most innovative and unique voices. His first work, ‘Aunt Leah’, won 1st prize at the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s Shades of Dance Choreography Competition. His third work, ‘Emma Goldman’s Wedding’, was chosen to participate in the 1998 Bagnolet International Choreography Competition in Paris where it swept the awards--winning first prize, the Prix d’Auteur, the Bonnie Byrd Award and the ADAMI Award. His company went on to tour extensively throughout Europe including performances at Lyon’s Biennale de la Danse, the Holland Dance Festival, Paris’ Théâtre de la Bastille and Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
In 1999, Barak was invited by Ohad Naharin to become the Bat Sheva Dance Company’s first-ever house choreographer. He created several works for both the junior and senior companies before severely breaking his leg in 2001 and leaving dance completely. In 2008, the Suzanne Dellal Centre commissioned Barak to create ‘Monger’—his first work in seven years. The following year, Suzanne Dellal and the Israeli Opera co-commissioned Barak to create ‘Rooster’, a work for twelve dancers, an opera singer and Margalit Oved. And in 2011 the Centre again commissioned Barak to create ‘Wonderland: Part 1’.
Barak has also created works for Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Rambert, Cisne Negro, Bodytraffic and Ballet Junior de Genève. In 2012 he was commissioned by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to create the opening piece for their Gala Celebration to music by John Adams. The evening-length version of ‘Wonderland’ will be premiered by the Inbal Dance Theatre Company at Suzanne Dellal’s 2014 International Exposure Festival. Barak and the company recently received a grant from the Israeli National Lottery to create a new work ‘1973’ which will be premiered in January 2015.
Since 2008 Barak’s works have been presented over 800 times throughout Israel, Europe, Asia and North America including performances at Montepellier Danse, Sadler’s Wells, Maison de la Danse, the Joyce Theater, the Banff Centre, the Holland Dance Festival, the Sibiu Festival, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the Annenberg Center, White Bird, Place des Artes de Montreal, Dance Umbrella UK, Jacob’s Pillow, Switzerland’s STEPS Festival and the Diana Vishneva Festival in Moscow.
Barak is also a singer of Middle Eastern and classical music and has performed as a soloist with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project. In 2011 his work received first prize at the Joyce Foundation’s AWARD Show. He is the recipient of the Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Choreography as well as a Creative Capital Grant for a new music production with Margalit Oved and Balkan Beat Box. Barak studied social theory and philosophy at Harvard University and currently splits his time between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles.