On April 29th, 2013, Don Schillinger held his last class at his Monday session at Beth Sholom synagogue located on the Old York Road corridor. This web site which covers Israeli dancing within the Philadlephia region was there with several cameras as you will see below. But it also got this web site thinking about the history of the synagogue itself and the history of Israeli dancing at various sessions at this location in the past. If you do have an interest in the synagogue, which started in 1920 at Broad and Courtland Sts and moved to its present location in the early 1950's, click here for a discussion that includes a short bio of Frank Lloyd Wright whose architectural plans formed the basis of the sanctuary. The rest of this script deals with Israeli dancing from 1995/1996 to the present. You will find that this still includes Israeli dancing, but administered by the Adult education department of the synagogue and led by volunteers.
Although it is possible that Israeli dance had been taught previously at Beth Sholom, the first record of a class that this web site can find is run by Mimi Kogan (some spell it as Cogan) starting in 1995 or 1996 coincident with her teaching another class at the Western Y at City and Haverford Avenues. Kogan had moved to the Philadelphia area when her husband, Hananya, was assigned to this area as a United Synagogue Shaliach. A shaliach acts as a liaison with youth groups, sisterhoods and affiliated synagogues within an assigned geographical area pertaining to Israeli government programming. Mimi had been associated with dancing in Israel going so far as to choreograph her own dance as you can see from our replication of information on Aura Levin Lipski's Israelidances database (English) which you can access at www.israelidances.com. Note:We have received permission from Ms Lipski's web site to display this information here. Anyway, we have so far not been able to find any pictures of Mimi at that time but she made a reappearance in the area as one of the instructors of the last Hora Aviv Memorial Weekend dance camp in 2009 (the pictures of her in this montage are from that camp). The Wednesday after that dance camp weekend she joined Don at his class at Beth Sholom which should have brought back to her many memories from the decade before as she retaught the dances she was dealing with at the camp the weekend before.
By 1998 the Kogans were ready to return to Israel. In the two to three years that Mimi had run both courses, she had built up a small following who would be disappointed if the sessions were to discontinue. So Mimi looked around and thought that one of the local dancers in the area, one who already had experience teaching Israeli dances while on the "committee" at the Gershman Y downtown, would be a suitable replacement for both courses. And this is how Sharon Polsky begins to teach a Tuesday night class at Beth Sholom starting in 1998. Here we have pictures of Sharon from various Israeli dance activities in the years preceding her takeover of this class including a picture in costume. Israeli dance at that time was much more event driven than it is now with concerts and public dance demonstrations the norm. You can read more about Sharon Polsky's experience in the Philadlephia Israeli dance community by clicking here and for more information about the Israeli dance culture in the '80s and '90s, consult our historical section which you can start by clicking here.
Above was a link to a script detailing the history of Beth Sholom. The sanctuary, and this is the area planned by Frank Lloyd Wright, is not convertable to a dance floor. So, the synagogue supplies other areas for this type of activity. One such area, the Fischman Auditorium, can be used for food oriented gatherings as Beth Sholom's kitchen facilities abut this area, stage related events for the same reason that religious events can be placed there given the stage and the availabily of dais and ark and, finally, if one removes excess chairs and tables, a place to dance. This montage gives you some idea of the Fischman auditorium facilities and this is the auditorium usually assigned for the dance sessions whether led by Mimi, Sharon or Don. Sharon would have started to run her Tuesday class in here sometime in 1998.
As implied above, this area is detached from the sanctuary and may have been the entire synagogue from the early '50s to the completion of the sanctuary. Today it houses offices for the various functionaries and administrators and plays host to Beth Sholom's Hebrew school program, both full and part time. This montage shows some other pictures of hallways and meeting rooms within a short distance of the Fischman auditorium.
For 13 years, on Tuesdays, Sharon Polsky would arrive early for her class scheduled at 7:30PM and prepare her computer for that evening's repertoire of music and dance as shown in this montage. For many years Sharon used a program originating out of MIT to handle her music files. This is Neil Rosen's MITPlayer originally written for MIT's folk dance club. We do not know when and how she acquired her sign.
