inside this issue: safdf is coming!tifd.org/news/tifdnews_feb12.pdfinside this issue: sincere thanks...

NewsFebruary 2012–April 2012

Volume 32, Issue 1www.tifd.org

Inside this Issue:

Sincere Thanks to Our TIFD Donors 2TIFD Board of Directors 2Next Board Meeting 2In Memory of Joan Robins 3Calendar 4Folk Festivals in Georgia & Turkey 4Teachers available 2012/2013 4Murphy’s Law for Folk Dancers 5Rakott Krumpli (Layered Potatoes) 5Texas Camp Memories 6My Camp Band Experience 8English Country Dancing is Alive and Well in the U.S. 9Book Review: Knitting Around the World 9Dance is Alive and Well in Israel 10

SAFDF is Coming!by Lissa Bengtson

I invite everyone to attend the 54th San Antonio Folk Dance Festival! March 16-18, 2012 at the International Folk Culture Center on the campus of Our Lady of the Lake University. Featured instructors are Yves Moreau, Ira Weisburd and George Fogg. Full registration before March 1 is $60. Partial registrations are also available. Saturday night there will be a Folk Dance Concert in Thiry Auditorium; price of admission is included in the full registration amount. Please see www.safdf.org for more information, a downloadable brochure and on-line registration. You may also email [email protected] Dorm rooms on campus may be available, but we won’t know until Spring Enrollment is finalized around the middle of February. The closest major hotel is the DoubleTree at 502 E. Cesar Chavez Blvd, but there are many others in and around the downtown area.

Texas Camp Syllabi Index

The Texas Camp Syllabi Master Index has been updated to include the Romanian dances taught at our 2011 camp. If you are looking for instructions for a dance that was taught at Texas Camp in previous years, the Master Index is a good place to start. You can find it on the web at http://tifd.org/TexasCampSyllabiIndex.pdf

2012 TIFD Membership Directory

If you received this newsletter by mail, you will find a copy of the current TIFD Membership Directory enclosed. This directory lists all members who joined or renewed by February 1, 2012. We do not post the directory on the web for privacy reasons. The directory is for personal use of TIFD members and any commercial use is prohibited. If you spot any errors or omissions, please send the corrections to [email protected].

Texas Camp Lost & Found

Pictures of items found after Camp 2011 may be seen on the TIFD website http://tifd.org. Contact John Ramage ([email protected] if these items belong to you.

February 2012–April 2012 TIFD News

Deadline for the next issue of TIFD News is

April 18

The TIFD Quarterly Newsletter is published on the first of the month, in February, May, August, and November; the eLetter is sent on the first of the remaining months. Send news to [email protected]. Articles received after the deadline may be postponed until the next issue or the next eLetter. Deadline for the March eLetter is February 24.

TIFD News is published four times a year for the members of Texas International Folk Dancers, a non-profit educational organization. Submissions for publication are welcome, yet subject to editing. All opinions expressed are those of the author exclusively. Material herein may be reproduced with the editor’s permission.

CALENDAR LISTINGS: Send email to [email protected] and [email protected].

ADDRESS CHANGES: For newsletter mailing list or TIFD Member Directory, contact TIFD, PO Box 4516, Austin, TX 78765, Attention: Chuck Roth, 512-453-8936, [email protected].

SOUTHWEST FOLK DANCE DIRECTORY: Contact board@tifd org if you want to take on this project.

GENERAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Email [email protected] or mail to TIFD News, PO Box 4516, Austin, TX 78765.

TIFD Board of Directors

Jan Bloom, President [email protected] Tsurikov, Secretary [email protected] Bengtson [email protected] Bostwick [email protected] Chadwick [email protected] Jenkins [email protected] Schaffer [email protected] Soto [email protected] Yoder [email protected]

TIFD Treasurer: Georgia Horn [email protected] Chair: Chuck Roth [email protected]

Next Board Meeting

The next TIFD Board meeting will be on February 25 in Houston. Our new board members, Sara Talbot and Emily Clement, will take office at that meeting If you have an item you would like the Board to consider or if you would like to attend, please contact [email protected].

