LA-based Israeli dancer Asaf Goren brings a touch of eye candy to Britney Spears’ new video.
By ORIT ARFAUpdated: SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 21:09‘I FEEL honored to be Israeli in Hollywood... I want to be the face of Israel, and by my actions and personality I represent Israel on its best side,’ says dancer/reality TV star Asaf Goren.(photo credit: DAVID WAGNER)
Move over Gal Gadot, Israel may soon boast an Israeli-made wonderman. Asaf Goren’s superhuman abs have gotten the attention of Britney Spears – and her giggling girlfriends. In her new video, “Make Me,” the queen of pop and her girlie pals taunt a hottie into bringing his hottie friends to an audition. Petah Tikva native Asaf Goren, 25, was one of them.Goren’s chutzpah and charm made headlines last year when he appeared as the shofar-wielding, tallit- wearing “Hebrew Breaker” on So You Think You Could Dance, and his giggling gig with Spears actually mirrored the narrative of the stud-studded video.“I got it through an audition I went for: ‘A confidential pop star music video,’” Goren related in an e-mail interview with The Jerusalem Post.Soon enough, he found out that Spears was the pop star in question, and once the video came out, he said TMZ and paparazzi were on his trail.“I got interviewed by almost all the entertainment magazines and websites in the USA because of that, probably because I’m known from TV before.”Confidentiality agreements prevent Goren from gossiping about what happened on set and from divulging what other gigs his newfound Britney fame has inspired, but he did say this about the Vegas pop-star in residence: “Britney is awesome and a hard worker and true inspiration, and we stayed in touch.”Currently, he’s starring in another reality show, MTV’s Are You the One? in which 10 girls and 10 guys live together in a Hawaii mansion to see who, if any, meet their million-dollar match, literally. New couples who turned out to have been pre-determined by matchmaking experts win the cash prize.“I was the only foreigner on the show, and it was important for me to show more sides of me to the American audience, even though it’s just a reality show,” Goren said. “I saw it as a great platform to represent so many things that are important to me in life.”And one of those things is family. Inquiring female (and male) minds/bodies may want to know if he has a special girl in his life. He actually has two: his sisters, Omer and Noam. These days, he’s romancing his career.“I’m too focused on work and building my career.”
Of mixed Polish and Yemenite descent, Goren’s career started out in judo. His skills as Israel’s five-time judo champion, along with his mother’s mentorship as a dance teacher, fueled his flights on the floor as the famous breakdancer he’s become.“Most people don’t know that I used to travel around the world since I’m 16 and used to perform at, compete in, and judge international breakdancing competitions, especially in Europe, the USA and Japan.”The 185 cm. tall dancer first came to the US as a model with the Wilhelmina modeling agency. (He’s now represented by the Bloc Agency). When he heard about the So You Think He Can Dance audition, he waited in line from 4 a.m., fully prepared and decked out in his Jewish prayer shawl – to get his prayers answered.And he prays that he won’t just be “in” Hollywood, but that he’ll “take over,” becoming one of those rare reality-star breakouts, proving he’s more than just blue-and-white eye candy.“My whole point is to build up my own brand and my own show with music and motivational speaking, to make music videos and to perform and travel the world and spread inspiration. I don’t want to be hired anymore. I want to hire other people to be part of my dream, and I want Britney to be featured in one of my upcoming projects.”Goren was always proud of his Israeli roots and is happy to represent the Jewish state.“I feel honored to be Israeli in Hollywood,” he said.“At the beginning I felt obligated to speak and try to explain all the time about the good things in Israel when people started attacking or speaking their mind about Israel, but I understood that I don’t need it. I want to be the face of Israel, and by my actions and personality I represent Israel on its best side.”The face – and abs – of Israel. So how does he get them as hard as Moses’ tablets? “It’s all about diet,” he said. “My diet is 99 percent plant-based, almost vegan. I drink a lot of water [four liters a day]. I do a lot of handstands, pushups and every day I make sure that I do more than 500 reps of any style of abs workout and do a lot of cardio, jump-rope, running and dancing, and my schedule is every day except Shabbat. Your body needs to rest and build itself.”Yet, he also wants people to work out their souls, asking to leave the readers with this message: “Dream BIG. Anything is possible! Am Yisrael Chai!”