Israeli folk dance

Israeli folk dancing is a popular recreational activity in Israel and performed publicly in many towns and cities, particularly on beachfronts and promenades (known as tayelets).

She joined a newly formed organization sponsored by the Histadrut that devoted itself to the creation of folk dances.

[6] In 1944, Gurit Kadman organized a First Fruits dance pageant to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot at kibbutz Dalia.

The movements themselves are varied, in many cases drawing on older Jewish and non-Jewish folk dance traditions.

Major folk influences include the Hora (a dance form common to many Eastern and Southeastern European cultures), the Tza’ad Temani, Atari, Da’asa, the dance tradition of the Chasidim (adherents of the Eastern European Jewish religious movement), and other Eastern European folk dance traditions.

In spite of the many changes in the values, dreams, and ways of life of the Israelis, many dances of the 1940s and 1950s remain popular.

[4] Today, there are groups in Israel whose jobs are to preserve the Israeli folk dance as a manifestation of pan-Jewish cultural heritage.

The Horah is a circle dance common in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (known variously as the hora, khoro, horo, or oro) that predates the establishment of the State of Israel.

It can be performed to many of the traditional klezmer and Israeli folk songs — archetypally to the music of Hava Nagila.

This is the most common dance done at Jewish life cycle joyous events such as weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs.