Cleveland has gained an unlikely new patron of the arts: the local Jewish federation.

As part of a new project to help showcase Israeli artists, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland is helping to facilitate Israeli performances at some of the city’s major museums, concert halls, and theaters. The program, launched this fall, aims not just to boost Israel, but the Israeli arts, as well, with the message that Israeli culture is not just for the JCC anymore.

Near the start of the dance performance piece “Brothers,” break dancer and choreographer Ephrat Asherie turns and faces the audience dressed like a boy. Her long brown hair is covered by a black bandana and she wears a plain red sleeveless sweatshirt. Her baggy jeans are ripped open, thigh down to shin, which exposes her black kneepads, a basic piece of equipment for any b-girl.

Completing the gender-bending look are her arms, which are so chiseled they would make Madonna envious.

The soundtrack, which until this point had been a series of fast percussive beats, falls away and the voices of two of Asherie’s older brothers, Gil and Neer, fill the small space at Dixon Place, an experimental theater venue in downtown Manhattan. They, along with two other elder Asherie boys, are the titular “brothers” of the piece, and in their narration they recount the myriad ways they picked on her. Despite the harassment growing up, Ephrat, the youngest and only girl, wanted to be just like them.