ABOUT | dance

ARTIST BIO:

Florence Nasar is a New York-based artist, choreographer, and activist. Her work draws inspiration from her Syrian Jewish background and seeks the connection between movement, tradition, and social change. She is known for dance pieces that weave together cultural and religious imagery, text, and movement into participatory experiences. Florence has performed and taught throughout NY, as well as internationally in London, Berlin, and Jerusalem. She completed the Avodah Justice Fellowship, and remains deeply involved in intercultural activism, refugee solidarity work, and event coordination with the NY Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee. Florence also holds a Masters in Education and is a NYC public school educator working primarily in the Bronx - with 6+ years of experience teaching English Literacy, Poetry, and Dance.

As a choreographer, and by creating performances that are participatory and immersive, Florence attempts to reshape the audience's experience; they can come to embody the ideas of each piece and have a genuine experience of empathy. By utilizing religious or cultural texts as music, or often the voices of her own family, she creates a personal narrative within each piece, while also layering universal themes through movement. Her artistic philosophy centers on the idea that art is integral to activism, and that we can come to a more honest understanding of each other through art.

Florence is also the artistic director of Kol Isha, a collective working on the creation of a large scale anthology project titled Kol Isha: Voices/Strength which focuses on collecting poetry, essays, visual and performance artwork by Syrian Jewish women. The mission is to explore issues and celebrate stories specifically by women and highlight silenced voices on topics of identity, religion, and culture.

COLLABORATIONS:

Florence has been involved in many mixed media collaborative projects with artists including:

Ventiko The Photographer (Performance/Photography)

Fortune Chalme (Performance/Choreography)

Ariel Krupnik (Performance/Installation)

Andrew Tess (Photography)

and Marti Flicker (Choreography)

PRESS:

A Conspicuous Absence: https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/a-conspicuous-absence/

The Invisible Jew Exhibition: https://jewishartsalon.org/2018/05/15/the-invisible-jew/

Tablet Mag: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/187267/exploring-the-mechitza-through-dance

Jewish Art Salon: https://jewishartsalon.org/2019/01/01/happy-2019-celebrating-last-years-highlights/