The DC area community is sitting up and taking notice of the Israeli Dance Festival! In addition to the more than 650 attendees, the local press is praising the festival and its performers. Click on the links below to read about the festival .
Israeli Dance Festival DC '18 Highlighted!
Washington Jewish Week
Around the country and in Israel most Israeli dancers are gray haired, though performing groups skew younger. Avid dancers note the Washington region as one of the few where the number of younger participants is growing due to efforts of the youth dance troupes.
Israeli Dance Festival DC '14 Gets Great Press!
JewishNewsOne
"Israeli Dance is a pathway for young people to stay connected to their roots and heritage". Watch the report from JewishNewsOne!
Washington Jewish Week
This weekend when the Washington metropolitan-area folk dance community gathers for its fifth annual Israeli Dance Festival DC, the family-oriented atmosphere will be underscored by actual family members who dance together. Israeli folk dance has deep roots in the region, dating back to at least the early years of Israel’s formation, and today avid dancers include generations of parents and children, brothers and sisters who dance together.
Montgomery County Gazette
The Israeli Dance Festival DC 2014 kicks off at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville. The event will feature performances by regional troupes such as Avirah, Hora DC, Kesem, Mavrik, Yesodot, Kinor and JPDS-NC, with a special guest performance by Bustan Boston.
Israeli Dance Festival DC '13 in the News!
Bethesda Magazine
In its 4th year, the Israeli Dance Festival DC was held on Sunday, April 28. The theme of this years festival was Bonim Atid or "Building the future".
The lively performance featured seven local dance troupes and two guest troupes from Boston, the Collage Dance Ensemble and Brandeis University. A total of 145 dancers were on stage and over 650 people attended Sunday at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville.
Washington Jewish Week
Collage Dance Ensemble aims to build bridges through dance and music. The Boston-based dance troupe, founded by Ahmet Luleci, a native of Turkey, is as likely to dance a chasidic-style folk dance as a Turkish one. The company, Luleci said, aims to promote harmony between people from different cultural and social backgrounds.
Montgomery County Gazette
Some Israeli folk dances are based on musical traditions from all over the world that are centuries old, but the dances also continue to evolve as today’s participants keep adding new music and new choreography.
“The average age [of dancers] is getting older, but kids in middle, high school and college infuse new energy into it,” said Michael Fox, co-artistic director with Pepe Strauss of the community dance group Yesodot for high school students.
Read more.