Israeli folk dancing

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Israeli folk dancing (IFD) is a form of dance usually performed to music from Israel, with dances generally created by people from Israel.

The exact definition of Israeli folk dancing is debatable. The word folk has customarily been used to describe this kind of Israeli dancing because many of the dances are of a folk style reminiscent of dances from Eastern Europe or other parts of the Middle East. In addition to being influenced by folk dances from surrounding countries, many Israeli folk dances are also influenced by modern ballet. Also, unlike traditional folk dances from other countries that have usually been handed down from previous generations to the next and are without known creators, and perhaps even without documentation related to the particulars of a given dance or even specific music, IFD has come to life approximately in conjunction with the modern State of Israel, so the oldest dances are about 60 years old. We almost always know who the creators are, and the dances are almost always associated with a specific piece of music. And new dances have been created and introduced almost continuously during those 60+ years.

Originally, Israeli folk dances were introduced as way to create a new culture in a new land, by combining elements from other dance cultures with the music and themes of modern Israel. Most of these dances were created specifically to be danced in Israel by Israelis, young and old, as a way of celebrating the spirit of the new country. Others were created for professional or semi-professional performing dance groups. Over time, these dances have been embraced not only in Israel but throughout the world.

If you are familiar with country-western line dancing in the U.S., you are familiar with the concept of a dance with a fixed and repeating choreography or set of steps that go with a specific piece of music, which is the basis of Israeli folk dancing. A yotzer is a dance creator who selects a particular piece of music, usually Israeli, and arranges a set of steps to fit with that music. The formation of the dance might be a circle, or perhaps couples, or trios or short lines. Or it might be a group/line formation as in country-western line dancing. A dance's tempo may be fast or slow.

The movements themselves are quite varied. One might find elements with their roots in the Romanian horo, or the Arab dabke, or from traditional Yemenite life cycle celebrations, or perhaps from the Klezmer music and dancing of Eastern European Jews. Or perhaps the movements are more modern, borrowed from swing or salsa or even hip-hop.

[edit] The global IFD movement

The global IFD movement has gone from being something led as a hobby or a pastime by a relative few markidim (Hebrew for dance leaders) to a thriving recreational business in Israel, and to a lesser extent, a similar activity in numerous countries throughout the world. IFD has also seen the rise of numerous yotzrim (Hebrew for dance creators/choreographers) who regularly create new dances for the enjoyment of the world-wide market of Israeli folk dancers.

Since IFD is a living, breathing organism, with new dances being introduced into the repertoire all the time, we tend to find that the dances are as likely to draw from what's happening now as opposed to elements that were introduced years ago. Unlike more traditional styles of folk dancing, the repertoire is constantly expanding, with about 200–300 new dances being introduced each year. Only a small percentage of those dances, however, seem to make it and endure throughout the years. This situation has it plusses and minuses for IFD. On the one hand, new dances help to keep things alive, interesting, and fresh. On the other hand, it also means that one has to stick with the activity on an ongoing basis in order to stay current and be able to dance what other people are dancing.