Artist Statement
I am constantly fascinated by the ways different art forms can be in dialogue with and enrich each other, in how mixing them together can create something bigger than the sum of its parts.
When I was an actress and singer, my voice was my main tool; now, when I create my own multidisciplinary works, I thrive on exploring not only what I can say but more so what my body can express without words. I am constantly discovering how my circus practice contradicts and intersects with the ethics of devised theater. I contemplate the shapes my body makes on different apparatuses – more fluid on the fabric of silks, more solid on the bar of a trapeze.
When I work, I find myself contemplating: How can the use of beats, wraps, drops and vertical space give new meaning to ideas? Will adding a split to my choreography display flexibility alone, or can I rise beyond it to communicate an emotion? Where does the feat of impressive physical abilities end, and when is the audience able to focus on the story I wish to tell? How can I make them forget the skill and lose themselves in the art?
My career has evolved in two parallel paths – Jewish education and performing arts – and recently I find myself most curious about exploring the intersections between these two seemingly separate subjects, particularly through the lens of academic research. This focus on Practice as Research has led my work to evolve into highly text-driven choreographies devised from stories, testimonies, speeches and narrations.
Above all, my joy and fascination lie in the combination of voice, body, mind and soul: speaking at times, moving at times, singing, playing an instrument, dancing in air, juggling, using all the tools I have to communicate a story I find worth telling, and to make the audience go home with lots to talk about.
