Arkadi Zaides is an independent choreographer. He was born in the Soviet Union in 1979, and immigrated to Israel in 1990. Today he lives and works in Tel Aviv.
Choreography - Since 2004 Arkadi has been working as a free-lance choreographer. His works have been shown in numerous international festivals in Israel, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Holland, India, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Romania, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Japan, amongst others.
Awards - In 2008, 2009 and 2011 Arkadi Zaides was awarded Israel’s ministry of culture and sport prize for young artist of the year in the field of dance. In 2010 he has been awarded the prestigious Rosenblum Award which is awarded annually by the city of Tel Aviv, supported by the Hanna and Gottlieb Rosenblum Foundation, to encourage excellence in the arts. Zaides's choreography 'Solo Colores' was awarded with the prestigious Kurt Jooss award in 2010. In 2008 his work ‘Adamdam’ won third prize in the international choreography competition ‘No Ballet’ which is held in Ludwigshafen, Germany. His video dance ‘Solo Siento’ a collaborative project with video artist Shira Miasnik, won first prize in the ‘Vdance’ festival, the international video dance festival held in Tel Aviv in 2007. In 2006 he was one of three finalists in the third round of the Rolex mentor and protege art initiative in the dance category, and as a result he received financial assistance to support him in his artistic work in that same year.
Curating - From 2009 till 2011 Arkadi Zaides was the curator and the initiator of ‘New Dance Project’ at the Performance Art Arena in Jerusalem together with the choreographer Anat Danieli. New Dance Project is a developing platform which designed to be a fertile environment for artists in the field of dance to grow and develop. The project provides young creators with mentoring, production assistance, financial support, master classes led by choreographers and theorists from Israel and abroad, and the opportunity to participate in a new discourse between artists and audiences about dance practice and dance making.
Community - Embedded in Arkadi’s work is a belief that the role of art is to challenge and inspire viewers, while simultaneously it has a larger universal role to reach out and bring together different communities and different sectors of society. Arkadi is increasingly working in diverse communities, focusing primarily on the Arab sector in Israel. Among the activities he has initiated is a project with the theatre group ‘Oyoun’ in Magd-El-Shams, a Druze village which is situated in the golan heights, as well as a project in Rabeah Morkus’s Dance Studio in Yasif village in the north of Israel. Arkadi also teaches a group of orthodox Jewish males as part of the ‘Other Move Project’ in Jerusalem.
Dance - In 1999 Arkadi completed his studies in art and dance in Misgav and joined Noa Dar’s Dance Company. In the same year he joined the Batsheva Ensemble and in 2001 he joined the Batsheva Dance Company as a dancer and choreographer, where he stayed until 2004. During those five years he appeared in Ohad Naharin’s works: ‘Anaphaza’, ‘Zechacha’, ’Kir’, ’Perpetuum’, ‘Dancing Party’, ‘Z/na’, ‘Tabula Rasa’, ‘Virus’, ’Passomezzo’, ‘Sabotage Baby’, ‘Black Milk’, ‘Deca Dance’ and ‘Mamootot’. He also danced in works choreographed by Mats Ek, Sharon Eyal, Paul Norton, and Yasmeen Godder among others. he has collaborated with the duo of choreographers ‘Matanicola’, and with the berlin based group of artists ‘Bridge On A Wall’.
Teaching - Arkadi Zaides is leading workshops on a regular basis. He focuses on the body as a source of authentic and original movement material. By offering triggers and exercises, intended to get rid of old habits, he is interested in discovering a simple and clear expression, in order to create a new rich and personal movement language. Also, since 2000 till 2009 Arkadi has been teaching ‘Gaga’, the movement language of choreographer Ohad Naharin.
