Iris Lana was born in 1957.
An initiator in the field of dance, a lecturer on theoretical aspects of dance, a manager of archival projects, discourse platforms, and an active member of public committees in the field of dance.
Graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and holds a teaching certificate (1983). Master’s degree from the Faculty of Arts at Tel Aviv University (2006). The thesis “Dance Archiving in Israel: Processes of Change”, supervised by Dr. Dafna Ben Shaul, was submitted in 2019.
Project management in the field of dance: Director of the Dance Cluster in the ‘Digital National Collection: Architecture, Dance, Design and Theater’ project on behalf of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and managed by the National Library, led by the Batsheva Dance Company and in collaboration with the Israeli Dance Archive at Beit Ariela and the Judaica Department at Harvard University Library (2016-2020).
Project manager for establishing the Batsheva Dance Company Archive (2012-2015).
Project for the oral documentation of dance figures from the beginning of dance in Israel, co-director with Prof. Rina Glock (2009-2012).
Co-artistic director with Mia Habib of the ‘New Dance’ Festival (2012) at the Interdisciplinary Arena in Jerusalem.
Choreographer and teacher in the field of theater: Choreographer and movement designer in theater and winner of awards in the field. Movement teacher for actors at Beit Zvi (2001-2016), and coordinator of movement subjects at the school (until 2013).
Dance lecturer: Lecturer in theoretical subjects: History of dance in Israel, History of dance and analysis of works in contemporary dance, at the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem (2008-2024) and the School of Dance at the Kibbutzim Seminar College (since 2014)
Public committees: Member of the Committee for International Exposure at Suzanne Dellal (2014-2020). Member of the Lottery Council for Culture and the Arts (2011-2017) and Chairman of the Performing Arts Committee (2015-2017). Member of the Scientific Committee for the Translation of Dance Books, headed by Gabi Aldor, together with Ran Brown (2010-2015). Member of the Dance Section at the Ministry of Culture (2009-2011).
Co-lecturer in an online course on dance in Israel (2016-2020) with Dr. Yali Nativ and Ran Brown at Rutgers University, USA, “DANCE IN ISRAEL: Body, Ideology and Culture”.
Gives open lectures to the public on topics in the field of dance. Among other things, at the Foreign Ministry’s cadet course and more.
Editor of the “Point for a Thought” – faculty discussion events at the School of Dance at the Kibbutzim Seminar (since 2015).
Creator and performer of the public space performance “In the Footsteps” together with Ruti Director (2024-2025).
Director of the project to deposit archives of contemporary choreographers in the Israeli Dance Archive at Beit Ariela, with Victoria Khodorkovsky, Director of the Archive (2025).
Editor of the podcast “Dance Creatures” on contemporary dance in Israel, together with Dr. Yelli Nativ.
