Roy Assaf Dance
The fall of a structure

Roy Assaf is a mammal of the hominid family, belonging to the species Homo sapiens (though some are convinced he possesses Neanderthal genes). He was born in 1982 in the rural community of Sde Moshe in a place some call Israel and some call Palestine. He broke his front tooth at the age of five while dancing on the slippery floor of his family home. At six, he began giving tap recitals for his neighbor, who watched him dance on his concrete balcony from her window across the yard. From 1990 to 1996, he began creating and performing original dances for monthly family gatherings in Jerusalem. At 16, he met Regba Gilboa, an educator, dance lover, and believer in people. Regba instilled in Roy the sense that he belonged in the dance world. Two years later, Roy was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces—a fact that never prevented him from continuing to envision dances. And occasionally, when things got tough, he would sway and groove to uplift his spirits. In 2004, he met Emanuel Gat, who introduced him to Schubert and for whom he wore his first dress. In 2005, Roy met Anat Inditzky, who loves him for all his shortcomings to this day. Between 2008 and 2017, he met Aya, Nuri, Layla, and Jona, who continue to teach him about patience, perseverance, and fortitude, among many other things. In 2010, after three years in France, Roy came back to the place that some call Israel and some Palestine. After one year of idleness, he gathered the courage to make a dance, after which he created another dance and another one and another…  and continues to do so to this day.