Dance With Erica

If you are interested in Israeli dancing workshops of any kind for any age, please head over to Ma’agal! This site is going away, but for now, here are the resources for a handful of really good dances for kids, at camp or in other settings.

If any of the dances below are useful to you, please use them and let me know what else would be helpful to add. (When possible, each page below includes a teaching video, a demonstration video with the music, and links to the lyrics and the mp3! I will keep adding more as they are requested.)

• Hahafsaka Hagdola (ההפסקה הגדולה) (just added Summer 2024!)
• Shemesh (שמש) (the penguin dance)
• Or (אור)
• Toy
• Hineh (הנה מה טוֹב)
• LaLaLand
• Hafinali (הפינאלי)
• Sieben Sieben
• Shalom Lachem (שלום לכם)
• Jungle (ג’ונגל)
• Jaimalé (Summer 2020)
• Adama V’shamayim (אדמה ושמיים)
• Yalla

Most of the above are line dances, which are great for kids and for camp-like settings, but the original and truest Israeli folkdances are circle dances, and the classics never go out of style. I’d never design a dance program that didn’t include Mayim Mayim, or Nigun Atik (aka Zemer Atik) or Od Lo Ahavti Dai or Tzaddik Katamar for example. There are lots of examples of these all over, but those links are to Gadi Bitton’s Beginner Series, which is a good place to start!

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If you’re an Israeli dance teacher for a summer or a lifetime, get in touch! I’d love to connect.

If you’re a shaliach or shalicha – before you come to the US – GO DANCING! Remember that every session (הרקדה) is different, so try a few or check with me first about which is the best one in your area. If you can only go to one, go to Gadi Bitton’s session at Tel Aviv University on a Thursday night. In Jerusalem, go to Yaron Ben-Simchon. In the North, try Yaron Carmel. Always introduce yourself to the markid, tell him that you know me (Erica Goldman!) and tell him what you are doing this summer.

Thanks 🙂
xoxo
-אריקה