Festival artist

Lin Yi Chien

CHIEN Lin-Yi graduated from the School of Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts. He is the director and performer of 01 Dance Production.
He was a full-time dancer with Japanese dance company Noism between 2013 and 2016, and with Hung Dance between 2017 and 2019.
During that time, He participated in LAI Hung Chung’s works Birdy and Watcher, which won numerous international choreography awards.
His first solo work, Mr. Jo, was premiered in Taiwan’s New Choreographer Project (2016). The second piece, Mr. Papillon, was premiered at the Stray Birds Dance Platform in Taiwan (2021) and the Goyang International Dance Festival in Korea (2023), praised by CNB News for its “uncontainable longing for freedom.”
From 2021 to 2024, his works have been featured for four consecutive years at the Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival. He has also worked as a project dance critic for Performing Arts Review in Taiwan.

Ido Ben Ami Zohar

Israel

Ido Ben Ami Zohar is a violinist, performer-composer, and music producer, born in 1998. He graduated with honors from the New School (Shtricker), the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Art Research Program at the Musrara School of Art in Jerusalem.
Ido’s work spans a wide range of musical genres, reflecting his eclectic life – from contemporary classical music, jazz, and free improvisation; through avant-garde, ambient, and noise music; to indie rock, Arabic and Greek maqam.
Over the years, his projects have included the ensemble AKUM with which he recorded an album featuring saxophonist Albert Beger; his work with the Jerusalem East West Orchestra under the direction of Tom Cohen; his solo project SÄDE; performances with the ensembles Tendres and Eyaru; and his involvement in the music and art venue Shukri led by Alex Garbinenko and Danielle Rosenblat. As a composer, he has received formal recognition including from Mifal HaPais for his compositions for the Ido Zohar Septet, and has also composed music for the ensemble Musica Nova and for the installation When It Rains, It Pours by Dr. Ayelet Zohar.

Yutaka Nakasone

Yutaka Nakasone is a dancer, choreographer, and researcher based in Tokyo.
With a background in mathematics, finance, and cryptocurrency, he turned toward reconnecting with his body and mind after experiencing a period of mental distress.
He conducts comparative research into street dance, classical ballet, budō (Japanese traditional martial arts), and yoga, aiming to uncover the natural beauty inherent in the human body.
Drawn to the quiet elegance of life in nature, he finds joy in discovering the mathematical concepts that underlie its forms.
Currently, he focuses on solo performance while also leading a collaborative project titled “session in nature,” which brings together artists working with dance, sculpture, video, music, and light through creative explorations in natural environments such as mountains and coastlines.

Rotem Sapir & Ayah Dayan

Rotem Sapir is an independent circus artist who specializes in aerial acrobatics. Graduate of Sandciel school of theater, dance and contemporary circus at 2016. Graduate of the ”Trampolina“ program for Groundbreaking circus creation under the scope of the Train theater at 2024. In the past decade she participates as a creating artist in a variety of shows, including: “fabricated” – a duet on aerial silks supported by the foundation for independent artists (2024-2025), “A White Sail” – a show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and won the best Israeli street theater premiere award at the Haifa International Children’s Theater Festival (2025), “Return Of The Circus” – a circus theater show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and is currently part of the Incubator theater repertoire (2021-2025), ”Barely“ – an aerial dance lyra duet by Yasmin Gariv which premiered at ”Fluorescent“ festival.

Ayah Dayan is an independent circus artist who specializes in aerial acrobatics. Graduate of Sandciel school of theater, dance and contemporary circus (Israel) and one year at Centre regional des Arts du Cirque de Lomme (France). In the past decade she participates as a creating artist in a variety of shows, including: “fabricated” – a duet on aerial silks supported by the foundation for independent artists (2024-2025), “A White Sail” – a show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and won the best Israeli street theater premiere award at the Haifa International Children’s Theater Festival (2025), “Return Of The Circus” – a circus theater show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and is currently part of the Incubator theater repertoire (2021-2025).

Rebecca Laufer and Mats van Rossum

Israel/USA

Rebecca Laufer (US/IL) and Mats van Rossum (NL) founded their artistic collaboration in 2018. In Tel Aviv, they established their common love for dance and theater, sharing their passion for research and creation. They have received awards for their choreography at the Rotterdam International Dance Choreography Competition in the Netherlands, the Hannover competition in Germany, and Stray Birds in Taiwan. They are currently creating works at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Club Guy and Roni, and Peridance Center. Rebecca and Mats share a deep interest for movement in a dialogue with imagination. They are involved in all aspects of their productions, including the scenography, dramaturgy, and music composition.

Ming-Shen Ku

As an active choreographer and dancer, Ming-Shen Ku has settled her base in Taiwan since 1987. Ms. Ku’s works are influenced by many Western and Eastern dance styles, a merging development from her diverse backgrounds. After teaching for 25 years, Ming-Shen Ku retired as the Dean from Dance School of Taipei National University of the Arts. She has received Wu San Lien award, a life time achievement award in 2009, and National Award for Arts in 2020.

