A day at a dance camp: Hilulim Nov, 2012

If you were living in the Northeast region of the United States, you certainly were aware of Sandy's visit. Sandy was an unusual category 1 storm that hit the Jersey shore 2012 on the night of Monday, Oct. 29th, 2012. Sessions were cancelled for the Israeli (and other) dance sessions in the region affected from Monday through Wednesday. In addition, a yearly israeli dance camp, Hilulim, also was affected. Hilulim, and its sister dance camp Hilula at the end of April, take place at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa. Never before has this dance camp been affected by a hurricane and the response was somewhat topsy turvy. At first, the attendees were told that the camp would be delayed to December but it was later decided to delay the camp one day so that it would run Friday through Monday, Nov 2nd through Nov 5) versus the original dates of Thursday through Sunday.

This web site had made provision to cover the camp. Our representative was to take pictures throughout the camp as originally proposed. But, with the delay and his schedule, he in essence took pictures during the period Friday night through Saturday night. In addition he took pictures with his small point and shoot compact Casio exilim which does not have the range and versitility of portrait cameras so the shots were limited as to quality. So, given these constraints, we have packaged these photos of the camp in such a way as to present 'A day in the life of Camp Hilulim'.

Keep in mind also that our photographer was especially interested in the activities of our local Phialdephia region dancers. The pictures and text below are geared to showing the camp from these dancer's (Tanya Buchman, Jody Goldsborough, Becky Peretz, Milt Cohan, Gary, Menachim and Marc Rauer) perspectives.

The Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, where Hilulim (and Hilula) takes place, was formerly the Granit hotel of Catskills fame. In the 1990's, a group of investors took over the complex and positioned the hotel into a conference center. It is no longer kosher, although such meals are available, and there are many activities occurring on the premises geared for both the aspects of the Jewish community and the community at large. One activity was the Eisteddfod folk dancing society which was holding a folk dancing weekend at this facilty for this weekend. Another group of guests were part of the New York Hasidic community and they would be especially interested in the Kosher meals that are an optional addition to a stay at the hotel. In the middle, we would guess, was the Hilulim Israeli dance festival, which is of interest to this web site, where some participants partook of the kosher food option. This montage shows the hotel early in the morning. Guests are greeted by the elephant figurines when entering and the drive outside is outlined by greek figurines. You can also see photos looking into the lobby.

The dance weekend was supposed to cover Thursday through Sunday but Sandy forced a one day delay. The preprinted schedules did not fully conform with the activities as they occurred. But, breakfast was included for the dance participants and whether or not the exact time that this meal was offered was in dispute, whenever the doors open for a meal (and the dance weekend was using what is designated as ballroom B) patrons follow. This montage has a few pictures of breakfast. We might note that the first picture includes the back of a famous Israeli dance instructor. Ethan Halpern teaches several Israeli dance sessions in the greater Washington area and he was one of the first to partake of the omelet station.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 dancers made it at selected times for the dance festival through the weekend. Most came from the greater New York city area although there was a smathering of representation from St Louis, Boston, Washington and the Philadelphia area. Therefore, the dance studio (designated as Ballroom A) was to be quite busy thoughout the day. But our photographer snuck out of breakfast before the 10AM start time (although in reality 10:30AM) to photograph this ballroom while it was unoccupied. Pictures of Israeli dance choreographers grace several of the walls and on another wall is a montage of various genres of dancing. Music today is presented as various forms of electronic music and at the front of this room a large podium stands with quite a bit of computer and audio equipment.

While the breakfast is underway (and even a little thereafter) the hotel continues its operations. Guests are checking in and out and the Eisteddfod 2012 folk festival holds sway in several locations in the hotel including the one shown here. Even Ballroom A starts to get ready as we see first a vacant ballroom and then one with one of the Israeli dance choreographers (we're not sure which one) practicing one of the dances to be taught.

A teach is about to begin. And the instructor: one of the great contempory Israeli dance choreographers, Gadi Bitton. One assumes that he is ready to teach one of his own choreographies. He takes to the center of the circle to begin the teach. This is what the dancers have come for. They listen attentively and try the steps at appropriate pauses in the dance lecture. In the end, Gadi invites one of the deans of Isreali dance in the United States, Ruth Goodman (who leads two Israeli dance sessions in New York city) to join him in the center of the circle and we see at the end both Ruth and Gadi preparing to demonstrate Gadi's dance.

After the teach, it is back Israeli dancing. The music and the noise from the dancing grows but the hotel can handle this. Outside of the room, Israeli dancers congregate if there is a need to talk as shown in this montage.

This morning session will last until 1:15PM. Besides Gadi Bitton, several other dance choreographers show their dances. With about half an hour to go, the session becomes similar to other Israeli dance sessions as dances are randomly played. This montage shows several pictures during that period. As stated many times on this web site, Israeli dancers love to dance. In spite of a previous tough two hours of dancing and instruction, both physically and especially mentally, the participants willingly continue to dance to the selected music.

Among the dancing done during this 45 minute period was at least one partner session and this is caught during this montage. Israeli dance can be somewhat broken down between circle, partner and line dancing and all three of these parts were evident that day as you will and have seen.

At 1PM dining room B is again open, this time for lunch. In its hey day, the Granit hotel, as with all the hotels in the Catskills, was known for its food. So serving the 200 or so participants of this dance festival was no big deal as far as the Hotel was concerned. The morning saw omelets of various types. For lunch the emphasis is sandwiches. The buffet line contains many cold cuts, types of bread and sides such as potato salad and cole slaw. Fruit salad is also available. While the beginning of the lunch is tentative, the pace quickly picks up as all the dancers arrive. And they hungry given the energy used for this type of dancing. Lines form around the buffet but eventually everyone is served. This montage bookends the lunch. The first pictures show the awaiting tables and the last pictures show the last few straglers.

