Gurit Kadman (Hebrew: גורית קדמן ; b. March 2, 1897 - March 27, 1987) was an Israeli dance instructor and choreographer, and is considered the mother of Israeli folk dancing.
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Gurit Kadman was born Gertrude (Gert) Loewenstein in Leipzig, Germany in 1897 to an assimilated Jewish family who could trace their roots to Prague. In her youth she was active in the Wandervogel German youth movement.[1]
In 1919, she married Leo Kaufman, and the couple joined the Blau Weiss Zionist youth movement and began agricultural training in preparation for a communal life in Palestine. Her son, Raphael, was born before they left.
In 1920, they immigrated to Mandate Palestine and were among the founders of the communal settlement Heftziba, first near Hadera, where another son, Amnon, was born, and then at its permanent location in the Jezreel Valley. Later, they changed the family name to the more Hebrew-sounding name, Kadman, and Gert became Gurit.[2]
In 1925, she accompanied her husband on an educational mission to Austria, where their daughter, Ayalah, was born. Upon their return, Leo was employed by the Histadrut. In 1931, the family left the kibbutz and moved to Tel Aviv.