Re: Yiddish folk dancing on campus

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

I can give you my observations, although living far away from the rest of 
the Yiddish dance world, and being a relative newcomer to the Yiddish dance 
scene, I haven't had a large number of experiences leading events just yet.

I have found that international folk dance groups here, are very receptive 
to Yiddish dance.  Most of the participants at the events I've led have not 
been Jewish.  They've been very enthusiastic and very interested in both the 
dances and the cultural context.  After the event in Edmonton that I led, I 
spent an additional 2 hours or so, talking with the group leader about 
ethnography and comparing Yiddish to Romanian folk dance (to the point that 
my tongue got sore from too much talking:) )

When I've tried to present these dances to my Israeli dance group, I have 
had a very mixed reception--some people won't participate and I've even seen 
people leave the room.  They want Israeli dancing, not Yiddish dancing.  
Others are interested and do enjoy these dances.

At Jewish community events, I've also had mixed experiences.  When it was a 
large festival, that was well publicized, well planned and had lots of 
support from community organizations, the dance component has been great.  
Other times when I've been asked to lead dancing but the event has had less 
attention to its organization and I haven't been allowed to bring a few 
ringers with me, it has been quite difficult to get people up and onto the 
dancefloor.  I've had a few good experiences with community groups where 
I've given a talk first about the old weddings and then presented a few 
carefully selected dances.  I guess if people are unaccustomed to dancing in 
the first place, you can't expect them to get up and dance solidly for 2 
hours or more.  It seems to me, one needs to nurture these dance experiences 
in order for them to take root and thrive.

I'll be interested to see my impression changes when I move to Toronto later 
this summer.

Helen

Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler

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