“I believe that dance is one of the most important, strongest and primal languages that was developed by human beings”, says Rina. And if you see her dance, you would agree. As I write this, I must have watched her videos for a hundred times. While performing on stage, Rina in true sense is dance in its most instinctive, raw and strongest form.

The Journey

Born in 1938 in a modest family, Rina’s father was a salesman and mother a homemaker. She began studying classical ballet at the age of 12. After studying with the classical ballet teacher Mia Arbatova and the Martha Graham style with Rena Gluck, she won a scholarship to study at Martha Graham’s studio and at Juilliard in the United States. After returning to Israel, she began her career as the Chief Dancer and Choreographer at the Batsheva Dance Company, one of the most respected dance troupes globally. At Batsheva, she performed some of the greatest roles choreographed by world renowned choreographers as the Prima Ballerina. In 1978, she went on to establish the Rina Schenfeld Dance Theater. From there on, she created her own poetry, production, music and shows around the world.

Rina started her journey in dance en point in ballet shoes. She then, took off her shoes to become strong Greek heroines on the stage of modern dance. She danced with garbage bags, elastic cubes, sticks, sand, water, fire, masks and what not. In this process, she discovered a completely new language for her own personal expression of dance. All these objects went ahead to enhance the human body, her temple, through which she told her stories.

In the words of Rina, “My body is my home. My most important work is to connect to my body and to my being and soul through it. I attempt every day to peel back more and more layers of myself to reach the root. Less perfection, more natural. Less intellectual, more instinctive”

It almost sounds like dance is her prayer. Her way to reach the core of all creation. She is indeed called the ‘’High Priestess of Israeli Dance” for a reason.

A dancing legend, Rina has conceptualised and created hundreds of solo and troupe performances, which have been performed on some of the most prominent stages of the world. Recognitions have come to her from across the planet including - being called “one of the most important dancers of our generation” by the New York Times, Honoured Resident of Tel Aviv in 2020, the EMET for her contribution to society given by the then Israeli Prime Minister in 2003, Rosenbaum Prize for life work and many more. The Rina Schenfeld Dance theatre continues to produce shows, conduct workshops, hold conferences and teach dance to the upcoming generations of dancers. Many dancers that have graduated from here are already established leaders and choreographers of dance companies globally.

The Legacy

At the age of 84, Rina continues to dance and create new shows, produce her own music as well as write the poetry that is the base of the performance.

How does she feel being on stage for five decades is something I truly wanted to know from her. I find her answer in her interview with Suzanne Della Centre in 2020.

Rina says: “The performer and the audience have a very complex and sensitive relationship. It is mysterious and hard to put into words. The audience can take away only what they bring with them... what they don’t have within, they cannot experience or take away. So the audience- performer relationship is a dance itself, where they’re both creating together, an individual experience.”

Her purpose is to reach a more natural and free life through dance, to rid of what is necessary, to rid of the decorative for the real, to reach this place where you are completely naked and just you.

May Rina continue to dance and bring us, her audience, closer to our truth, our being, our core and may we as her audience take away with us the true essence of her dance and her spirit. And may this dance between us never end.