Re: trends in Israeli folk dance

[Joel Epstein <yoel...>]

While this business of not holding hands might be relatively new in America,
it has been the standard in Israel for years.  In fact, I stopped folk
dancing 25 years ago precisely for this reason.  I mean, if you can't cop a
little feel now and then, what's the point?

Actually, handholding became passe in Israeli dancing long after it did in
popular dance.  The twist (anybody here young enough to remember that?)
heralded the end of touchee feelee dancing in America more than 35 years
ago.

I always found the phenomenon of isolated dancing to be bizarre and slightly
distasteful.  People - both Israeli folk and American rock dancers - dance
like dervishes, totally alone though surrounded by people.  It transforms
dancing from a social to an introverted activity.

I wonder if anyone has studied this matter?

yoel epstein
yoel (at) netvision(dot)net(dot)il

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Cohen" <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: יום שלישי 18 אפריל 2000 22:00
Subject: Re: trends in Israeli folk dance


> I wonder if the tendency, if that's what it is, to not hold hands in
Israeli
> dances to some degree reflects the outsize cultivation of individualism
(and
> entrepreneurialism/wealth/etc.) chronicled in the Business section of this
> past Sunday's times--noted as a sharp break w/ Israel's communal/socialist
> past (and no doubt celebrated by many, but not by me) -- rlc
>


---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+