And so, on most Tuesdays if you were to visit Beth Sholom and look in the Fischman auditorium, you would see something that looks like most of these pictures. But, as one of the pictures show, on Purim and Hanukah, Sharon's group would hold a party and the last picture is a group photo of a purim party.
Of course, in a busy synagogue, sometimes the auditorium was already being used. In such cases, the synagogue moved Sharon into one of the pre-school rooms where amid miniature furniture and toys, her group would dance. One day our web site showed up early to take some pictures of the dancing and you can see in this montage pictures of a small group of dancers within a pre-school room dealing with some of the first dances of the night.
In Israel a high point to Isreali dancing every year is the Karmiel dance festival that occurs in the summer. This is named after a town that acts as the cultural center of the Galilee region in Northern Israel where the festival takes place. In 2006, Sharon's group received a request from the leaders of the Karmiel dance festival to make a video to send to the dance camp as a greeting. This montage shows some stills from that video. Unfortunately, that was the year of the Israel-Lebanon war and the dance camp was postponed from its original date and no one knows whether the video was ever shown at any time at this dance camp. However, you can view this video - assuming your system can handle it - by clicking here.. It should be obvious that the Fischman auitorium was used as the set.
On January 9th, 2008, an additional class was started by Don Schillinger initially on Wednesday nights. There was an overwhelming crowd that night as you can read in Don's Email the next day. This web site did not exist at the time so these is no photographic record to show but those who were there will never forget the energy in the room while the session was in progress. This would be the beginning of 5+ years of this session and 3 some years where Beth Sholom would be the host of two independent Israeli dance sessions hosted by Sharon Polsky and Don Schillinger on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively although in July 2009, Don would change his session's schedule to Monday. Although at first this seemed to have no effect, on reflection this seems to have decreased the crowd somewhat. Almost concurrent, an unforseen event would knock out dancing at Don's class for most of the third quarter of 2009
On July 15th, an Email from Don announced the cessation of dancing at his class in Beth Sholom for the summer until October 5th, 2009. Even his Thursday dance session was curtailed. What we didn't know was that Don was suffering from a medical problem that would require surgery and convalescense. Of course, dancing continued at Beth Sholom on Tuesdays as Sharon's class was unaffected. True to his word, after having his class at Beth Sholom suspended for about 2 and a half months, Don returned triumphantly - hale and hearty - on October 5th, 2009. This montage covers the events of that night and this web site created a script that chronicled several Beth Sholom activities of Fall'09 - this included - which you can access by clicking here.
If you are teaching a class, you need to acquire the expertise to present new dances. Both instructors featured here spend time at dance camps and when not attending dance camps, create their own workshops and events. In Sharon's case, she started a successful effort with Aaron Rosenberg to provide for selected nights of golden oldies across the river in Cinnaminson. Her Beth Sholom students, as well as the entire Israeli dance community on the East Coast, were extended invitations and many showed up on those nights. The pictures on the left were taken at one of these Oldie's events and you can see a writeup of this by clicking here.. To the right are pictures taken by her or of her at dance camps - the ones here are from the Toronto IsReal Israeli Dance festival. You can see more of Sharon's visits to Toronto by Clicking here.
There are choreographers who excel in dance choreography, there are dance choreographers who have great personalities, but this montage does honor to a choreographer who has both, Roberto Haddon, who teaches in England. We believe in late October, early November, 2010, that Roberto was moving between Dallas, where he was the featured teacher at the fifth annual RikuDallas workshop in late October and Kerhonkson NY (Hililim) where he was a featured instructor in the first weekend of November, 2010. For several years Don (and also Sharon) had extended an invitation to visit Philadelphia and show his dances whenever he was in the area. Well, the Philadelphia area is between these two points and Roberto Haddon made a triumphant appearance in the Philadelphia area when he attended the Oct. 31st sunday session at the Klein branch and then appeared at both Beth Sholom dancing sessions on Monday, Nov 1st at Don's and Nov 2nd at Sharon's. Note: Similar to Mimi, above, we have listed Roberto's choreography credits as you can see from our replication of information on Aura Levin Lipski's Israelidances database (English) accessable at www.israelidances.com. Note:We have received permission from Ms Lipski's web site to display this information here.