Sincere Thanks to Our TIFD Donors

TIFD gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following members who contributed in 2011 to the Bobbi Gillotti Scholarship Fund, the Live Music Fund, the Texas Camp Floor Fund, and/or the General Fund:

Alan & Sally JenkinsBarbara StreyCarol RussellChuck & Kaye RothConnie GoodenDugan SabinsElaine MoczygembaEllen PlazaElsie DodgeFrances DanisGaby Hildebrand & Jan DrathGary O’berg & Cathy Pyle-O’bergGeorge B. UnderwoodIda DownsJane Steig ParsonsJeff WebsterJoan FurstenbergJudit G. Ries

Kaye Miller GillKeith HolmesLila LuceLita PinterMike Revesz & Kathleen McDonaghPat PottsPatricia WoodPeggy LivingstonRobert BadenSara Horn-Talbot & Carson TalbotShelley AllisonSteve GinzbargSue GriffinSusie Nagel & Max CapplemanSusie Thennes & Mike HefnerTerri ChadwickVita Hollander


In Memory of Joan Robins November 19, 1933–January 3, 2012

by John Clement

Joan was a longtime international folk and Scottish dancer. She was born in Grinfrey in the NE of England. In Grinfrey she would get up at the crack of dawn and worked as a milkmaid. After immigrating to the US she worked for Bill Hobby, the former TX Lt. Governor, as a nanny and household helper. She was very frugal and managed to buy a house in the Houston Heights, which she rented out while living in her employers housing. After retirement she lived in her house and later in Eagles Trace retirement home. Funeral arrangements were made by the Neptune Society. She is survived by various nieces, nephews, inlaws, and her son and grandchildren.

While she impressed many as being a very sober individual, those who knew her found her to be a fun loving dancer. She participated in many exhibitions with HIFD including Polish, German, and Hungarian. She danced at the San Antonio College shows and also some of the HIFD Miller theatre shows. But her wicked humor came out best when she made costumes from found objects. She came to one party dressed as a cockroach using black garbage bags for carapace. Then for one Halloween she came in paper bags, but one of her outstanding costumes was a dress made of bubble wrap and a child’s pinwheel as a wand. Then she mugged beautifully for the photo. She was not only an expert seamstress, but also a good cook. She loved to have people over to share one of her wonderful meals. She was also an opera fan and went to the HGO productions.

She was an expert Scottish dancer and would have become a certified Scottish teacher, but she missed too many lessons because of illness. C. Stuart Smith acknowledged that she was worthy of being certified, but she had not actually completed the requirements. She was the chairperson of the Royal Scottish Dance Society in Houston for several years, and she also was Stuart Smith’s dancing partner at some of the major folk dance festivals. I saw how she really enjoyed Scottish dancing when I saw a picture her at a Scottish ball. Her partner was looking straight ahead in sober fashion while Joan flashed a radiant smile for the camera.

In 1985 she joined the Daughters of the British Empire in Houston, and was active in the organization. A member of the organization said she was a wonderful friend and very reliable. She was always doing nice things for people, and if she promised to do something, she would always carry through.

She loved doing outdoor activities such as canoeing, and camping. She would take along her beloved dog Pickle. Appropriately the Heights society will plant a tree in her honor. We had a small memorial during HIFD dancing featuring a memorial table filled

with pictures of her. We also did a Scottish dance to celebrate her life and had a moment of silence. Sadly she passed before her time. She was an asset to folk dancing and will be missed by all of us who had the pleasure of knowing her.


Calendar

February 17-19, Houston, Bayou Bedlam. David Kaynor and The Retrospectacles. www.bayoubedlam.org

February 17-20, Kissimmee, FL, Presidents’ Weekend Workshop. Yuliyan Yordanov for Bulgarian; Andy Taylor-Blenis for Portuguese and Scottish. www.folkdance.org/

March 10-17, Big Island, Hawaii, Tropical Dance Vacation. English Country Dance, Brad Foster and Bruce Hamilton calling to Bare Necessities. http://tropicaldancevacation.com

March 15-17, Dallas, National Accordion Convention. http://www.accordions.com/naa/convention/index.html

March 16-18, San Antonio, TX, San Antonio Folk Dance Festival, at Our Lady of the Lake (OLLU) International Folk Culture Center (IFCC). Teachers Yves Moreau for Bulgarian, Ira Weisburd for International, and George Fogg for English. www.safdf.org

March 16,Kansas City, MO, Red Star Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble, www.hjseries.org

March 23-25, Austin, Set for Spring English Country Dance Weekend. Scott Higgs calling to music by Foxfire and the Rolling Scones. www.setforspring.org

