{"id":33588,"date":"2019-11-08T03:50:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T11:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33588"},"modified":"2019-11-06T22:26:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T06:26:58","slug":"the-joy-of-israeli-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/11\/08\/the-joy-of-israeli-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"The joy of Israeli dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tamar Cohen and her husband, Michael Gal. (photo from Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After 43 years of teaching with the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society (VIFS), Tamar Cohen is retiring. One of the early leaders of the VIFS and co-founder, with Rivka Cohen, in 1981, of the Shalom Dancers, an Israeli dance performance group, Tamar Cohen has inspired generations of dancers.<\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s passion for dance began in Israel, in her teens, when she was introduced to Israeli dancing in school, in Kiryat Haim, a suburb of Haifa. At that time, in the late 1940s, in the formative years of the state of Israel, there was an avid interest among the youth in Israeli cultural activities, including folk dance. She joined a performance group in high school and then trained as a teacher, both as a profession and as a dance instructor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did couple and circle dances, no line dancing, and there really weren\u2019t that many dances, not like today,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Cohen also trained as a school teacher, and taught Judaic studies for more than 40 years in Israel, the United States and Canada, including at Vancouver Talmud Torah.<\/p>\n

It was in 1960 that Cohen brought her dance talents to Canada, teaching and starting a performing dance group in Winnipeg, where she met her husband, Michael Gal. In 1975, moving to Vancouver, she was part of the formation of the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society, where she has taught continuously since 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those days, we used records, and then tapes,\u201d she said. \u201cMy son would help me shlep all these big cartons with records on Sundays and Wednesdays.\u201d Now, of course, everything is on computers.<\/p>\n

Cohen taught at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture and at Congregation Beth Tikvah. Many dancers who still gather at the JCC on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, including Lorna Donner and Marilyn Weinstein, both on the current VIFS executive, were introduced to Israeli dancing during the nine years Cohen taught at Beth Tikvah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1992, in the Beth Tikvah social hall, Marilyn and I started dancing by following our teacher, Tamar, around the circle,\u201d said Donner. \u201cHere we are, decades later, still sharing our love and enthusiasm for Israeli dance. Thank you, Tamar!\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen became a VIFS board member when it first became a society, and served as president from 1985 to 1987. She remains on the VIFS executive and is a valued part of its community of dancers \u2013 approximately 80 active members \u2013 who come from a range of ages and walks of life: teenagers to dancers in their 80s; students, artists and professionals; beginners to those, like Cohen, who have danced all their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known and shared the dance floor with Tamar since the early \u201980s, when I first began to attend Israeli dance sessions at the JCC,\u201d said Nona Malki, VIFS executive director. \u201cTamar\u2019s dedication and commitment to the local dance community, to the Israeli dance movement and to the Vancouver Israeli Dance Society, as one of its founders, was both profound and inspirational. Tamar took it upon herself to mentor me and, due to her guidance and encouragement, my passion for Israeli dance was sparked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the changes in Israeli folk dance over the years, Cohen said, \u201cTo me, folk dancing is for the folks, not for the professional or the advanced. I\u2019m a little bit nostalgic in that regard. The dances used to be much shorter and quite symmetric. It came so naturally. I find that, nowadays, the dances are longer and more complicated. The old dances were easier to remember. I might belong to a different generation,\u201d she said, chuckling.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the future of Israeli dancing, Cohen said, \u201cIsraeli dancing is very popular.\u201d There are scores of choreographers from Israel and around the world, she said, and countless new and challenging dances.<\/p>\n

Certainly, it was the joy of dancing that hooked Cohen decades ago. However, she said, \u201cI also see Israeli dancing as an ambassador for Israel. By presenting the folklore, the culture, the music and songs, it brings people, Jews and non-Jews, closer to Israel. Israeli dancing is beautiful. I think it\u2019s very important that it continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about VIFS, visit vancouverisraelidance.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Glenda Leznoff<\/strong> is a member of the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamar Cohen and her husband, Michael Gal. (photo from Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society) After 43 years of teaching with the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society (VIFS), Tamar Cohen is retiring. One of the early leaders of the VIFS and co-founder, with Rivka Cohen, in 1981, of the Shalom Dancers, an Israeli dance performance group, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[2915,1141,9439,9440],"class_list":["post-33588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-israeli-dance","tag-retirement","tag-tamar-cohen","tag-vifs"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}