Ori J. Lenkinski

was born in Canada, grew up in Philadelphia and attended McGill University in Montreal. From 2002 through 2011, Ori worked closely with site specific choreographer Noemie Lafrance, collaborating and performing in several of her works including the Bessie Award winning production Descent. After almost a decade in New York, Ori fell in love with Tel Aviv. In Israel, she has danced with Anat Katz and Erez Maayan, Ariel Cohen, Noa Shadur, the Israeli Opera and others. Shortly after arriving in Israel, Ori began to work with choreographer Rachel Erdos, with whom she has worked on a long list of projects in various roles from dancer to music advisor to dramaturg. In 2015, Ori created the duet The Painting with Michal Hersonski, which has been performed throughout Israel. In 2017, Ori created Portrait #2, a duet with Ruth Eshel inspired by Rachel Kafri’s 1977 creation Portrait of a Demagog. Since 2008, Ori has contributed regularly to The Jerusalem Post, specializing in dance, fashion and design. Ori’s writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, Reform Judaism Magazine, on www.danceusa.org, www.972mag.com and in Dance Magazine.  She is the author of the column Parental Choreography, published bi-monthly in Haaretz. She is a regular guest on Trending on i24 News, speaking about all things dance. In 2016, Ori established Creative Writing, as a means for dance practitioners to expand the possibilities of text in relation to dance. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Israeli Union of Performing Artists for over ten years. In 2019, Ori co-hosted Spring Forward TV from Val de Marne, France, interviewing the twenty Aerowaves artists who presented work as part of the Spring Forward Festival. In June, 2019, Ori premiered The Suit as part of Tmuna Theater’s Intimadance Festival, which was inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy. The work has since been presented at theaters throughout Israel and abroad. In September, 2020, Ori premiered Meet Me in the Market, a new Jackie-based choreographic tour of Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market as part of the From Jaffa to Agripas Festival.  In 2021, Ori presented Birth Preparation Course as part of the Akko International Fringe Theater Festival. The work is currently part of the Tmuna Theater repertoire and has been presented internationally. Ori has created two dance films with Rachel Erdos: Carriage and Expecting, both of which present the moving female body while pregnant. Ori is the movement director, co-creator and participates in Blueberry by Nataly Zukerman, which won Best Show at the Akko International Fringe Theater Festival in 2022. She is mildly allergic to pineapples.

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