My guest for the 50th episode is Smadar Goshen, a choreographer, dancer, a certified Gaga teacher and a Gyrotonic & Gyrokinesis trainer and teacher’s trainer. Smadar completed her B.A in dance and M.A in choreography at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. Since 2011 her pieces are performed on various platforms worldwide. In the yearbook of magazine tanz 2023, She was honoured as one of the 10 promising choreographers & dance pioneers in Germany. Since 2024 she is supported by the state capital Stuttgart and the Landesverband Freie Tanz-und Theaterschaffende Baden-Wuerttemberg.

In our conversation, we explored the tension between personal identity and artistic expression, the role of the body in processing memory and trauma, and the impact of grief on creativity. We talked about the ways in which the body carries memory and trauma and about how Smadar’s artistic practice engages with personal and historical narratives. We talked about the role of dance as a channel for transformation and about the difference between performing to be seen and performing as a medium for something larger.

We talked about the instinct to resist being absorbed into a collective identity and about how that tension informs Smadar’s work. We talked about Jewish identity, the legacy of the Holocaust, and about how Smadar’s encounter with a memorial site deeply shifted her perspective. We talked about the war in Israel, about its impact on identity, and about the complex emotions of belonging to a national narrative. We talked about how the body knows things before the mind does and about the importance of listening to the body in times of transformation and much more.

Connect with Smadar:
Website - ⁠https://smadargoshen.com/
Facebook -⁠ https://www.facebook.com/smadar.goshen/⁠
Instagram - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/smadar_goshen/⁠
Vimeo - ⁠https://vimeo.com/user14631161⁠

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