Re: MItzvah music and dance

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

I was just at the Greek Community Festival here in Calgary.  A large
proportion of the community was dancing and they only played Greek music.
Most of the time they danced syrtos with the odd tsiftetelli, Tsamiko and
zembeikiko thrown in for good measure.  It was a lot of fun.  What I did
notice though, was that the men in the community didn't dance that much.
The women danced more and I wonder if this is a North American thing.

Last year I attended a workshop here within the group community.  The big
issue with the workshop was that many of the simple village dances are being
lost as well as the village music--it is being overtaken by large, loud,
flashy bands and performance style dances.  Unfortunately, most of the time
the workshop leader spoke Greek so i didn't get more details on this.

Helen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leonard Koenick" <lkoenick (at) erols(dot)com>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 4:26 PM
Subject: MItzvah music and dance


> A few comments that I hope are at least mildly related:
>
> It is not just our Jewish community that has lost the ability to do its
> social dances.  The general population has done the same.  I trace that
back
> to Chubby Checkers and the Twist as the beginning of the inability of
people
> to dance together.
>
> Don't be too quick to believe that other ethnic groups have maintained
their
> own ability to dance to their historic cultures.  A few years ago I went
to
> a nightclub in Philadelphia for what was called "Greek Night" with a minor
> apprehension that I was going to a fraternity party.  Busloads of Greeks
had
> chartered the place.  The music was fine but the only dancing that was
done
> was the same as current popular dancing. I.e. standing alone and bouncing
up
> and down.  The only difference was a sop to tradition by holding their
arms
> over their heads while dancing.  All the same regardless of the tune.
>
> Leonard Koenick
>
>

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