Re: Fw: Dancing

[Steve Weintraub <dancinsteve...>]

I'd like to introduce myself to the list- I just recently subscribed and
have been following the dance thread with special interest.
I'm Steve Weintraub, and I live in Atlanta, GA. I lead dance at weddings and
bnei mitzvahs here and elsewhere, have choreographed and performed
theatrical dance based on Jewish themes and music, and for the past 5 years
have had the good fortune and privelage to teach Yiddish dance at Klezkamp.
I think its great that so many people are now interested in the question of
how to dance to klezmer music, and are taking leadership in their
communities -its obvious that otherwise people are clueless as how to
respond in a sustained way to this great music.
I'd like to put in a few general observations (my 2 cents, plain):

First- it seems to me that Yiddish dance has always meant itself to be
distinct from the mainstream or goyish dance- like the Yiddish language.
Borrowings notwithstanding.  The music and dance combine to make an
identifiably Jewish experience.  More on this in a bit..

Yiddish dance is more concerned with spatial figures (circles, snakes,
pinwheels, etc) and details like who's dancing and with what (mitzvah tanz,
bottle dance, koilich tanz) than with elaborate step patterns.  In a
freylachs especially, adjacent people may be moving with differnt
steps(prancing, walking, 2-step)  Body language is extremely important, tho-
and communicates the "Jewishness" of the dancers.

Yiddish dance was a live, continuously evolving entity until this century,
when the Shoah and the consequent eclipsing of Yiddish culture by Israeli
culture left only isolated pockets of continuity- some American communities,
the Orthodox and Chassidic especially, and dwindling memories of older Jews.
There's value in being historically accurate with reconstrucions of music or
dance, and when I'm teaching a workshop I try to be very clear about where
this or that movement or figure comes from.  However, when leading dance at
a simcha, I'll rob from most any Jewish source to create an experience that
is varied enough for modern Americans- Chassidic men's and women's steps and
figures, the mayim step, the bulgar/hora, rondo figures like spirals and
tunnels, even bits of or entire easy Isreali dances, like Mayim or Hora
Hadera.  Again, it seems the key thing in this instance is to create for the
participants an identifiably Jewish experience (as opposed to, say, the
electric slide).

Boy, this was a pretty long post, especially for a first timer. It's all
Helen Winkler's fault - she encouraged me to post.  I'm really interested in
discussing dance with anyone out there- both from a historical perspective
(I'm still learning and piecing things together) and from a practical,
modern perspective.

-Steve

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lori Cahan-Simon" <l_cahan (at) staff(dot)chuh(dot)org>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Dancing


> There don't seem to be a whole lot.  Ari, how about making a dance teacher
> listing page on KlezShack?
>
> Dance teachers, send your names and locations, and the names and locations
of
> others you know who are not on our list, and at least we'll have the list
in the
> archives that someone could search.
>
> Ari, since I know people search for musicians on your listings (I know
because I
> have gotten a number of calls from my listings), perhaps we can encourage
people
> hiring "Yiddish" dance teachers by providing a place to find them
geographically
> and otherwise.
>
> You provide such wonderful services for so many.  Keep up the good work!
>
> Altz gut,
> Lorele
>
>
> allen watsky wrote:
>
> > Any Yiddish Dance Teachers ? Would love to hear from you.............AW
> >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "allen watsky" <awatsky (at) nj(dot)rr(dot)com>
> > > To: <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> > > Sent: Monday, December 31, 2001 3:18 PM
> > > Subject: Re: Dancing
> > >
> > >
> > > > Hello, Wondering if anyone knows of a person in the NYC metro ,North
> > > Jersey
> > > > area qualified and interested in teaching Eastern European
Dance/Klezmer
> > > > Dance/ Jewish Dance(insert your favorite term here)? Please reply on
or
> > > off
> > > > list as you prefer. ThanksMuch,Al Watsky
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

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