
The background picture on my website is an original drawing given to me by the daughter of one of the dancers' in my class. I like how Kat always draws the men in the class with straight hair and the women with curly hair. I especially love that she draws a smile on everyone's face.
I've approached summer 2014 class with the same care and trepidation that I usually have when selecting dances for a new session. I like to select a balanced blend of fast and slow dances; a variety of circles, lines and couple dances. Typically, I like to select dances from a variety of regions. But this summer, I'm doing something new.
Starting tomorrow, the class will be a 5-week focus on Israeli dance - 12 Israeli dances in 5 weeks. There will be a variety of aerobic dances (Haro'a Haktanah, Od Lo Ahavti Dai) and slow, beautiful dances (Yedid Nefesh, Ma Na'Avu). There will be classic dances and modern dances. Sapri Tama will be our 4-wall dance; Ba La and Ve' David, our couple dances, and Machar, our 3-person dance. Jacob's Ladder and Shav El Admati will round out our circle dances. Terrible pun. Hora Agadati and Cumbia Semena will complete the dozen.
I don't know if we'll learn anything in particular about Israeli dance, if we'll come to any conclusions from dancing these dozen Israeli dances. I'm just striving to replicate Kat's picture - people happily raising their hands into the air with smiles on their faces.