Israeli flamenco dancer Naya Binghi on the life-defining nature of Art

Israeli flamenco dancer Naya Binghi on her journey and award winning video series

Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk...go the lyrics of an ABBA number from yesteryear; they could very well be what Naya Binghi’s parents say about her.

“I started dancing when I was really young; by the time I was three I was already swaying to the music and attending beginners’ classes,” says the Israeli dancer, who was recently in the city. “I would be dancing all the time at home, putting on shows and performances for friends and family.”

Naya recalls a family trip to Madrid, Spain. “It was the first time we saw a traditional flamenco tablao — it’s a rather intimate club setting where you can see the dancer on stage up close.”

“Towards the end of a show, it’s customary to have a ‘fin de fiesta’ or finale and I do it too, at the close of my shows today. The artistes invite members from the audience to join in, and in this moment, that flamenco dancer was looking at me, asking me to come on to the stage.”

“Though I was very excited, I didn’t join her because I was in a new country, but the intimacy of that moment still remains with me. The confidence and attention that dancer lavished on me, a child of five, mesmerised me and attracted me to this dance form,” says Naya.

Once back in Israel, her parents set about looking for a teacher who could go beyond the basics of dance, someone who would impart the nuances of movement to her. “They found a very beautiful, very interesting teacher who let me sit in on one of her classes. After the session, she asked me what I thought and I said, ’I’m Naya and I want to be a dancer.’ I was just six years old and all she said was, ‘Alright, I believe you’.”

Naya says her teacher, Zohar Yael Asaf, was a flamenco dancer who was based out of Israel and taught the dance form to all age groups, depending on their skill and not their age. “Values, goodwill and music — you can find all of these when you learn flamenco. That’s how I started on this art form, but around the time I turned 13, I was fascinated by Israeli contemporary dance. It was edgy, political and social all at once. I was interested in this open-minded manner of moving one’s body and began training in contemporary dance.”