So, at Beth Sholom on Nov 1st, 2010, Roberto Haddon shows up to teach two of his own choreographies, Enigma and Sklarim,and several other Israeli dances that were new to the area. And, the Israeli dance community turned out with many of Don's Thursday regulars on hand as well. Almost all agreed that not only was Roberto's dances engaging but you had to love the personality. It was a great evening that session.
And twice was not enough for the Israeli dance community. For a third time there was a turnout for Roberto as he guest taught at Sharon's class the next evening. Even though he showed what was a replica of the night before, even those who had attended the previous night enjoyed Roberto's visit that Tuesday evening, Nov 2nd, 2010. This web site certainly hopes that Roberto enjoyed his visit here but we are assured that the Philadelphia Israeli dance community to a man (and woman) enjoyed Roberto's three day visit. you can see this web site's coverage of Roberto's viit by clicking here.
In May 2011, Sharon Polsky found that she could not continue to run her Tuesday night session at Beth Sholom. After 13 years or so, Sharon regretfully held her last class at Beth Sholom in June of 2011. There was an attempt to organize a new class on Tuesday at another location but several factors precluded any success in this. But almost two years later, Sharon would return as the Monday night Israeli dance session was reorganized. But, more on this later.
From July'11,only Don's class was running at Beth Sholom. While there would be no other choreographers or surprise guests in the next two years, this session would be involved in one of the odder yearly Israeli dance activities in Nov '11 and Nov '12. You may be aware that November is the domain of the dreaded scorpios. Astrology claims that this sign may be the most powerful in the zodiac. In the Philadlephia area, November brings an odd event: The annual "homage to scorpios" ice cream and fixings buffets. Although we have our suspicions as to who organizes this, no one officially knows where this food comes from but the dancers are treated to quite a spread. You can read more on the "homage to scorpio" events by clicking here.
Anyway, as sometimes occurs, fewer and fewer dancers were appearing on Mondays each week. It appeared to be a slow, steady erosion. Some had medical problems, some used Monday nights for classes in other forms of dance like Salsa, and some just needed the extra time at home. Don, who has an uncanny sixth-sense about the currents revolving around his dance classes, sensed the same and in 2012 decided to shake things up by having the session go on a summer hiatus similar to what was done in 2009 although at that time it was medically required. This web site sensed the change in thinking and was there for the last session before the summer break on June 11th, 2012. These pictures are taken during the prime dancing period of the evening and show the sparse attendance that had become the norm. While most of these dancers assumed that classes would resume in fall'12, several thought that this might be the last session held by Don at Beth Sholom. However Don did resume on October 15th, 2012
Given our discussion above, it wasn't a real surprise when on March 8th, 2013, the Philadelphia Israeli dance community received this Email indicating Don's intention to close his Monday session at Beth Sholom
The next few montages are of pictures taken on April 29, 2013. With Don's last class it was natural for dancers to hug and greet each other as this last session starts. After all, through good times and bad, for many of them this had become a weekly tradition. Several hours on a Monday when they could dance the night away. As of the time of these pictures, no one knew if there would ever be dancing at Beth Sholom again, but as you will learn there is a happy ending to this story.
And Don made sure to play some old favorites including this one, Adama Veshamayim, choreographed by Gadi Bitton. The music is by Lehaket Segol. Our camera swings around to catch the dancers as they move along the line of the circle in part one of the dance.
Generally when looking at pictures its tough to distinguish one dance from another. However Don played another favorite, Aba Shimon, where the dancers break up into smaller sections, reunite and then break up again. We can see this effect in the shots that are part of this montage. Of course, these sequence of steps are created by choreographers, in this case Israel Yakovee from music by Tzlon Golan.
