Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Vertigo Dance Company

Noa Wertheim, the artistic director and choreographer of the Vertigo Dance Company, was born in the United States in 1965 and grew up in Israel where she first studied dance in Netanya. After three years of military service in the developing town of Yeruham, Wertheim completed her dance studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in 1990 and, in 1992, together with Adi Shaal, founded the Vertigo Dance Company, which is based in Jerusalem and in the Vertigo Eco Art Village in the Ella Valley where she lives with Shaal and their three sons.

Under the artistic direction of Wertheim, who is an Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the internationally acclaimed Vertigo Dance Company has begun its third decade with an impressive repertoire of original works choreographed by Wertheim, whose distinct dance language inspires dance students and artists by encouraging interpersonal communication and community involvement.

Beyond her contribution to cultural life in Israel, Wertheim’s unique approach promotes social change by creating an artistic connection with the community and the environment, and this has been evident in the Vertigo Dance Education School, founded in Jerusalem in 1997, in the Vertigo Eco Art Village, founded in Kibbutz Netiv Halamed-Heh in 2007, and in The Power of Balance, a dance program for inclusion of the disabled.

AWARDS AND MILESTONES

2018       Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance – Honorary Fellow Award.

2017       Genesis Prize (Itzhak Perlman), for The Power of Balance.

2016       Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport – official recognition of Vertigo as a large dance company.

2015       Il Teatro Nudo de Teresa Pomodoro International Dance Competition, Milan, Italy – Special Mention, for Birth of the Phoenix.

2014       Weizmann Institute of Science, performance collaboration at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, USA.

2013       Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport – Outstanding Dance Company Performance Award, for Vertigo 20.

2012       Ruderman Prize, for The Power of Balance, a program for inclusion of people with disabilities.

2011       TEDGLOBAL, Edinburgh, Scotland.

2010       TEDx Tel Aviv – speaker.

2009       Israel Ministry of Culture – Dance Award.

2008       Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport – Outstanding Dance Performance Award, for White Noise.

2006       Rosenblum Prize for the Performing Arts.

2005       Culture Minister’s Outstanding Dance Ensemble Award.

2003       Landau Prize for the Performing Arts.

2000       Alternative Theater Festival, Budapest, Hungary – Best Performers Award, for The Gas Heart.

1999       Culture Minister’s Outstanding Dance Ensemble Award.

1998       Education and Culture Minister’s Award for Young Choreographers.

1994       Groningen International Choreography Competition – Audience Choice Award.

1993       Shades of Dance Choreography Competition, Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel – First Prize, for Contact Lenses.

1992       British Council Dance Prize – Scholarship for The Place, London.

ORIGINAL WORKS

2019       Leela

2018       Vertigo & the Revolution Orchestra – White Noise

2017       One, One & One

2016       Yama

2015       Vertigo Global

2014       Reshimo

2013       Vertigo 20

2011       Null

2010       Mana

2008       White Noise

2005       Vertigo and the Diamonds

2004       Birth of the Phoenix

2002       Sylvia