March 23-25, St. Louis, MO, Spring Workshop, sponsored by the International Folk Dance Association of University City (IFDA). Weekend workshop with Yves Moreau teaching Bulgarian. www.stlouisfolkdance.org/schedule.html

March 23-25, Chicago, IL, Spring Festival. Dance teaching by Atanas Kolarovski (Macedonian), Ahmet Lüleci (Turkish), and Venti Sotirov (Bulgarian). Also music workshops, singing classes, and a Saturday evening concert. www.chicagospringfestival.org

March 30-April 1, Tulsa, OK, Tulsa International Folk Dancers Anniversary Party and Dance Workshop. Jennifer Forbes-Baily teaching international mix with Balkan emphasis. [email protected]

April 13-15, Boulder, CO, Titanic Centennial Ragtime Dance Weekend with Richard Powers and Angela Amarillas. www.mchartrand.com/titanic2012

April 20-22, Dallas, When in Doubt, Swing! Contra dance weekend featuring Nils Fredland calling with Elixir. http://www.nttds.org/wids2012/home.html

April 26-29, Wimberley, TX, Kochavim Israeli Dance Camp. Teaching by Ofer Alfassi, David Dassa, Ken Avner, Mitch Ginsburgh, and Alana Grunspan. www.kochavim.net

April 26-29, Bethesda, MD, National Folk Organization Conference. www.nfo-usa.org

May 12-13, Austin, AIFD 50th Anniversary Party. http://aifd.cc

August 5-19, dance vacation tour to Bali. Teachers Yves Moreau and Tineke van Geel. www.tinekevangeel.nl

Travels: keep an eye on these:www.jimgold.com (Jim Gold)www.folkdanceonthewater.org (Mel Mann)www.culturalfolktours.com (Bora Özkök)www.tinekevangeel.nl (Tineke Van Geel)

Folk Festivals in Georgia & Turkey

I would like to inform you that June 6-11 2012, in Batumi (Georgia) and September 5-11 2012, in Cappadocia and Antolya (Turkey) we are holding international folk song and dance festival/competitions. In this festival/competition we hope to have folk song and dance ensembles from all over the world. We extend this invitation to your folk song and dance ensembles in this unprecedented competition. We hope the festival will be unforgettable and impressive. Please contact us for more information and applications.

Folk Festival OrganizationD.Agmashenebeli 4986200, Kobuleti, GeorgiaTel.:+995 5 93 129 517Skype: besarion750E-mail: [email protected]: www.folkfestivals-kn.com

Teachers available 2012/2013From Bart Carpenter

I am helping coordinate logistics for Daniela Ivanova and Angel Nazlamov, and for Iliana Bozhanova and Todor Yankov in late summer 2012 and late spring 2013, respectively. Please contact me at [email protected] if your group is interested in hosting either duo.


Murphy’s Law for Folk Dancersby Forrest Holroyd

This appeared in Ontario Folkdancer in September 1980.A bit dated but still funny.

1. If you get one sprained ankle or one flat tire in a 12-month period, it will be on the day of a festival.2. The Most Attractive Person of the opposite sex is the one whose foot you step on.3. When you visit a group and request a dance, either:

a) They can’t find the record.b) The record they have is a weird arrangement

at the wrong speed.c) You discover that everyone there does a

totally different version of the dance (the odds against you multiply geometrically if you try to lead the dance).4. Just as everyone is getting into the right spirit, the record skips.5. The night you wear your Hungarian costume is the night they serve spaghetti.6. If there are three good folk events in your area in a three-month period, they will all happen on the same night.7. If you watch a dance and are convinced you know it, as soon as you join the line, either:

a) the music stops; or,b) the dance changes to an impossibly hard

variation (this is also known as the Bavno corollary).8. If a set dance requires n dancers, your set will have n-1 dancers.9. No matter what time you arrive at folkdancing, you enter just as your favourite dance ends.10. You will remember a dance perfectly right up to the moment you start to teach it.

For Performers:11. A costume will wait patiently until performance time to fall apart.12. If the rehearsal goes beautifully, the performance is bound to be a disaster.13. By the time a dance is choreographed to everyone’s satisfaction, it is unrecognizable.14. Someone always forgets something.15. The record you want is in the other case.16. If you perform an old favourite that everyone knows too well to bother rehearsing, then the number of variations of the dance that are done will be directly proportional to the number of people performing it (Corrido Corollary).

