Yiddish Dance Workshop
Aug 13 – 17 @TANZWERKSTATT; OMA

10 a.m. – 1 p.m. & 3 – 6 p.m.

With Michael Alpert, Zev Feldman, Steve Weintraub & Sarah Myerson (coordination)
Artist-in-residence: Alan Bern, Andreas Schmitges & Sayumi Yoshida



This summer, Weimar will be the site of a full-blown Yiddish dance summit! The worldwide revival of Yiddish dance culture over the last 30 years is indebted, first and foremost, to three outstanding dance masters and educators: Michael Alpert, Walter Zev Feldman and Steven Lee Weintraub.

It is thanks to Michael Alpert's early research and dance descriptions that a large part of today's dance repertoire exists at all: his seminal video recordings of Ben Bazyler and Bronya Sakina are gems of traditional Yiddish dance.

Walter Zev Feldman is not just a worldwide authority in the field of Ottoman and Yiddish (dance) music, but also one of the last representatives of the southeast European Ashkenazi dance tradition, especially in its soloistic and gestural forms.

Steve Weintraub is the only active Yiddish dancer with a solid background in contemporary dance. His focus is on blending elements of traditional Yiddish and modern dance (see www.gilgul.eu); he is also a passionate dance instructor who gets everyone's feet moving.

The YSW 2019 Dance Workshop offers a unique opportunity to explore a rich variety of traditional Yiddish dance styles.

Workshop fee: 345 € Standard / 270 € Reduced / 470 € Sponsor / 145 € under 18.
For information about the Standard, Reduced and Supporter fees >> read about

 

The evening program that caps each workshop day has much to do with the unique atmosphere of Yiddish Summer Weimar. On some evenings we meet for jam sessions in Weimar's cafés or in the Other Music Academy (OMA), a great opportunity to put into practice what you've been learning during the day and connect with the other participants. On other evenings, we present concerts connected to the workshop topic performed by internationally recognized artists. During the Festival Week (July 27 - August 3), directly following each evening's featured event in the mon ami cultural center, we meet again in the OMA for the Late Night Cabaret, an informal and fun atmosphere for short performances by anyone ready to jump on stage. In Yiddish Summer Weimar, learning, playing and connecting with each other go hand-in-hand.