Since 1992, Ms. Ku became deeply involved in Contact Improvisation and introduced it to Taiwan, later spread it around Asia. She founded her dance company “Ku & Dancers” in 1993 to present new works and promotes the concept of improvisation. Since 2011, Ku and Dancers established a biannual international improvisation festival “i-dance Taipei”. Over more than a decade, i-dance network become a known improve festival around Asia.

Mami Shimazaki

Israel

Dancer, actress, creator, and teacher. Born in Tokyo, Japan, lives in Israel.
Mami was a dancer/soloist for about 12 years with the world-renowned Batsheva Dance Company- She performed most of Ohad Naharin’s repertoire. In addition, she has worked with choreographers such as John Jesperse, William Foresythe, Sharon Eyal, Ruth Ziv Eyal, Alit Kreiz and more. Mami Shimazaki is the winner of best actress – The European Independent Film Festival 2018, as the lead actress in the Feature Film “Call for Dreams”, directed by Ran Slavin.
In the last few years, Mami was invited to perform and create in Europe – Germany, Italy, Ireland and in Israel with Dance, Theatre, and Video Productions.
She is a teacher and workshop facilitator for all ages in Contemporary Ballet and Dance, in Israel and around the world. She is a Graduate of the Maurice Bejart School of Dance and Performing Arts in Switzerland.

I-Fang Lin

In search of what generates movement, the connection with the transformation of gesture into a revealer. Originally from Taiwan, I-Fang Lin refines her choreographic writing through collaborations with numerous artists.; Mathilde Monnier, Christian Rizzo, François Verret, Emmanuelle Huynh, Pierre Droulers, Philippe Katerine, Jocelyn Cottencin, Louis Sclavis, Wen-Chi Su, Kosei Yamamoto, Xavier Le Roy, Boris Charmatz … Practitioner of the Feldenkrais method, she teaches and incorporates on her work a physicality that unfolds in complete awareness. The precision, acuity and organicity of its performances elevate the body to its true value.
She founded Studio MAIASTRA, created “En Chinoiseries” (2016), “Skein Relations” (2019) as a resident artist at NTCH in Taiwan, Au large (2021) as an accomplice artist of the Scènes Croisés de Lozère. “Ebloui “(2021-2022), “Ban-Ping Shan” 2023 co-written with visual artist Jocelyn Cottencin, “CO.M.BAT” and “Party” in 2023, “ Eclipse” In-Situ performance created for 1km of dance in La Rochelle in 2024.

Hung Kuo Chien

Hung Kuo Chien is a circus artist and street performer from Taiwan with over a decade of experience.
He specializes in fire manipulation, circus cube, and crystal ball performance.

His signature act, Moving Zen, draws inspiration from Zen philosophy and the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, embracing imperfection and the transient nature of life.

Through precise prop manipulation and fluid body movement, Kuo creates captivating performances that evoke mindfulness and emotional resonance.
Blending poetic presence with technical mastery, his work has touched audiences around the world.

Gosia Mielech

Gosia Mielech is a choreographer, dancer, movement director, Gaga teacher, and founder of the artistic project DanceLab. A former soloist with the Polish Dance Theatre, she works at the intersection of dance theatre, performance art, and experimental movement. Her artistic voice explores themes of transformation, freedom, and intuition. Gosia has created over ten original performances—including FearLess, Miss Liberty, and Mission Intuition—presented at festivals across Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. As a freelancer, she has collaborated with renowned artists such as Ohad Naharin, Uri Ivgi & Johan Greben, and Per Olav Sørensen. She has directed works for companies in Poland and the UK. A multiple-time recipient of grants from the Polish Ministry of Culture, she continues to develop her choreographic language through international touring and collaboration.

Avishai Cohen

Israel

Avishai Cohen is globally recognized as a musician with an individual sound and a questing spirit, an ever-creative player-composer open to multiple strains of jazz. Aside from the acclaimed work with his quartet over the last several years, and previously his trio work under the moniker Triveni, the trumpeter has also recorded and toured the world as part of the Mark Turner Quartet, the SFJAZZ Collective, Jazz100, Zakir Hussain, and the 3 Cohens – with his sister, clarinetist-saxophonist Anat, and brother, saxophonist Yuval.

In 2024, Cohen released his newest album, Ashes to Gold, a deeply introspective and richly textured exploration of life’s transitions and renewal, was written after the tragic events of Oct. 7th, 2023. The title comes from the Japanese concept of Kintsugi (transformation through repair) where the process of repair doesn’t aim to restore the item to its original state but transform it into a new creation with its own unique identity. The album showcases Cohen’s ability to blend lyrical beauty with technical brilliance, further solidifying his reputation as a boundary-pushing innovator in contemporary jazz.

Cohen, the Founding Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Jazz Festival, has also been voted a Rising Star on three consecutive occasions in the DownBeat Critics Poll.

Arkadi Duchin

Israel

Arkadi Duchin is one of the most iconic and influential voices in Israeli music. A rare artist of sensitivity, depth, and soul, he has spent decades creating a vast body of work—hundreds of songs that have become the soundtrack of an entire generation. With a musical signature that is instantly recognizable- a fusion of pop, rock, touches of jazz, and liturgical tones- Duchin knows how to reach the aching places and offer healing through words and sound. From the anthems he composed for the legendary band The Friends of Natasha to deeply personal ballads written for himself and others, his clear, resonant voice has come to symbolize raw, moving authenticity.