In recent years Don had been doing limited partner sets during his Monday class. Initially, Don only did line and circles but after a while partner dance sets were snuck in. Generally these sets would be easier than in his other classes with additional instruction for those partner dances that had recently been introduced. This night he did some of the old favorites including the dance featured here, Debka Lahat (aka Mechol Halahat) which combines elements of line and partner dancing. Other old time partner favorites were also played and danced to.
This web site has been active since Dec'08. It has attempted to track the events of the Philadelphia Israeli dance community. We have found that there is a subset of dancers of that community that attend all the sessions. This seems to be a good time to highlight several of this subset of dancers since they, of course, made it to this session. Except for Don, we have asked them how and why they chose Israeli dance and if they replied we have, unedited, given the response. We'll start with Don and provide some information about the operation of this class from '08 through '13.
This was the last session run by Don Schillinger at Beth Sholom. He had started this class on Wednesday, Jan 9th, 2008. Don had attempted to create an ongoing Old York Road corridor class previously at Adeth Jeshurun and Keneseth Israel. The third time was the charm. Sometime in July 2009 the session moved to Mondays. Initially 70 dancers would take to the floor but this settled out to about 25 to 30 dancers meeting each week. At the beginning Don would teach beginner dances specifically targeted to the newer dancers that attended this session but over time the dance instruction became similar to Don's other classes during the week and the Beth Sholom session was a good way for dancers to reinforce what had been taught in previous classes.
This is Wendy. She is a regular at many of the region's sessions. Wendy has been nice enough to provide pictures of her and her husband's dance camp experiences and you can read about one of these by clicking here. Here is Wendy's exposure to Israeli dance in her own words:"My very first experience with Israeli dance was in the summer of 1976. Originally, an art student, who went to Italy to study both art and Italian language, I became acquainted with a community of Israeli medical students. This encouraged me to also learn to speak Hebrew. Before actually going to Israel, I found a program, which I believed to have been an ulpan (intensive language course for adults generally used to acclimate emigres into Isralei society), in California. To my dismay, the program at the Brandeis Camp was not an ulpan, but an introduction and immersion in Jewish culture and religion. To my delight, among the cultural arts was Israeli dance and our instructor was Dani Dassa, a famous Israeli choreographer. This began my journey in all kinds of movement and dance. The following summer, I went to Israel to actually participate in an Ulpan. There, I found dance sessions at Hebrew University, led by Ayalah Goren, a woman who trains the dance leaders in Israel. The sessions began with an hour of beginner dancing, followed by another hour of intermediate dancing, and then finally advanced dancing. Through the summer, I progressed to at least be able to participate in the later evening dancing. Lucky for me, Ayalah came to Philadelphia following that summer, to do her own studies at Penn. She gave an introductory course to the dance leader's course in Israel. Ellen Weber and I attended this session, which gave me the confidence to then go on and become a fitness instructor. At that time of life, I was dancing several times a week at Hillel, which later moved to the YMHA, at the Klein branch, and going to many workshops including, Camp Blue Star, Hora Shalom, Machol, the Washington Memorial Day camp, and Miriam Handler's camp. I danced for about 8 years, and then became more involved teaching my own fitness classes, studying jazz dance, and Israeli dance as well as the Hebrew I had learned became a memory. I stayed friendly with Ellen Weber and Sharon Polsky, who for years tried to bring me back to dancing, but as we all know, when you stop dancing, you forget...and in 25 years or so, it was all forgotten. Finally, my husband David and I planned to celebrate his special birthday in Israel. That was all the motivation I needed to finally say......time to go back and start over Israeli dancing. It's been three years now, and the sessions at Germantown Community Center with Grant, and the Monday sessions with Don, slowly but surely brought me back into the community. I was truly disappointed when Don's sessions stopped, and hope that the new sessions continue. I am still very much in the learning process, and these sessions help to bridge the gap for the more intensive sessions with Don and Rob. I also thank all the very patient partners that teach me couples dances regularly!
