Menu
The prestigious JISDF Festival presents selected solo dance works by leading choreographers from around the world and novel works by Israeli artists. This is an exceptional and festive event held by the Angela Dance Company, Jerusalem, inviting the audience to take part in a five-day international dance event in the Jerusalem late-summer atmosphere with a lot of good wine.
Under open skies in the magical Beit Hansen compound and in the spectacular spaces of the Jerusalem Theater, the audience is invited to participate in the various events offered by the festival, including the central stage performances, the opening event, the closing concert, and other events rich in content. The festival presents a multitude of solo dance works with a unique personal statement, touching upon social, environmental, political, and cultural issues, and simultaneously touching the worlds of the soul – moving along the boundaries of place and time, and transcending into the abstract.
This year the festival hosts works and artists from China, Spain, Japan, Italy, Georgia, Israel, the USA, Brazil, Slovakia, Turkey, Germany, and Romania. The best international and Israeli creators will perform solo dance works, original productions, and world premieres created especially for the festival. In addition to the evening events, the festival offers master classes, discussion forums, and panels that are open to the general public and to the professional community. It also holds a residency program for Jerusalem artists and international guests who are invited to take part in the process of creating an original work that will be premiered at the festival events and at the exciting closing concert.
The Jerusalem International Solo Dance Festival 2023 is an immediate meeting point, connecting cultures and people, experiencing the tension between body and place, and offering the possibility of personal and universal multidisciplinary expression – just like this city does. In a black dress and sneakers, in jeans and a blazer, the JISDF festival celebrates movement and creation that is all about the here and now.
JISDF is produced by the Angela Dance Company, together with the Jerusalem Theater and the Hansen House. The festival was founded with the support of the Fund for Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Development Authority, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Photo by: Liron Weisman
Founder and Director of the Jerusalem International Solo Dance Festival
Miriam Engel is an Israeli and international choreographer, dancer, actress, and entrepreneur, who lives and works in Jerusalem. She has been creating and performing for 20 years in Israel, Europe, the USA, Africa, and the Far East, and initiates international projects and major collaborations around the world.
Engel’s works are characterized by a unique interpretation and design, a rich virtuoso performance, and by processing the Israeli experience in its nuances into interactive, universal, and place-dependent works. As a resident of Jerusalem, she draws artistic and intellectual inspiration from the complexity and multicultural character of the city, where she works as a cultural entrepreneur: in addition to founding and directing the International Solo Dance Festival in Jerusalem, she founded the Angela Dance Company in Jerusalem – an artistic body that serves as a home for contemporary creation and presents a repertoire of original dance works alongside international projects. She also developed the conceptual project “LoveINg Your City”, which maps and documents real love stories from cities around the world through original dance and performances in public, on stage, and on digital space. Engel is a member of the executive committee at AMY, the CEO of the Merhav Mahol Association, and a member of the Choreographers Association. She also served as artistic director at Beit Mazia Dance series. In addition to her original productions and many performances, she is invited to create, perform and teach in many institutions around the world.
Photo by: Dor Pazuelo
The Hansen House is a center for design, media, and technology, located in the historic building of the Leper Asylum that was built in the 19th century in the Talbiye neighborhood in Jerusalem. Due to its historical and architectural value, the place was declared as a heritage site and a conservation complex. Following an extensive restoration of the abandoned building which began in 2011, the place was re-inaugurated as a cultural center in the heart of Jerusalem. Among the complex’s tenants are the Jerusalem Cinema and Television Project, the advanced degree programs of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, the Erev Rav journal, the Center for the Association for Art and Research, and the Meshek Afaiim cafe. In addition, the center hosts annual events, a permanent historical exhibition, and altering exhibitions in the main gallery, which are open to the public free of charge. The Hansen House is responsible for Jerusalem’s Design Week – the largest design event of its kind in Israel. Since 2022 the Hansen House is the home of the International Solo Dance Festival in Jerusalem – JISDF.
Photo by: Tamir Elazar
The Jerusalem Theater is Israel’s largest cultural and art complex, located in the Talbiye neighborhood in the heart of the city.
The theater is an arena of artistic events and brings together the performing arts, the screen, the visual arts, and plastic arts. The Theater strives to present an up-to-date artistic language and to create original initiatives and fascinating compositions that make up a meeting point between idea and art. Every evening, the theater provides an expanding audience of art and culture lovers with a comprehensive cultural experience, exposing it to discourse, challenges, and contemporary cultural creation from Israel and the world. Simultaniously, the theater continues to develop original productions, festivals, and special events. Every year the Jerusalem Theater is visited by close to a million people who come to enjoy hundreds of artists and actors from Israel and around the world in more than 1,000 cultural events.
The theater building is a unique architectural creation in itself. The building, which received the status of a building for preservation, consists of three basic layers of stone and concrete, containing the unique complex of sculptures that lay outside and inside the theater, designed by the artist Yehiel Shemi. The Jerusalem Theater is the new home of the International Solo Dance Festival in Jerusalem.
Miriam Engel, General and Artistic Director | Kfir Netanel, Chief Producer | Elinor Barash, Production | Tanya Schramm, Translations and Content Editor | Melanie Berson, Performance Manger | Brief, Branding and Marketing | Moran Paz, Public Relations | Magenta, Technical Production, Sound, and Illumination | The Choreographers’ Association, Office and Accounting Services | Attorney Daniel Yadid, Legal Advice | Oranit Arnon, Ilanit Tadmor, Ozgur Adam Inanc, and Rafaela Irace, Artistic Consulting
Angela Dance Co. Israel – Miriam Engel
Nitzozot Events
The Hansen House | The Jerusalem Theater
Solocoreografico International Festival – Torino, Italy – Frankfurt, Germany
Solo Dance Ankara – Turkey
FemArt Festival – Pristina, Kosovo
The Jerusalem Foundation | The Jerusalem Development Authority | The Jerusalem Municipality – Culture and Arts Division | The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Jerusalem Wineries | Magenta – Sound, and Illumination | The Slovak Institute in Jerusalem | The Romanian Institute in Tel Aviv | The Italian Institute in Tel Aviv | Goethe Institute in Tel Aviv | Cervantes Institute in Tel Aviv | Chinese Cultural Center in Tel Aviv | Tbilisi Municipality | Gonenin Center for Music and Dance | The Choreographers Association
Ruth Diskin – The Jerusalem Foundation | Smadar Tsook and Karin Shabtay – Hansen House | Sharon Yardeni Abramovich and Anava Reisman Levy – Jerusalem Theater | Giora Engel | Anat Gilad – Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Yossi Zinger | Sharon Bar Lev and the Choreographers Association’s Office Staff | Tamar Berliner and Eli Cohen – Jerusalem Municipality, Culture and Arts Department | Danny Fishoff – Magenta | Yonatan Strayer, Kobi Sharvit, Ben Tschernihovski and Yossi Reif – Brief | Niv Yehoshua Dreyfus Abudram | Michael Tapuach and Yael Margalit – Hamon Volume | Jacob and Martina Urik – The Slovakian Institute | Maria Sicca – The Italian Institute | Adiel Portugali – The Chinese Cultural Center | Carola Dürr – Goethe Institut | Martin Solomon, Maria Minerva Rusca and Ana Marginjono – The Romanian Institute | Ruth Cummings – JCU | Carmit Heinrich – Jerusalem Wineries | Michael Kresner and Bar Elul – Gonenin Center for Music and Dance | Miri Manirev | Kobi Gannet – Alco Print