While the luncheon is in progress, the schedule indicates that line dances will be featured in ballroom A at 2:00. This montage shows that the schedule was met. We have already told you that line dancing is one of the components of Israeli dancing but the demographics change dramatically per the participants. Partner dancing tend to attract the older male dancer and given that there are more women than men, these men know that they are in demand so you can see why they gravitate toward this. Circle dancing attracts women of all ages (and also men) who enjoy the artistry and styling this form requires of its dancers. But line dancing tends to attract the young of both sexes. And you can see this in this montage taken during the 45 minutes that encompassed this line dancing session.

Around 3PM, the afternoon partner session takes place. Our photographer decided to concentrate on members of the Philadelphia region who attended this dance festival. This montage centers on Becky Perety and Marc (or is it Mark) Rauer who acted as partners for a few dances. Becky comes by Israeli dancing naturally having grown up in Israel. During the 80's she was a yoga instructor at Penn State University in State College. While there she created the first Israeli dance session in that neck of the words. After her tenure at Penn State, she (and her husband) moved to Pittsburgh where she established a Monday night Israeli dance session. Having moved to Princeton about three years ago, she is a regular at several Israeli dance sessions in the Philadelphia region.

Her partner ended up being at the dance camp because he agreed to provide the transportation for Becky and Jody (pictured in the next montage) into the Catskills. He does do some Israeli dancing in the Philadelphia area in addition to classes in salsa.

This montage features another Philadelphia based couple. Jody, when younger, was an avid Israeli dancer and you can see pictures of her at an earlier age in several of our history scripts. Today, Jody is a regular at several Philadelphia region Israeli dance sessions. Gary is from Northern New Jersey and attends both New York and Philadelphia dance sessions. In additon, Gary is part of the Hilulim staff and provided help in many ways to the operation of the dance weekend.

In many Israeli sessions, only circle (perhaps some lines) are featured. More advanced sessions offer partner sets. A set is a series of continuous Israeli partner dances delimited by a non partner dance. Even though this was supposed to be a afternoon partner session, the organizers used a circle dance or two to delimit the sets. This montage catches dancers during these circle dance breaks including Gadi Bitton.

At 6PM a cocktail party was scheduled and this montage shows several pictures as events get underway. The cocktail party features other dancing, especially ballroom, in a more formal atmosphere than found in Israeli dancing.

Many Israeli dancers have attended these dance weekends for many years and we feature one of these dancers in this montage. This is Milt Cohen who takes multiple dance classes throughout the year. So, ballroom is no mystery to him as he leads Jody on the dance floor. Milt is also a great story teller if you ever have the opportunity given that he has been a professional story teller over the years.

Also at the cocktail party is Tanya Buchman. Tanya is a regular at almost every Israeli dance weekend so it is not a surprise to see her here. One also sees her in the Philadelphia region where there are many sessions where she is a regular. There are many other facets of her personality that this web site is aware of including her cooking expertise which is very useful given her (and her husband's) tendency to cater very large affairs at their home in Cherry Hill. One rumor, which we have confirmed, is a recent Passover seder sitting 64 guests who watched a lamb being roasted on their lawn. Generally, any festival that she attends is also the recipient of bottles of wine from her husband's copious wine cellar.

This montage shows the cocktail party in operation. Caught here are pictures of Becky, Gary, Jody and Menachim on and off the dance floor. Menachim (green shirt), a regular at many Philadelphia region dance sessions and a dancer of many years, is dancing with his girl friend, Mali, in one of these pictures. With a muscle shirt with his back to the camera, is Haskill, a dancer from Austin Texas who was one of the engaging personalities of this dance festival.

The cocktail party morpheed into an hour of entertainment. First up was a singer named Jessica who apparently is a student at the Julliard school of arts in new York. This web site was told that her performance was greatly appreciated by the audience. Next up was the Israeli performer, Sagiv Cohen, accompanied by his own technician to handle the sound. Cohan's was just 18 when he debuted professionally. In 2004, he personally financed his first album to good reviews which has allowed him to pursue his musical interests including an appearance at this camp.

Apparently this singer is responsible for the music to some of the contemporary Israeli dances which he eventually belted out at the cabaret. Most of the audience seemed enthusiastic about his perfromance although one of our respondents answered that there was no question that the performance was "just too loud". Whatever, you can see the two performers in this montage.

Sagiv ended his performance singing some of his songs used in Israeli dancing. What's an Israeli dancer to do faced with familiar music and a dance floor, although the size of a postage stamp. Up they came and they surrounded the singer on stage and began dancing as you can see in this montage.

Eventually this concert/cocktail party petered out. By 8:30 the dining room had reopened. For dinner, this featured a Prime Rib station, and a buffet line featuring stuffed Chicken breast and fish. While the dinner was going on announcements pertaining to changes of schedule were announced (remember the camp was now Friday to Monday as opposed to the original Thursday through Sunday). The Philadelphia based dancers generally were sitting together and one of these pictures scans that table.

About 10:30 it was back to dancing. Because the next day was Sunday, it would be expected that the dancing would go into the morning. These pictures, the last that this web site received, show dancers at the beginning of this session.

Anyway, this ends the coverage of a day at a dance camp. We want to thank those who contributed photos for this web site to use. One other item should be mentioned: the trip up to the camp on Friday, Nov 2nd. Apparently everyone was stunned by the gas lines evident on the NJ Turnpike and on the Garden State Parkway. This web site would like to express our sympathy with the residents of New Jersey and New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It is the hope of all the Philadelphia based dancers and this web site that all returns to normal at the earliest possible time.