Raphael Sacks

Raphael Sacks (they/them) is a singer, dancer, and theatermaker born and raised in NYC.They first connected to meditation practice and dharma study through performer training, and began the deepdive into committed practice more than 15 years ago.Raffles has performed internationally with the English National Opera in London; Loom Ensemble’s annual performance season in Dubai, and with the Art Monastery Project in Italy, Belgium, Stockholm, and Berlin.New York highlights include Lincoln Center with Urban Research Theatre, New York Philharmonic with Constellation Chor, BAM with Meredith Monk, and La MaMa with Loom Ensemble.Raffles is particularly proud of their role in devising, producing and performing in “Bootstraps:An American Fable” which toured the US in 2017 and 2018, combining dance-theater and anti-racism workshops; most recently Loom Ensemble’s “Twenty Twenty / Twenty Twenty-one” which included participatory ritual for grieving racist police violence, and guided audiences to imagine their own role in cocreating a more just future.Co-Director of Loom Ensemble since 2010, co-Director of the Art Monastery from 2014 to 2022, “500-hour” certified Yoga Teacher, and dharma student since 2010, Raffles believes in the artist as a whole human, and advocates for integrity in all the little choices of daily life.