Gornisht’ – or ‘nothing’ in Yiddish – exists on a playing field where the rules bend between expecting to understand what is seen and heard, and removing that expectation altogether. It is a personal essay on the multitude of possibilities that exist in not knowing, in getting lost, in wandering without destination, and in encountering and interpreting the unfamiliar.

Roy Assaf is a mammal of the hominid family, belonging to the species Homo sapiens, although there are those who are convinced he possesses Neanderthal genes. He was born in 1982 in a place that some call Israel and some call Palestine. He broke his front tooth at age five while dancing on the slippery floor of his family home. At age six he began giving tap concerts for his neighbor. At age 16 he met Regba Gilboa, who rooted in Roy the confidence that dance is where he belongs. Two years later Roy was drafted into the IDF; meanwhile he met Emanuel Gat who introduced him to Schubert and for whom he wore his first dress. After three years in France he came home, and after one year of idleness, he gathered the courage to make a dance… after which he created another and another…and continues to this day.