Rakott Krumpli(Layered Potatoes)

Hungarian recipe submitted by Anne-Louise Schaffer

When I was living in Washington, D.C. during the 1970s and collecting folk costumes, I met a Hungarian woman who traveled frequently to Hungary and bought there both old and new costumes for herself, her daughter, and to sell. As we got to know each other, she invited me to dinner in her home with her family and served a delicious meat casserole. I liked it so much that I asked her for the recipe. Here it is.

6 eggs4 medium potatoes1 pound smoked sausage (kolbász)saltpepper6 tablespoons milk12 ounces sour creampaprika

Hard-boil the eggs. Peel the potatoes, cut in half, and boil 15 minutes until done; do not overcook. Let cool. Cut potatoes, eggs, and sausage into small chunks. Butter a rectangular baking pan (ceramic or Pyrex are best). Layer in first the potatoes, then the eggs. Salt and pepper well. Add sausage. Mix together the milk and sour cream and pour over the entire top. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. It serves 4 to 6 people and takes 10 minutes to prepare once the eggs and potatoes are cooked.

The sausage is the main flavoring ingredient in this dish, so if you want a true Hungarian dish, you need to use Hungarian sausage, which is hard to find in the U.S. (In Houston it is available at Phoenicia.) However, any moderately spicy, smoked, skinned sausage—such as pepperoni—will do fine. Be sure to use sausage and not salami.

This casserole is very filling and perfect for a cold winter day. It is obviously not for those on a diet. However, Hungarians also make it with chopped boiled ham in place of the sausage, which can bring down the calories.


Texas Camp Memories


My Camp Band Experienceby Leslie Gompf

Some time around 1997 I decided I wanted to learn how to play the violin. Lisa Schneider was my instructor and when November rolled around, she encouraged me to go to the Camp Band practice. Since she knew that the music would be too hard for my limited violin skills, she encouraged me to just try to play the first note of each measure or to drone (play one specific note more-or-less continuously.) I’d been dancing for only a few years and had not really paid much attention at camp to the Camp Band. I knew there were some very good musicians in the band, but I figured there were likely musicians of all levels and that therefore there would be music I had a chance of playing.

Boy, was I wrong.This was before there was an easy way to

distribute the music scores (or “charts”) to musicians electronically, so I was handed a stack of sheet music when I got to Franklin and Dena’s house on the day of rehearsal. I hadn’t been dancing long enough to know the “feel” of most of the dance regions or have an understanding of the rhythms, much less know the tunes the band was rehearsing. During the many hours I was there, I think I played one note.

Camp Band is very hard on beginners. One must either be a great musician, very good at sight-reading, an experienced dancer, very familiar with the sorts of music we play, or all four! On the good side, the band members are all very welcoming and nobody cared that I’d not managed to play. What mattered was that I showed up and I tried. I did not, however, attempt to join them on stage at camp. (What stage? This was back when we danced in the gym!)

But in a round-about way, Lisa had done me a great favor. As I sat there listening to everyone around me creating music, I thought “I can do this. I know how to make music from the dots on this page. I just don’t know how to do it with a violin.” I’d played the clarinet from 5th grade to 12th grade but had not played since graduating high school. In other words, I’d not played for nearly 20 years. It took a few more years before I attempted joining the Camp Band again. (Between marrying Bob, chairing the 1999 Texas Camp and having Liam, I had no time!) In 2002 I joined the band. This time I did a little better, and I received a great deal of encouragement from other band members as well as Campers. Being in Camp Band is not easy, but it is very rewarding. Thanks to electronics, a wise TIFD board and generous volunteer work by Don Weeda, Joane Rylander, Anne Alexander and Holly Plotner, we now get our sheet music a few weeks before our one rehearsal (which usually happens in late October and is at my house.) That rehearsal lasts a minimum of 4 hours, followed by a performance at AIFD that night. For me,

