Amit Abend
What is home?

Within her residency at villa\wigman, Amit Abend is facing the topic of home. By questioning her personal origins, the place of her current residence and what kind of impact it has to move abroad and come back home - physically, mentally and on a kinesthetic level. Amit is looking for the deeper layers of connectedness with people, no matter where the body is present. Her main driving force will be the question how to make those connections visible, how to craft those links with the power of movement?

"I could genuinely feel that no matter how confusing my sense of home and belonging might be, my body always was and always will be my first home. And even more than that, it is always available for me to return to, no matter where I am in the world.“

Workshop | 13.9.2023, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., TENZA

As we sit, as we breathe, as we move and connect with the body, what we're really doing is coming home. No matter how confusing our sense of home and belonging might be, our body always was and always will be our first home, and it is always available for us to return to, no matter where we are in the world. In this workshop, we are going to dive deeply into the topic of home, starting with its physical variables, such as family, friends, country, culture, and language, and continuing into the deeper layer - the home that exists within ourselves. Using meditation, free writing, breath work, and of course - dance, we will explore movement that is sourced by sensing the body as a sacred space, in which we can feel pleasure, peace, freedom, celebration, connection, softness, and everything we seek for in a home. By tuning in with presence, sensing the body from within, we will explore a new layer of connectedness with ourselves, the space, and the people around us.

The workshop is open both to professional and non-professional dancers and will be held in English.

Amit Abend is an Israeli contemporary dance artist based in Dresden. She has been working professionally since 2014, dancing for various choreographers and companies such as Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company 2, Ephemera Dance Company, Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau, Yaara Dolev, and Svea Schneider. Amit began her creative endeavors as a guest choreographer at Theater Görlitz, creating a solo that premiered as part of the dance company’s “VivaVivaldi” evening in Görlitz, Zittau, and at Zukunftsvisionen Festival. As a choreographer, Amit is fascinated by the humanity that can be transmitted into dance. She explains her creative style: “It’s like watching a movie in a different language. In the beginning, you are aware of the strange sounds, and the effort it takes to read the subtitles. But then, when you dive deeper, you forget all about the words. What is left is the experience, the emotions, and the sensations within you. As counterintuitive as it may sound, that’s exactly what I want people to experience when they watch my pieces: I want them to forget all about dance. Movement is my primary language, but in the end, it’s just a signpost on our path to connect more deeply to our human experience on this planet.”

Amit is also the creator and host of the podcast “Inside Contemporary Dance'' where she interviews dance artists in various stages of their careers. The podcast’s mission is to create an open and honest space to talk about topics that are not frequently discussed in the dance world, strengthen and support our dance community, and remind dance artists all around the world that they are not alone.