Yiddish New York

I had the wonderful opportunity to learn with two masters of Yiddish dance at Yiddish New York – Zev Feldman and Jill Gellerman. The workshop with Feldman focused on the Chusidl melodies of klezmer music (with expert live accompaniment by Christian Crowder and Zilien Biret) covering the styles of rhythmic dance gesture and circling that accompany these tunes. Here is Feldman in action in Russia:

 

Gellerman had over twenty musicians jamming at Yiddish New York behind her and lead a large group in line dances and other wedding style dances that were a total delight. Here’s a sample of her teaching style from a class in Poland:

 

The New York based dancers Sarah Myerson and Yehudah Hyman were part of the day, as was the dance master I study with in Philadelphia – Steve Weintraub. It was a total joy for me to be shvitzing on the dance floor with such a learned group of dancers.