This is Mark (or possibly Marc or Marck - he has never made this clear). You see him wearing the 'Restore The Shore' sweat shirt. He may be the source of the anonymous history pieces that appear on this web site from time to time not to mention that scorpio thing indicated above. It's possible, therefore, that his latest anonymous piece (which you can see by clicking here) contributed to the recent Diskcoordinator 0014 CD project. Here's his explanation for doing Israeli dance: "I got into Israeli dancing through my friend Les who kept telling me about this. I had been a ballroom dancer but after 9/11 decided to give Israeli dancing a try. At first, I didn't like it but eventually the beat and mathematics of the music and choreography became appealing. I use this as a supplement to my exercise routines."
This is John. Some say that he is the force behind this web site, thediskcoordinator.com. Our lips are sealed so we'll never tell but you can follow his adventures in leading Israeli dancers to the Cherry Hill session by clicking here.
This is Elaine
This is Jody who seems to always be smiling. At the time of this event, Jody had been quite busy as you can see by clicking here. This is her dance bio: "I started dancing at the tender age of 5 when I went to summer camp. In high school, I was a member of Young Judea, a Zionist youth group. We danced at Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, with a group led by none other than Ellen Weber. Our Young Judea group then formed a performing dance troupe and we performed at the Israeli Dance Festival in 1976 that was held at the Gershman Y at Broad and Pine. I stopped dancing while I went to college and started my career. Then I came back to dancing in 1986 and danced until 1992 when I hurt my foot. During those years I was in two different Israeli dance troupes, that performed at Israeli Independence Day and at local restaurants and nursing homes. Another long break and then I came back to dancing in 2008 when I found out that Don was leading a group in my neighborhood at Congregation Beth Sholom in Elkins Park. I could also bring my children who danced and acted as cashier. I do not intend to take any more breaks from dancing, this is it, I am here for life!"
This is Jani
This is Steve
This is Ofra
This is Marek
This is Elana
This is Malkeh
This is Ellen but not the Ellen Weber mentioned by Wendy. That is not to slight this Ellen who is also known for dancing in the Philadelphia area. Her dance bio is as follows: "I started dancing about six years ago at Germantown Jewish Centre on Sundays with Grant. I dance there most Sundays when I am in town. I also attend Don’s session at Adath Israel on Thursday nights, and I have also gone to his sessions at Beth Hillel and Beth Shalom. Favorite Dances: Circles and Lines; Aspirational dances: Yahad; Hagigah ya achshav
With Don's session ending on April 29th, 2013, several Israeli dancers who are members of the Beth Sholom congregation petitioned to keep Israeli dance alive within the synagogue's confines. Their petitioning resulted in the Synagogue's Adult Education department becoming the titular administrator of what will follow. The first Email inkling that something was up was from Grant, the leader of the Germantown Israeli dance session. His Email is to the left. A few weeks later an Email from the synagogue alerted many others in the Israeli dance community that dancing again, after a 6 week break from Don's last class, was again available in the Fischman auditorium of Beth Sholom on Monday nights .
And, at least with this script, we prove once again that what goes around, comes around. With Steve Margolis generally handling the music, the bulk of the teaching has fallen upon the capable arms and hands of Sharon Polsky, yes the same Sharon Polsky who was forced to give up her class two years before. When our photographer visited one of these Monday night sessions, he found her teaching an old favorite to enthusiastic new dancers, Od Lo Ahavti Dai, and took these pictures. What he didn't realize was that he could have visited her class at this synagogue fifteen years before and seen the same instruction for this dance to an earlier group of beginners. It's great to see Sharon again involved with teaching Israeli dancing.
To again report on a Monday session at Beth Sholom brings smiles to the collective faces that work on this website. But, obviously we are not alone. Here we present the smiles and animation of the dance crowd the night we visited. You are seeing enthusiasm in action as Israeli dance is again offered at Beth Sholom thanks to the Adult Education department of that Synagogue.
And so, we conclude this report about Israeli dancing at Beth Sholom through the years on an upnote. For the 17th year in a row a class of Israeli dancing graces the confines of Beth Sholom on the Old York Road corridor.