Never one to follow convention, Duchin has continuously broken musical boundaries—bridging rock and Mizrahi music, intimate performances and ambitious concept albums, introspective writing and powerful production for other artists. His songs are pillars of Israeli cultural heritage. Beyond his artistic work, Duchin is known for his open heart and social activism, remaining true to his path: creating from the heart—and reaching the hearts of many.

Michal Heriban

Michal Heriban is a Slovak choreographer, performer, and visual artist primarily based in Bratislava, Munich, and Prague. He is a co-founder of the theater Jedným dychom and has been part of over 40 full-length dance or theatre productions in Europe since 2012. For the past 10 years, he has closely collaborated with German choreographer and visual artist Micha Purucker. He was nominated for the Thalia Awards (CZ) in 2020, 2022, and 2023.

Efrat Valero

Israel

Efrat Valero is a Movement and Butoh dance artist, therapist and teacher. Lives in Beit Zayit with her
two sons. Her work explores the connection between body, expression, and healing. It emerges from deep listening to the body, integrating practices such as Zen, improvisation, and live art. She believes in the body’s ability to create connection and expansion. Strives for living creation that flows from the personal to the universal. Her work weaves together artistic creation, community, and therapeutic processes. Her performances have been presented on various stages across Israel, including the Haifa Museum, Theater HaHanut Gallery, Theater HaYadit, Jaffa Theater, and more.

Sharon Vaisvaser

Israel

Sharon is an independent dancer and choreographer who has participated in various dance festivals and independent productions. She danced with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and worked at the Dance Village in Kibbutz Ga’aton, with the International Dance Journey Program. She gives workshops in contemporary dance, improvisation, and composition, and teaches her choreographic works. Sharon is a Dance/Movement therapist, and heads the DMT program at the School of Society and the Arts at Ono Academic College. She works as a therapist and supervisor in her private practice, also working with victims of the music festival attacks (‘SafHeart’), and supervising at ‘OTI’- the Israeli Autism Association. Sharon holds a PhD in neuroscience, specializing in stress, trauma, and emotional memory, researching brain-body-mind connections.

Ayah Dayan

Israel

Ayah Dayan is an independent circus artist who specializes in aerial acrobatics. Graduate of Sandciel school of theater, dance and contemporary circus (Israel) and one year at Centre regional des Arts du Cirque de Lomme (France). In the past decade she participates as a creating artist in a variety of shows, including: “fabricated” – a duet on aerial silks supported by the foundation for independent artists (2024-2025), “A White Sail” – a show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and won the best Israeli street theater premiere award at the Haifa International Children’s Theater Festival (2025), “Return Of The Circus” – a circus theater show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and is currently part of the Incubator theater repertoire (2021-2025).

Rotem Sapir

Rotem Sapir is an independent circus artist who specializes in aerial acrobatics. Graduate of Sandciel school of theater, dance and contemporary circus at 2016. Graduate of the ”Trampolina“ program for Groundbreaking circus creation under the scope of the Train theater at 2024. In the past decade she participates as a creating artist in a variety of shows, including: “fabricated” – a duet on aerial silks supported by the foundation for independent artists (2024-2025), “A White Sail” – a show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and won the best Israeli street theater premiere award at the Haifa International Children’s Theater Festival (2025), “Return Of The Circus” – a circus theater show that was supported by Mifal HaPais and is currently part of the Incubator theater repertoire (2021-2025), ”Barely“ – an aerial dance lyra duet by Yasmin Gariv which premiered at ”Fluorescent“ festival.

Rina Schenfeld

Israel

Rina Schenfeld is a multidisciplinary artist: dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and teacher. As a pioneer of artistic dance in Israel and a respected cultural ambassador worldwide for over 65 years, she has received tremendous acclaim, international recognition, and prestigious awards, including the Rosenblum Prize, the EMET Prize, and the title of Honorary Citizen of Tel Aviv. She has been called “The Queen of Israeli Dance,” “one of the greatest interpreters of Martha Graham’s language,” and “one of the most important dancers of our time” (The New York Times). Schenfeld has created over 120 original works, many of which are considered groundbreaking and have become Israeli dance classics. She developed a unique, imaginative movement language that integrates objects, voice, song, video, painting, and sculpture.

Avi Kaiser & Sergio Antonino

Israel

Avi Kaiser and Sergio Antonino are living and working in Israel since 2013, and have a rich experience in the field of dance with 20 group works and three duets performed throughout Europe, the US and Israel.

As from 2002 they have been directors of “The Roof -TanzRaum” a dance center in Duisburg, Germany where they are guest artists of the city and the DKM Museum for ancient and contemporary art.

Kaiser worked closely with Susanna Linke as a dancer and choreographer for 15 years.

He created works in Canada, the United States, Senegal, the Paris and Zurich Opera. The French Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of Professor of Contemporary Dance based on his international authority in this field.
Antonino was invited to create at the Venice Biennale, won the Sakharov Prize, and created several works for the prestigious Paolo Grassi National School in Milan. He received his master’s degree in the history of art at the University of La Sapienza in Rome.

