ASHER LEV

BIO

Born in Canada in 1981, Lev grew up in Israel. He danced for Yasmeen Godder in Israel and for other choreographers such as Örjan Andersson (SE), Edhem Jesenkovic (DK) and Ina Christel Johannessen (NO). In March 2006 Lev created his first full evening solo, Avi Cohen, and has been making his own work ever since. In 2012 he completed a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and in Islam/Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Magna Cum Laude). Currently, Lev is based in Brussels and enrolled in the Amsterdam Master of Choreography program (AMCh) in de Theaterschool, in the Netherlands.

FRAME OF RESEARCH

Ecstatic(s)

I am drawn to practices that pertain to trance excited and ecstatic performing states. These encompass physical, emotional and spiritual realms and the pathways in which they are produced and reproduced as an artistic practice. I am interested in spectatorships that arise for a public that is being presented with a performer’s personal experience or in other words, his or her own “trip”. What kind of affective powers do hyper states of existence, such as hyperventilation, have on spectators and how can these performances become contextualized as an engine empowering social and political critic. In my research I am using and developing methods with which practice ecstatic states and stage them as public events and live performances. What kind of knowledge can I, a performing artist, acquire by reaching trance and how can this be shared with others?