Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie has trained extensively in ballet and modern dance but found her artistic home in breaking, hip hop and house. She began breaking in 2002 under Richard Santiago (aka Break Easy) and soon after was introduced to house music. She has been greatly influenced by the New York club scene ever since. As artistic director of Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD), Ephrat received a Mondo Cane! commission from Dixon Place to support the creation of her first evening length work, A Single Ride. This original work earned two Bessie nominations in 2013 for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer and Outstanding Sound Design. This year Ephrat was selected to participate in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Program, which provides professional and developmental support for new work over the course of two years. In the fall of 2015 Ephrat was selected to participate in Alvin Ailey Dance Center’s New Directions Choreography Lab where she began developing ideas for her new work “riff this, riff that” to premiere in the summer of 2016.
In 2014 and 2015 Ephrat Asherie Dance was the two-time recipient of the CUNY Dance Initiative Residency and created two new works that premiered at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater (2014) and Summerstage NYC (2015). From 2013-2014 Ephrat was a Workspace Resident Artist with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and in 2012 a Fresh Tracks Residency Choreographer at New York Live Arts. EAD has presented work at FiraTarrega in Spain, the Doris Duke Theater at Jacob’s Pillow and the River to River Festival. Ephrat’s work has also been presented at the Apollo Theater, the Ahmanhson Theater, Dixon Place, New York Live Arts and the Yard, among others. Ephrat has also created several solos for her work with Dorrance Dance and Philadanco’s Get on the Good Foot Tour: A Tribute to James Brown, which toured both nationally and internationally.
Ephrat is the recipient of a Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant that supported her research on how Brazilian cultural and folkloric dances have influenced bboying/bgirling in Brazil. She has worked with various choreographers and companies including Ann Marie DeAngelo, Doug Elkins, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Bill Irwin, Cori Olinghouse, Gus Solomons Jr, Pilobolus and Emilio Buddha Stretch, among others. Ephrat has a B.A. in Italian Language from Barnard College (summa cum laude) and is a MFA candidate at University of Wisconsin’s low-residency program, where her research focuses on the vernacular jazz dance roots and contemporary street and club dances in New York City. Ephrat is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center and at the Joffrey’s Jazz and Contemporary Program. She is a proud founding member of MAWU, an all-female house dance collective that strives to embody strong and positive images of women in New York's underground house dance community.