In their works there is a strong emphasis on the place, the arena in which things take place. In recent years, a large part of their pieces has been done in and for public space, in cooperation with architects and photographers. One of their leading projects since 2009 is the duet “At Your Place” which brings the dance to the people’s home, to the school class, offices, or to any other possible space where an intimacy allows a different observation of the movement.

Avi Kaiser & Sergio Antonino

Giselle Ben-Dor

USA

Ben-Dor is a Uruguay-born international conductor who immigrated to Israel in 1973. She graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and continued her studies in the United States at Yale University School of Music. She made her debut after completing her studies conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, in a concert recorded by the BBC in London and broadcast throughout Europe. She currently lives in the United States and performs as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world with a repertoire of classical, 20th-, and 21st-century music, as well as with South American classical music. Ben-Dor plays a crucial role in reviving and promoting South American music, which she performs with orchestras in concerts, festivals, and recordings.

Miriam Engel

Israel

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 the past 20 years in Israel, Europe, the USA, Africa, and the Far East, initiating international projects and collaborations around the world.

Engel’s works are characterized by a unique interpretation and design, rich virtuoso performance, and by the adaptation of the Israeli experience in its entire diversity into interactive, universal, and place-dependent work. As a Jerusalemite, she draws artistic and intellectual inspiration from the complexity and multicultural nature of the city where she also acts as a cultural entrepreneur: in addition to founding and managing the Jerusalem International Solo Dance Festival, she founded the Angela Dance Company in Jerusalem – an artistic body that serves as a home for contemporary activity that stages original dance works alongside international projects. She also developed the concept project LoveINg Your City, which documents true love stories from cities around the world through original dance and performance works in public, staged, and digital spaces.

Engel is a member of the board of directors of IUPA, a member of the Choreographers Association, and served as artistic director at Mazia. Alongside her original productions and many performances, she is invited to create, perform, and teach in various institutions around the world.

Nizar Elkhater (نزار الخاطر)

Israel

Elkhater is a pianist, composer, lecturer, and conductor who has conducted dozens of orchestras in Israel and around the world. In 2014 he founded the Harmonica Association devoted to making music studies accessible to populations in Lod. In addition to staging productions throughout the country, the association operates more than eight projects adapted for different populations.

Between 2004-2009 he studied for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and in 2021 he began studying at Bar-Ilan University for his PhD. Elkhater won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers in 2021 and his work “Mediterranean Suite” was performed at the Vatican by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in 2022.

Juan Cruz Luque

Romania/Argentina

Juan Cruz Luque is an Argentine performer and choreographer based in Iași, Romania. His artistic journey spans Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Ellison Ballet (New York City), and the Romanian National Opera. He explores movement identity through a blend of telluric expressions, classical lines and contemporary flow. He has taken part in diverse festivals of theater, folkloric dance and contemporary dance such as JISDF, Florence Dance Festival, Istropolitana Project, Skopje Dance Fest, Tango in Castle New York and the National Chamamé Festival in his hometown, Corrientes. He has collaborated with choreographers like Margarita Fernandez, Guido de Benedetti, Liliana Belfiore, Luis Marinoni Lopez, Răzvan Mazilu, Paula Dunca, Iliana Iliescu, Ioan Tugearu, Sandra Mavhima, Nestor Assaf, Sergio Segura. He holds a BA in Choreography from the National University of Arts “George Enescu” under Professor Lorette Enache.

Tomáš Danielis

Slovakia

Danielis is a Slovakia-based choreographer, media artist, and director of the “Radical Empathy” company. His work, together with the company, focuses on developing works of art as sociological tests, with a longstanding emphasis on themes of empathy, coexistence, questions relating to the perception of freedom, and language. Danielis’s works have been presented in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As a performer, he has collaborated with cie W. Dorner, Olivier Py, Sasha Waltz and guests, cie. F. Ruckert, Freyer Ensemble, Granhoj Dans, and others.

Or Marin

Israel

Marin is a choreographer, dancer, designer, teacher, and founder of the “Or Marin Dance Theater Company” and of “RE-SEARCH” – A three-year professional program for creative dancers. Her work is known for its visual aesthetics and use of vocal and textual work and is created from the notion that a piece must be total in all its components to create a complete, emotional and visual experience.
Her creations include solo and multicast performances, short and full-length works, screen productions and site-specific projects, and are performed in Israel and abroad, including RIDCC, Quinzena de Dança de Almada, MASDANZA de Gran Canaria, DOCK11, Tanzmasse NRW, INTERPLAY Fest, and Exiter Fest.
Marin’s works won many prizes, and her company is supported by the Israeli Ministry of Culture. She is also a permanent associate of the Israeli Choreographers Association.

Lila Zafeiropoulou

Greece

Born in Athens, Zafeiropoulou studied at the State School of Dance and the National Conservatory of Greece. Thanks to a scholarship from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the S.S.D., she received her Diploma in Dance Theater at the Laban Centre in London where she studied with D. Lommel, S. Paxton, C. Mantafounis, Z. Nikoloudi, G. Metsis, and L. Konstantinou. She has danced with some of the most prominent ensembles in Greece, gaining awards and distinctions, and toured in important dance centers all over the world. In 2002 she founded the ELDOR Dance Company. A dance teacher since 1994, she was vice president of the Greek Choreographers Association and a member of the International Dance Council and the Athens Conservatoire Musical Society. She is currently the director of the Athens Conservatoire Dance School.

