Art and designדגה פדר

Dege Feder

Dege Feder is an Ethiopian-born Israeli artist who works as a choreographer, dancer, singer and painter, and manages the Beta dance company.

born 1978Managing the Beta dance companyBlending Ethiopian and modern danceThe Degedrum music project

Occupation: painter, choreographer, musician

Dege Feder was born in 1978

Dege Feder was born in 1978 in the Gondar district of Ethiopia. She immigrated to Israel with her family in 1985 as part of Operation Moses.

She earned a BEd in arts education from the University of Haifa in 2005.

From 1999 to 2005 she danced with Ruth Eshel's Eskesta troupe, performing lead roles in Israel and abroad and choreographing some of its numbers. In 2005 she began working with the Beta dance company, formed by Eskesta's founding dancers, and she became its manager in 2014. She also founded youth dance companies, including Desta and Tezeta, and taught dance in schools and boarding schools.

Her work combines traditional Ethiopian dance with modern and Israeli dance. In 2009 she sang with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and in 2011 she started the Degedrum project with percussionist Elad Neeman and recorded an album of original songs in Amharic and Hebrew. She also paints, mostly in acrylic on canvas, with Ethiopian motifs and images of women.

In 2021 she received the Ministry of Immigration Prize for artistic achievement and contribution to Israeli society. She is married and lives in Haifa.