Amy Leona Havin is a multi-disciplinary poet, choreographer, and filmmaker from Rehovot, Israel currently based in Portland, Oregon. Havin’s work, inspired by the deserts of her childhood and her constant travels through the canyons and the prairie plains, presents a discourse between the nostalgia for her Jewish upbringing and the energetic landscapes of the American West. With process rooted in the duality of being both an American and Israeli artist, she weaves together a collectively introspective body of work, honoring both heritage and the natural world.
Havin began her dance movement training at a young age in Tel Aviv, Israel with Ohad Naharin and Batsheva Dance Company’s Gaga Movement Language. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Portland-based dance company The Holding Project with whom she was awarded an artistic residency at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (2016). Her most recent full-length live performance works, CRANE (2017) and mekudeshet (2019) have been called "empowering, egalitarian, and sensual" by Oregon ArtsWatch's Jamuna Chiarini. Havin’s performance work and films have been showcased both on the west coast and internationally in Israel, Greece, Mexico, and France, receiving awards from the Mexico City Videodance International, Portland Dance Film Fest, Thessaloniki Cinedance International, and more.
Havin’s writings and poetry have been described as “ethereal, subtly violent, and not for the faint of heart” and received showcases in The Dust Magazine, Unchaste Anthology, Goddess: When She Rises, and Gravity According to Birds. She is the founder of Portland-based literary series It’s Rhubarb, and is currently in the creation process for her upcoming literary works, “Holy Roads”, "Crown for Yael", “The Liberation of Sister Geraldine,” “The Anguish of Elizabeth”, and her debut novel, "The Sun Sets on the Pacific Ocean." Havin is also a Contributing Writer for Oregon ArtsWatch.
When not at her writing desk or in the studio, Havin spends her days taking photographs on 35mm film with a 1976 CanonAE-1 camera and shooting Polaroid keepsakes.