Viola Gasparotti

Israel/Italy

Gasparotti is a contemporary dancer, performer, and choreographer based in Israel. She has been a dancer for artists such as Neta Pulvermacher, Ronen Izhaki (Between Heaven and Earth), and for the Kaiser-Antonino Dance Ensemble, and is currently working with the the JDT – Jerusalem Dance Theater Company. She has a BA in Dance and Education from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (IL) and a Diploma in Performance and Choreography from the Dance Theater Course of Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi – Milano (IT).

Ran Sandler

Israel

Sandler is a singer who sings in a variety of languages and styles. He has been performing all over the world for 30 years. During his extensive career, he shared stages with Charles Aznavour, Lionel Ritchie, Boney M., and Smokie. He is currently running tribute shows to Queen, Gazoz, and Doda, as well as a 60’s music performance.

Talia Beck

Israel

Beck is an independent dancer and Choreographer. Her works include “Saudade” and “Ma’atzama” (for the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak company), “The Botany of Desire,” “W,” “Colonia,” “Esters,” and “HHH” (for the Bat Sheva Ensemble), as well as “The Moon is A Girl with the Sun in Her Eyes,” and “A Glimpse into a Trilogy in the Making.”

Michaela Harari

Israel

Harari is a flamenco dancer, teacher, and creator who sees the art of flamenco as an understandable and universal language. Harari immigrated from the US to Israel in 1992 and lives in Jerusalem. She danced with the Spanish Dance Company in Boston and performed in clubs and festivals as a soloist in New York. Her broad background in dance includes classical ballet, jazz, modern, and folklore dance, and she studied with leading flamenco teachers in Madrid, Granada, and Seville.

In Israel, she has promoted projects combining flamenco with Ladino, Arabic, and classical music. She performs with Israeli and Spanish flamenco artists, manages learning centers, and produces events. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Harari has taught and performed in many community frameworks: community centers, schools, retirement homes, associations, and shelters.

Rania Ateek

Israel

Ateek is a Nazareth-born soprano singer. She holds BA and MA degrees from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance where she studied under Mrs. Anat Efrati and Dr. Ido Ariel. Her operatic repertoire includes the roles of Queen of the Night, Femina and Papegna in The Magic Flute, Serpetta in The Pretend Garden-Girl, Susanna and Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Strauss), Norina in Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Clorinda in Cinderella (Rossini), Angel in Talitha, Come Back! (van Loonen), The Sand Fairy and the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) and other roles. Her concert repertoire includes, among others, the solo role in Mozart’s Requiem and Fauré’s Requiem. She was a member of the Meitar Opera Studio and currently performs as a soloist in various concerts with the Raanana Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and in other settings.

Andrej Lyga

Czech Republic

Lyga completed his master’s studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the Nonverbal- Department. He is Prague-based and works with companies such as Tantehorse, Studio Damúza, and many others. During his studies, he created the well-known improvisation company “We Boys Who Walk Together” with Šimon Pliska, Lukas Blaha, and Václav Wortner. The company specializes in improvised “freeform”, and its performances are oriented, among others, toward child audiences. Since 2022, he is also a member of the “Losers Cirque” Company. For his first solo project, “A Fairytale for the Brave”, Lyga was nominated for the famous Czech Thalia Award 2023 in the Alternative Theater Category for Outstanding Performance, as well as in the Talent of the Year Category at the Theater Critics Awards 2023.

Shlomit Fundaminsky

Israel

Fundaminsky is a choreographer, a researcher and practitioner of movement improvisation, a dancer, and a dance teacher. She holds a B.Ed and M.Dance in choreography and is currently a lecturer and head of the Choreography Focus at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She was an artist and visiting lecturer at the University of San Jose US on behalf of BAMAH, and in 2022 won the Ministry of Culture Award for performing the solo “Big Hand Little Hand”. She also participated in the artistic direction of the “Shades in Dance” festival at the Suzanne Dellal Centre. Fundaminsky creates interactive works for children in collaboration with Einat Gantz; initiates and directs the “Shlombel” workshops for release, improvisation, and performance techniques; supervises the “Fresco” troupe dancers in improvisation; and dances in the improvisation collective “Octet”.

Raz Naveh

Israel

Nave is a dancer, creator, and performer engaged in improvisation, release, and contact-improvisation. She graduated from the “Pina” dancer-creator training program and will soon complete her BA at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, specializing in choreography. Naveh practices improvisation as a way of creating and as an approach to reality, observing movement as the sculpting of the body. She seeks to expose the encounter between different and changing human materials and investigates how we move in space, act within it, and react to each other. As a dancer, she worked with choreographer Orly Portal, and as a creator and performer, she performed at “Machol Shalem Dance House Jerusalem” and “Amiad Center” Art Gallery in Jaffa. Her creation and performance of a solo work won first place at the 2024 Gertrud Kraus competition.