this is a very exhausting day. When Camp arrives about 3 weeks later we get a single always too-short rehearsal for the pieces we perform that night. We rehearse during the time that most of you are napping or showering or otherwise resting up after the day’s teaching. Camp Band members have learned how to rehearse while in a state of mental and sometimes physical exhaustion. (Performing is easier due to adrenaline.) Then after missing our nap and eating dinner, we usually have a scant 30 minutes to change into our costumes and return to the stage. (OK, so perhaps band members without children and who eat quickly have more time. I don’t.) About 2/3 of the people who play in the Camp Band manage to attend the pre-camp rehearsal in Austin, but many cannot do so. These people must learn the music on their own before camp and then be ready to perform it after maybe 15 minutes of rehearsing each song with the band. That is no easy task! But the ability of the band to be cohesive after such a short time is part of what makes being a member of it so great. Don Weeda, with the assistance of Joane Rylander, is one big reason we manage to do so. Also, many members have been playing together for so long, albeit once a year, that we’ve attained a sort of musical understanding of each other. For me, being in Camp Band makes the time leading up to camp more stressful as I try to learn new and/or technically challenging music (and be sure I’ve got it all printed out). It means more to pack into the car. It means less sleep and less dancing at camp. But it is so worth it. I enjoy the rehearsals and the performing. I am grateful for the relationships I have formed with my band-mates. I feel so very privileged to get to play with such high-quality musicians and most of all I get such a great feeling from being part of the whole that is the Texas Camp Band. Thanks to Franklin Houston, Don Weeda and all the others who saw the value of having a camp band and have contributed to its continued care and nurturing.


English Country Dancing is Alive and Well in the U.S.

by Chuck Roth

Interest in English Country Dancing (ECD) in the U.S. is growing and new groups are being formed almost every month. We now have active groups in Dallas, Clear Lake (south of Houston), Austin, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Little Rock, and elsewhere in the TIFD region. ECD groups can be found in almost every state with heaviest concentrations on the east and west coasts.

English Country Dancing (ECD) is an easy, fun, social, community dance form. It is done in sets of couples, often in long lines like contra dancing, but also in three-or-four couple lines, circles, and squares. Most English dances have their own tune, and the dance sequences relate closely to the music. Compared with contra dancing, ECD offers a great variety of tempos and musical forms. Some dances are slow and elegant and the music has a classical sound. Others are danced to lively jigs and reels. Many examples of ECD can be seen in the Jane Austen movies and on YouTube. One of my favorites is the Germantown ECD group video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQNMi3skus

At one time, several English dances were included in the repertoire of many international folk dance groups. As IFD groups have shifted throughout the years from an emphasis on couple dancing to an emphasis on no-partner dancing, very few English dances find their way into contemporary IFD programs. Some IFD groups still do Hole in the Wall, Black Nag, and possibly other English dances. English dance was taught at Texas Camp by George Fogg in 2008 and by Connie Lambert in 1985.

ECD has changed. When I first encountered ECD, most of the dances dated back to the 1600’s and 1700’s. You were expected to learn the dance sequences by memory and we danced to old 78 rpm records. In recent years many new dances have been choreographed in ECD style, which has made ECD a vital and living tradition. Most groups dance a mix of historical and modern choreographies. Many groups dance to live music and CDs of English dance music are readily available. In most groups, every dance is taught and prompted in a similar fashion to contra dances. This has made ECD more accessible and enjoyable to many dancers.

The number of ECD weekends, balls, and camps is growing along with interest in this dance form. CDSS (Country Dance and Song Society) is a big promoter of ECD and sponsors ECD camps every summer. This year marks the 5th annual all ECD weekend in our area. This weekend event, called Set for Spring, rotates among Oklahoma City, Austin, and Dallas. This year’s event, held in Austin March 23-25, will feature Scott Higgs calling to live music by two ECD bands. (www.setforspring.org )

Book Review

Knitting Around the World: a multistranded history of a time-honored tradition, by Lela Nargi, Voyageur Press, 2011.

As knitting enjoys a resurgence of popularity, new knitting books also abound. Unlike other knitting books filled with patterns and photos, this one is at once a history and a pictorial geography book, with pictures on nearly every page. This author traces the earliest knitting from the Islamic world into Spain and thence to every corner of Europe; but far from following a linear path, this is a journey filled with side trips to every part of the globe. The author meanders off to talk about knitted lace; nålbinding; hooked needles; and spool knitting. She has photos of shepherds from many lands knitting, including some from France who until recently conducted most of their lives atop stilts. There is an entire chapter on Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Turkey. Even if you don’t knit (and I don’t), if you are interested in textile arts and folk costume, you will find this book interesting.


