Re: MItzvah music and dance

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

So, taking into account what everyone has been saying, what can we, as 
an international community, do as a unit to promote "Yiddish" dance that 
we are not already doing?
Lori

Bert Stratton wrote:

> 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 âEURoeGreek
>         festsâEUR? 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
>
> <<<<
>
>
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org 
> ---------------------+ 
>