The Jerusalem Ballet

Israel

The Jerusalem Ballet Company, under the artistic direction of Nina Timofeyeva, presents a diverse repertoire of works in the classical, neoclassical, and contemporary ballet styles, created by international choreographers alongside works by the artistic director and other Israeli choreographers. The company’s repertoire stands out in the Israeli dance landscape with works on Jewish and Israeli themes such as “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Memento” (Holocaust), and “He Walked in the Fields” (novel by Moshe Shamir). The company performs before the general public as well as students in morning shows, and in studio performances and workshops at its headquarters at the Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Ballet School, which operates beside the company, raises dancers, many of whom proceed to professional dance careers in Israel and abroad.

Mar Gómez

Spain

Gómez is the director and founder of “Cia. Mar Gómez” and a student of fine arts and classical and contemporary dance. She founded her company in 1992 after working as a dancer in various companies (Cía Peatones, Madrid; Cia Didier Theron, Montpelier; Cia Dominique Bauet, Montpellier; Cia Avelina Argüelles, Barcelona), and after one of her creations was awarded the 1st Prize at Madrid’s “Certamen Coreográfico” in 1991 and Barcelona’s Ricard Moragas Contest in 1992.

Gómez’s work is located in the field of dance theater. Her work is known for including narrativity, meticulous construction of the characters through physical theater and choreographic work, an intense physicality, and her personal use of a sense of humor in each and every one of her pieces.

Xavi Martínez

Spain

Martínez graduated in classical dance from the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona (1991-1997) and studied HBO dance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague (1998). In 1999, after dancing with several Catalan contemporary dance companies (Avelina Argüelles, Danat Dansa, Trànsit, etc.), he joined “Cia. Mar Gómez”. Since then, he has been a choreographic director and performer in all the company’s shows, presenting hundreds of performances nationally and internationally. At the same time, between 2002 and 2008, he regularly collaborated on various projects directed by the British artist Lindsey Kemp, working as a performer, choreographer, and/or assistant director in the staging of operas in Spain and Italy, sharing the stage with Lindsey Kemp himself in the director’s creations.

Matteo Vignali and Noemi Dalla Vecchia (VIDAVÈ)

Italy

VIDAVÈ Dance Company is an Italian-based project of the duo Noemi Dalla Vecchia and Matteo Vignali. The dancers-choreographers work together since 2019, building a hybrid choreographic aesthetic they call “spoken dance” which bridges between movement languages from the street and contemporary dance styles, integrating the use of words to enrich the micro-dramaturgy of movement.

Their chief works include “With Another with You”, “Hansel&Gretel Alteration,” and “Choreographic Figures,” which have been performed at platforms such as Teatro Comunale of Vicenza, TanzArtOstWest, Teatro Fontana, the Istanbul Fringe Festival, 10Sentidos, Linkage, International SoloTanz Theater, Tanzplatform Bern, Teatro Mercadante, and 2023 Stimmung. Their performances have been selected by Anticorpi XL 2020 and 2022 Festivals and won the ADEB and Prospettiva Danza prizes, as well as the Biennale Danza production award.

May Zarhy

Israel

Zarhy is a freelance choreographer whose work ranges between the concrete and the abstract – from functional, daily movements to ones that we could call “Dance”. She is a graduate of Codarts in Rotterdam and the ex.er.ce choreography program directed by Xavier Le Roy and Mathilde Monnier in Montpellier. During her studies, she worked as William Forsythe’s assistant in Germany. Later, Zarhy co-founded with Ioannis Mandafounis and Fabrice Mazliah the trio Mamaza (2009-2014), with which she created and performed around the world. Since 2014, Zarhy created around 15 pieces, including “Witness” (Ballett Chemnitz, 2024), “Presencia” (2023), and “Ausencia” (2021), which were presented in festivals and theaters in Europe and Israel. Between 2021-2023 she directed the postgraduate choreography program at Kelim Center and is currently teaching at Tanzfabrik Berlin, Promornings in Suzanne Dellal and more.

Maayan Liebman-Sharon

Israel

Liebman-Sharon is an Israeli choreographer, artistic director, and curator. She holds B. Dance and M. Mus degrees from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, specializing in choreography. Her work has been presented at festivals and residencies in Israel and around the world: the Israel Festival, the Jerusalem International Solo Dance Festival (JISDF), Machol Shalem’s Jerusalem International Dance Week, From Jaffa to Agripas Festival, Hazira Dance Arena, and the Dan David Award Ceremony (all in Israel), the Zagreb Dance Center in Croatia (ZPC), Se.s.ta Center (Czech Republic), JSKD (Ljubljana), the 1927 Art Space Gallery (Athens), Solodanceankara Festival (Turkey), and many more. Her work has also been presented in museums and galleries such as the Israel Museum, Haifa Art Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Museum of Muslim Art, and Moscow Museum.

