Sahar Damoni is a Christian Palestinian Arab choreographer and dancer from Shefa-Amer a city in the Galilee region of the Middle East, currently living in Leipzig, Germany. Her body of work deals with the challenges she faces as a woman in Arab Palestinian society. As a feminist coming from a traditional Arab society, her art defies the customs and gender norms of her birth- culture; and as a Palestinian with an Israeli ID, she addresses the political tensions and lived realities of her native land.

Sahar’s work has been presented internationally including Holland Dance Festival; Fabrik Potsdam Potsdamer Tanztage; Frauenkirche Church, Dresden, Germany; Inequilibrio Festival, Castello Pasquini, ArmuniaTeatro Tuscany, and Hangar Festival, Italy; Movement Research at the Judson Church and MR Festival at Danspace Project; and La MaMa, New York City; Café Belcampo and Dancing on The Edge, Amsterdam; Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival; Internationale Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart, Echo Dance Festival of Northern Ireland; Curtain Up, International Exposure and InitimaDance (Tel Aviv), as well as various platforms and festival in The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and Morocco. 

She has participated in collaborations and received residences supported by New York University and Jacob’s Pillow; the Goethe Institute; PACT Zollverein; SouthEast Dance, England; Independent Dance, Siobhan Davies Studios, and Sadlers Wells, London; and the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium (IIAC) with support from the GPS/Global Practice Sharing program of Movement Research, Henny Jurrriëns Studio, Amsterdam and O Espaço do Tempo, Montemor, Portugal.

 

Sahar was invited to Un/Controlled Gestures, a seminar on dance and body politic, organized by the Goethe Institute, Morocco (2019), and the Dramaturgy Online Open Forum at Onassis Stegi Cultural Center (2020). In (2021) Sahar was commissioned to create a new work for the Staatstheater Kassel. 

 

Sahar has lectured about her work at Gibney, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and tanzhaus NRW, among others. She has also served as an actor and dramaturg in theater projects with Théâtre des Quartiers d'Ivry and Segun Ojewuyi, before creating her own work. 

 

Sahar Damoni danced with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and received a BA in Dance and Movement for Practicing Teachers from the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and Arts, and a BA in Business Management from The British University of Derby.