Jewish dancing

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

Since I first posted to this discussion group re:  resources about Jewish 
klezmer style dancing, I have learned about a world of Jewish dance that I 
didn't know anything about (despite being involved with Israeli and 
international folk dance for over 20 years).  I have been to many Jewish 
weddings/bar, bat mitzvah parties, where the hora comes on and everyone 
tries to dance but ends up tripping over each other, not knowing exactly 
what they're supposed to do.  Israeli dancing is not easy to pick up on the 
fly;you need to go to classes and practise every week and even then the 
dances change every week!  The traditional community dances like the 
freilach, got lost and it's wonderful to see that they are being found 
again.
But we don't need to feel like we're alone in losing our dance traditions.  
A couple of years ago I was invited to an Italian wedding.  I practised my 
Tarantella faithfully, looking forward to doing it with Italian people for 
the first time.  Well, the music came on, and I got up to dance with my 
husband.  We were the only ones who knew the tarantella!  I heard one of the 
young men in the crowd say:
"so, that's what you're supposed to do to that music."

TTFN
Helen


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