Yael Karavan is an award-winning Israeli and British performer, dancer and director. Born in Israel, she grew up in Florence and Paris, moved to the UK in 1996 and has been living in Lisbon since 2019.
Specialized in Butoh dance, her work combines strong visual elements with dance, mime and physical theater, often in site-specific contexts. Bringing together diverse cultural influences, the artist explores ways of acting and reacting to current sociopolitical issues.
Throughout her career, she has created several works for stage, unconventional spaces, museums and galleries in several countries.
In 2009, she founded The Karavan Ensemble, a site specific/responsive company of international performers with an exciting mixture of performance skills and backgrounds. With them, she has conceived and staged, among others, the show Anima(Argus Angel award, 2011), A Light through the Night, a commission for Brighton's White Night 2011, and numerous community projects.
Currently, she is on tour with several of her projects and performances in theaters, festivals, museums, galleries and public venues nationally and internationally - namely, with the pieces MA-MA and Pela Nossa Pele. Simultaneously, she teaches, mentors and directs several artists and companies in Portugal, Europe and Brazil.