Noam Helfer

Israel

Helfer is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, and experience-designer. He produces albums (for Camilla, Arik Aber, Oren Lavi, Gon Ben Ari, and others), and designs soundtracks for dance (Fresco, Vertigo, Sharon Friedman, Shlomit Fundaminsky, Anat Grigorio) and other artistic fields. He also releases original music under the names “Helfer” and “Age is a Box”. In recent years, Helfer has initiated, produced, and directed many artistic events that combine different art types on various platforms, including Capsule, Blender, the opening of the Ariella House, One Moment Library, and more. The recurring theme in his work is breaking the standard performance format and challenging the familiar audience experience of stage art.

Jennifer Cohen

Israel

Cohen is a contemporary movement and circus artist, creator, and choreographer. She specializes in aero-dynamic technique with an emphasis on the aerial hoop element. She explores the physical-mental body as a tool for individual and collective healing processes by combining effortless dynamic techniques, synchronized and relaxed respiratory work, and deep listening to the body’s changing center points. Developing her performance and language of movement, she challenges the ongoing integration between circus disciplines and the fields of dance and physical theater, using images, quality of movement, sound, and writing.

Cohen completed a year of studies at the “Kelim Center” for choreographic work and is engaged in the production of independent projects. She has also created and collaborated with the Canadian Cirque du Soleil and the French Cirque Plume.

Rotem Weissman

Israel / Hungary

Weissman is an Israeli choreographer and performer based in Berlin. She graduated from the Dance Department at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (2015) and the “Maslool” Professional Dance Program (2017) and holds a diploma in choreography from the International Choreographic Exchange postgraduate program at SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (2018). Weissman participated in artist residencies at SEAD (2019), Studio Alta (CZ), Sadnaot Habama (IL), Tanz Station (DE), and Cie La Baraka (FR), and received the Neustart Kultur #TakeHeart residency funding from Fonds Darstellende Künste and Flausen+Bundesnetzwerk residency at Schloss Bröllin.

Her work “AGADA” (Premiered 2022), was performed at Acker Stadt Palast (2022, DE), Dock 11 (2022, DE), and Habait Theater (2022, IL). Her work “Prisma”, a piece for young audiences supported by Explore Dance, premiered in Munich in March 2023.

Rebecca Laufer

USA / Israel

Laufer was born in the United States and received her BA from the Point Park Conservatory in Pittsburgh. Next to performing her own works, she performed in the Israeli Opera under the direction and choreography of Itzik Galili and the Cameri Theater with Andrea Martini, and is currently dancing with the Avshalom Pollak Dance Theater.

Mats van Rossum

Holland

van Rossum is from the Netherlands and received his BA from the Amsterdam School of Arts. As a dancer, he worked with and performed the works of choreographers and theater makers such as Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak, Itzik Galili, Eyal Dadon, Olivier Fredj, Ariel Wolf, Jason Danino Holt, Andrea Martini, and Lotem Regev.

Lea Bessoudo Greck

Israel

Bessoudo Greck is a French-Israeli artist who began her career with a classical education from the Grace Princess Academy of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. In 2013 she moved to Israel to deepen her study of movement, and since 2016 she has been conquering the global audience as a dancer in the Kibbutz Dance Company. Her talent for choreography sets her apart, having created acclaimed works such as “Who am I” for “The Kibbutz 2”. Bessoudo Greck collaborates with institutions such as the Czech National Theater Silesian-Moravian and currently serves as rehearsal director of the Kibbutz Company. She is known for her animalistic and powerful yet highly sensitive body language. She fosters creativity and dissolves boundaries thanks to her emotional intelligence, desire to connect with people, and sharing in movement.

Hanoch Ben Dror

Israel

Ben Dror studied classical ballet and modern dance at the Bat Dor Dance Company. He began his professional career with the Ballet de Tours under the artistic direction of Jean-Christophe Maillot and has performed as a soloist for renowned choreographers such as Mats Ek with Cullberg Ballet, Nacho Duato at Spain’s National Dance Company, and Ohad Naharin with Batsheva.

Ben Dror also creates dance works for groups like Batsheva, São Paulo City Ballet, Osnabrück Tanztheater, Lisbon City Ballet, De De Dance, Vertigo, and the Jerusalem Dance Theater Company. His work “Temps Blanc” was awarded the Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports Award.

Between 2007-2009 he served as artistic director of the “Shades in Dance” festival at Suzanne Dellal, and as of 2023, he is the artistic director of the Jerusalem Dance Theater Company.

Margot Gelber

USA

Margot Gelber is a New York-based choreographer and graduate of The Boston Conservatory. Her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally at venues and festivals including Dance On Camera at Symphony Space, The 92nd Street Y, Mexico City Dance Festival, Gdański Festival Tańca, Solo Dans Ankara, Chop Shop: Bodies of Work, and The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston.

Her award-winning debut dance film, If I Were You, is currently streaming on Ovid and PBS All Arts, and has been recognized for its choreography, performance, and soundtrack.

She currently creates interdisciplinary performance blending dance, text, and comedy—probing the body’s capacity to hold contradiction, clarity, and wit.

Alegria Band

Israel

Alegria is a Spanish band with an oriental flavor. The show combines Spanish classics, Ladino love songs, and Latino favorites. The band’s repertoire is wide and ranges from romantic, nostalgic, and touching songs to energetic and joyful ones, motivating the audience to sing and dance. It includes the best hits of the Gypsy Kings, flamenco songs, and influences from Andalusian music, Greece, and even Yemen.

