Rina Schenfeld

Rina Schenfeld was born in 1938 in Tel Aviv

Schenfeld was born in Tel Aviv on December 15, 1938. Her father, Israel Schenfeld, was a salesman, and her mother was Dvora. Both parents were born in Galicia.

She started classical ballet at age 12 with Mia Arbatova. After seeing Martha Graham perform in Israel, she turned to modern dance with Rina Gluck. She then studied in New York at Graham's school and later at the Juilliard School, where she met Pina Bausch.

Back in Israel she danced in Anna Sokolow's Lyric Theater and formed a company of 11 dancers. She also worked in New York with Graham and other choreographers. When Batsheva was founded in 1964, she became its principal dancer, choreographer, teacher and director.

In 1978 she left Batsheva and founded the Rina Schenfeld Dance Theater, with a company, a school and workshops. Her style uses objects, voice, video, music and painting, and draws on Bauhaus and dance theater. She taught many Israeli dancers and won the EMET Prize in 2003.