Dance is Alive and Well in IsraelBy Pat Henderson

After yearning for years to go to Israel for the Karmiel Course and Dance Festival, my husband, Bobby Quibodeaux, and I cleared our dance calendar to attend this year. The event is organized every year by Ruthy Slann of the U.S. and Dany Benshalom of Israel. Bobby and I are both Israeli and international dancers and leaders of the Orlando, Florida international group and we love dance trips such as this. The course, running July 4-11, was for foreign teachers and dancers of Israeli dance so we had a truly international group of around 60 including 10 from France, 8 from Australia, 4 each from Argentina and Germany, 3 from Finland plus one from several other European countries to add to the dancers from the United States. The course consisted of dance workshops during the day with many of Israel’s finest choreographers such as Dudu Barzilai, Avi Levi and Rafi Ziv. The absolute feeling of exhilaration of doing one of our favorite dances with the creator of the dance was priceless. Then, at night, we traveled to a nearby group to dance until midnight. I learned that there are about 350 different Israeli dance sessions in Israel in a week so we had plenty of opportunities to select our venue for the night.

When we arrived, we donned the t-shirt for the 10th Anniversary of the Karmiel Course before we entered the dance hall. Every session had at least 100 people or more, and there were two parts: partner dances and non-partner dances. Most sessions were thirty minutes of each type. When the format changed, it was interesting to see the migration of dancers on and off the floor. A lot of people only do one type; for example, Bobby and I do not learn the partner dances since he usually is the only man at our Israeli dance group. Apparently, Israelis line up their dance partners in advance and dance the entire set with the same person. These dances lasted until 2am and on a weeknight, no less! Ruthy and Dany were very well organized and created a fantastic dance experience for us. So, after a week of getting very little sleep and dancing a lot, the 24th annual Karmiel Dance Festival started in Karmiel. We were staying about a 10 minute walk from the festival which was really convenient and we had a VIP room in one of the festival buildings. There was a stage show every night at the outdoor amphitheatre with thousands of dancers performing with probably at least 5,000 in the audience. We had reserved seats so that we did not sit on the ground on blankets up the hill as the audience behind us. It was a full moon and was really quite cool at night. The shows were very well done with all the various dance groups in costume and most dancers were barefooted. The first and last night had fireworks at the end of the show around midnight. Then the dancing started on the tennis courts—4 courts with 4 circles of dancers which

lasted until 6am. I made 3am the last night which was amazing for me. There were probably about 600-800 dancers on the courts. Bobby and I bought tickets for Romanian and Georgian dance shows. The Romanian show started at midnight! We rushed out of the first night’s amphitheatre show so that we were not late, only to find out that midnight is when they opened the door to let the audience in! The Romanian show was mainly Transylvanian with couples dancing to Hungarian style music. The Georgian show was fantastic with men jumping up and landing on their legs bent at the knee. There were three young male dancers who were also good. So the Karmiel Dance Festival has more than Israeli dance.

One of the big events of the festival is to have a dance competition for the best dance of the year. About 15 new dances are selected with the choreographers unknown. Dance groups perform the dances for the judges who decide the winners. This year, several people from our group volunteered to do a dance of one of the choreographers that we saw during the course. It did not win; it was a circle dance, and all the dances that won, 1st-3rd place, were partner dances. Other events that we attended were two memorial dances for choreographers who had died during the year. Of course, there were a number of food booths that stayed open until 6am. You could get a lot of Israeli and Arabic foods along with other nationalities such as Thai. We enjoyed everything that we tasted. We even got used to having tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfast every day. At the end of the course, we said goodbye to our new dance friends and we were off for a nine day tour of Israel with Ruthy and her sister, Ronit Nachman who was our tour guide. We had nine of us on the tour with 3 Australians and 6 Americans. Ronit took us to from the Golan to the Negev Desert with stops in Tiberias and Jerusalem. It was an amazing tour and we learned so much every day from ancient to modern history. We floated down the Jordan River, floated in the Dead Sea, and took the cable car up to Masada. Several nights we danced, with the last night in Tel Aviv at a hotel right on the Mediterranean Sea. (One night of the course, we danced on the beach close to Haifa). Everywhere we went, there was dance—so dance is alive and well in Israel! For more info or to sign up for next year: July 29-August 10, email Ruthy at [email protected].

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