Re: MItzvah music and dance

[Bert Stratton <yiddcup...>]

I'm no expert on this, but I believe some ethnic groups' enthusiasm for dance is a carry-over from the glory days of the nationality movements from places like Austria-Hungary. 

In Cleveland there are still assorted community-based Eastern Europeans dance troupes.

The Jewish community devotes a lot of energy to sending our kids to Hebrew school, which doesn't, for historical reasons, emphasize dance. (Jews take pride in "learning" -- studying. And, man, there's a lot to study!) 

Come to think of it, tho, my wife has taught Jewish dance at a Reform synagogue here for at least five years.  It's an elective part of the curriculum.  In part it attracts the kids who can't sit still for  "learning."

-Bert Stratton
Yiddishe Cup
http://www.yiddishecup.com


At 03:32 PM 7/18/02 EDT, you wrote: 
>>>>
> In a message dated 7/18/02 10:09:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time, lkoenick (at) erols(dot)com writes: 
>
>
> > I suspect the difference is who is attending â??Greek festsâ?? and who attends a nightclub.
> >   
> > Leonard 
> >   
> > In a message dated 7/17/2002 5:32:31 PM Central Daylight Time, lkoenick (at) erols(dot)com writes: 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 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 don't know....All the Greek fests that I have attended have lots of traditional Greek dancing, and both men and women seem to know how to do it.  But it may all be inconsequential--one generation from now, no one except a few old people and folkdancers/singers may know the traditions of ANY culture.  Kind of like the conquistadors burning down the Mayan libraries, except this time it's being done by radios and CDs. 
> > Lori 
> In the CT area I find that the Irish, Ukrainian, Polish, Greek and some of the Balkan communitities make a great effort to keep their music and dance traditions alive.  Many kids and adults know how to dance to the folk music.  Some can play instruments too.  But I see that the Jewish community here places little value on this.  We have 9 Federations some with JCCS.  The three that have Israeli dancing engage their dance leaders' services on an independent contractor basis instead of hiring them as staff as they do with the ballet and tap dance teachers.  The regional USY used to have a Chug Rikud for many, many years.  It died out several years ago and attempts to revive it have been met with difficulty/negativity from the regional staff. 
>
> Willa 
>
>
>
> ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` 
> Willa Horowitz 
>
> Leader and teacher of Israeli, Jewish and International folk dance 
>
> 130 Mount Sanford Road 
> Hamden, CT 06518 
> 203-248-0291  
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