The Israeli Dancer of the Week Award in the Philadelphia area.

Origins of this award:In the summer of '07 it became clear to several dancers that Jennifer Kay of the Cherry Hill group had expanded her dancing to include trips to Rob's and Don's classes. Someone felt that she should get an award for her effort and so this award was born. Since then, an ad-hoc committee of Israeli dancers in the area is responsible for this award.
What is being looked at:The award does not take into consideration how graceful or knowledgeable is the dancer. In fact, sometimes this would be a detriment. The award only looks at the added effort that a dancer has evidenced throughout a certain time period - usually a week. Or in the words of one committee member, "who has revved up their dancing". Generally, the award goes to newcomers to israeli dance who are attempting to use the many classes available in the philadelphia area to learn.
How is the decision made: The ad-hoc committee convenes somewhat spontaneously at a dance venue when it becomes clear that someone may be eligible for the award.
What is the award:A powerpoint presentation is given to the dancer indicating what they have done to win this award. Included with the powerpoint presentation is a box of chocolate from Ostroff's. The award can only be won once by an individual and dance instructors are ineligible.

Note: The last 4 awards below pertain to a life and death situation, literally. The committee decided on the creation of a special award to handle this situation

We appreciate the Disk Coordinator's allowance of this web site to publicize these awards. Below are the recipients and their plaques.

For the above winners listed, (except for Barbara who dances with extreme pain and was so recognized) this award was not a matter of life, death or medical emergency. Maybe some aches, possibly some headaches, the above winners were awarded based on their endurance. The next four winners are being awarded based on a matter of life and death. On the last Thursday session in 2010 at Adath Israel, a real emergency quickly engulfed the session. A dancer had heart failure and the quick work of four individuals saved the day, the stricken individual and dancing at Adath Israel because a lot of dancers would have had qualms returning to the scene if the worst case scenario had happened. Below are the 4 winners of what we are calling 'The Israeli Dance Hero Of The Week Award'. The recipients in alphabetic order are Warren Carel, Osnat Reichert, Susan Sandler and Amiron Shapiro. From our committee we salute these four individuals with the accolade, a job well done.

Besides the respective "plaque" above, each winner has been presented with what is within the gift wrapped item pictured to the right. The wrapping hides a box of Ostroff's dark chocolate sampler. Ostroff's, whose store is in the mall at Welsh and the Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, makes the best dark chocolate in the Philadelphia area and we are pleased to present this treat to our winners.

Congratulations to all Our Winners