The show is suitable for all types of audiences and all ages since it combines songs from different periods, thereby connecting old and new and taking the audience on a journey that is lively and energetic but also emotional and tender.

The ensemble consists of three musicians – guitarist Roy Weisglass, guitarist Joe Taylor, and drummer Gilad Amsalem, and will host choreographer and flamenco dancer Michaela Harari.

Roy Weisglass is a professional guitarist and leader of the band Alegria. Throughout the years he has performed in festivals and shows with various bands and projects and is also a music teacher for kids at the conservatorium in Beit Shemesh.

Gilad Amsalem is a darbuka artist who specializes in a variety of styles from around the world. He played in various bands, including the Andalusian East and West Orchestra, Firkat Eleanor, Guy Cohen’s Revolution Orchestra, and many more.

Joe Taylor is a British guitarist, singer, and songwriter specializing in Spanish guitar and flamenco. He led the “Ted Conference band” and performed in important frameworks such as the Jerusalem Orchestra East and West, the Glastonbury Festival, and many more.

Nitsan Hasky

Israel

Haskey (born 1996) is a choreographer, dancer, and movement teacher. She explores questions about body patterns, relationships and intimacy, aesthetics and physical expression, and practices contact-improvisation, release, and improvisation techniques as a way of life. She also teaches contact and improvisation techniques. Haskey is a graduate of the “Pulse” School of Theater and Creativity in Mitzpe Ramon and a graduate of the “Zygote” program for creative dancers. She is currently nearing the completion of her bachelor’s degree in dance in the Department of Movement at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

Pnina Koren

Israel

Koren is a Jerusalemite, freelance choreographer, dancer, body lover, movement researcher, DJ, and producer. She explores the body as concrete physical matter and thus the formation of matter that changes and moves. Koren has performed at the Jerusalem Fringe Festival, the Jazz Festival at the Israel Museum, and the 40th anniversary event of the Anna Ticho House.

Adir Buzaglo

Israel

Buzaglo is a dancer and dance teacher. He was born and lives in Eilat and holds a bachelor’s degree in dance and teaching from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He is currently working with independent choreographer Romi Alon on her work “A Woman Walks into a Repair Shop” and dances in the Fresco Dance Company under the direction of Yoram Carmi.

Amit Oddes

Israel

Oddes is a dancer and independent creator in the field of dance. She holds a B. Dance specializing in choreography and a teaching certificate from the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. Oddes is active in a variety of interdisciplinary artistic projects, chief among them is the Marliman Collective in Jerusalem. Her works have been performed at festivals in Israel and abroad, including the Between Heaven and Earth Festival, Festival Tranås at the Fringe, STOFF-Stockholm Fringe Festival, BaAzak Festival, MRFF- Mitzpe Ramon Film Festival, Beita Version and more.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

Israel

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, now in its 87th season, was founded as the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra in the late 1930s. In 1948 it became the national radio orchestra and was known as the “Kol Israel Orchestra”. In the 1970s, the orchestra was expanded into the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority. As a radio symphony orchestra, the majority of the concerts which the orchestra holds at its resident hall – the Henry Crown Auditorium – are recorded and broadcast over (Kan) Kol Ha’musika station.
The current Music Director of the JSO is Maestro Julian Rachlin. The orchestra has had nine musical directors hitherto: Mendi Rodan, Lukas Foss, Gary Bertini, Lawrence Foster, David Shallon, Frédéric Chaslin and Steven Sloane.
The orchestra maintains a varied repertoire which ranges from the Baroque and the Classical periods through the Romantic period, extending to contemporary composers, many of whom have received their Israeli premières with the JSO.

The orchestra is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Jerusalem Municipality.

 

Chai Ju Shen

Taiwan

Dr. Shen is the creator of the “Geo-Choreo” practice that looks into movement cultivation by feeling and articulating the movement distribution, density, viscosity, pattern, and tendency within the practice. She aims to help people enjoy serenity through dance and dancing. By incorporating her practices with Qiji Daoyin, Shen attempts to generate a two-way channel where the performer and the audience are receiving and giving in every possible form of message. Such a channel blurs the duality of the two roles and activates the suspension of their gazes and judgment. They both simply feel the spiritual reign by themselves where everyone can be healing, healed, and energetically radiant.

Margot Gelber

USA

Margot Gelber is a New York City based artist who studied at the Boston Conservatory under the direction of Cathy Young. Upon graduating, she joined the Ate9 Dance Company in LA before relocating to New York to focus on her dance making. In 2014, Gelber was commissioned as the inaugural recipient of the Boston Conservatory Dance Division’s Alumni Commissioning Project. Gelber was selected to participate in Elizabeth Streb’s “Go!” Emerging Artist Program in 2014, was awarded the Houston Met Dance Emerging Choreographer Prize (2015), and the Bates Dance Festival Emerging Choreographer Prize. Gelber’s work has been featured in festivals and theaters throughout the US and internationally, including San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Seattle, Boston, Poland, and Turkey. Most recently she has been invited to present her work at the Mexico City Contemporary Dance Festival.

Photo: Teal Thomsen