Every so often, and quite by accident, someone mentions this web site - generally not in a good way - to the alter ego of the disk coordinator. Since the identity remains secret, the alter ego maintains his usual poker face and just makes mental notes on what he hears. On one occasion, the musing was somewhat interesting as this other person was talking about the "fact" that Israeli dance is additive. What, they posed, do Israeli dancers do other than normal working (if not retired), dancing and eating.
This is a very interesting question if you think about it. If one was inclined to attend all the sessions covered by this web site for their full duration, you would be spending approximately 20 hours a week in doing this not to mention the commuting time. Tack on another 40 or so hours for work - if applicable - and that's a good chuck of time for the week, Of course, what mitigates this is no one makes it to all the classes, yet it is obvious that most Israeli dancers attend more than one session.
With this knowledge, any other activities must be also very compelling (possibly additive) to pursue beyond the normal work and Israeli dance schedule. So, with a little prodding of fellow dancers and with a field trip accompanied by his camera and flash (before someone broke it in a fit of rage), we present the potpourri script informing you of these other activities of some Israeli dancers.
We will start with John Frank who we have been in contact with pertaining to his replacement of Adam Baum in our introductory dance script. Shortly, you should see a write-up of Eretz Eretz aimed for the Israeli dance beginner starring John. In one of our Email conversations, we inquired as to his other hobbies.
John and his wife Elaine are very active in a variety of things. John maintains a practice in the study of psychiatry especially dealing with children and minors. They split their time between the Germantown area and the Catskill's area of New York. They are both very avid bikers and have biked throughout the city of Philadelphia and New York. Having been born and raised in New York City (in fact, John is the son of a famous journalist and reporter, Gerold Frank, who was based in New York as a media capital), John is very familiar with New York state and makes use of this knowledge. To the right is a picture he submitted to this web site showing him on the banks of Lake Champlain on his bike.
John has chosen a most beautiful area of the country and was especially wise in doing this during the summer months. This lake is bordered by upstate New York, Vermont and Quebec so it's pretty far up there. While not officially classified, this lake probably has its origin in the same manner as the finger lakes of upstate New York which were created by the gouging of the earth during the receding of the glaciers as the last ice age ended. Hopefully, besides biking, John was able to take advantage of the great wine produced in that area. As far as this picture is concerned, we can't tell you what the bale of hay thought about its picture being taken but we make the assumption that John was using it for vertical support.
Some dancers like to travel as a kind of hobby. It seems like the mountains lure them to visits. One such visitor to a mountain area is a very well known dancer in these parts. Jani and Rick Rosen were well respected members of the Providence, Rhode Island community before relocating into the Philadelphia area in 1998. Since this relocation, Jani, sometimes accompanied by her husband, Rick, has pursued her passion for dancing and music. She regularly attends many of the Israeli dance sessions in the Philadelphia. In addition, she has on many occasions taught dances at the Germantown Sunday morning session.
To the right is a picture of them on a vacation in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. In doing some research about Banff, the disk coordinator learned of the natural hot springs in the area, and hopes that Jani and Rick took advantage of them. It was these springs that made the area a natural tourist attraction. In the 1880's early development was in the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railroad which did more than just carry freight; the railroad was very instrumental in opening up Canada to the world as a tourist attraction. Jani and Rick are shown in this photo at Moraine Lake/ Valley of the Ten Peaks / Banff National Park.
Our next dancer went a little further for adventure on a mountain. Mochu Picchu was "built" by the Incas in Peru although the mountain was already there. This has been a favorite archaelogical site for many years and assumption about it have changed. Research indicates that new theories suggest that the entire site was a kind of palatial estate of one of the Inca emperors who favored the site based on its location pertaining to the Inca concept of the calendar and nature by the way the site was lit by the sun. We should note that the Incas were not the Mayas and this site would have no infuence on the present interpretations of what 2012 may have in store for us. On a recent trip, one of our local Israeli dancers, Yael Golton, played the part of Indiana Jones and climbed the mountain with her husband and this is the picture we see to the right.
As we understand it, this is not the easiest of trips when things are normal, but this trip was delayed and affected by a series of mud slides that were experienced in this area. Prior to Yael and her husband's visit, many tourists had been stranded on the mountain because of torrential rains and the resulting mud slides. Research into the area indicates that Yael, in the end, was a mile and half (8040 ft) above sea level. For many people this could be difficult per lung and respiratory capacity but we assume that the exercise that Yael gets every week from her participation in Israeli dance was a help in scaling this Inca ruin.
We go even further on mountains with this picture. This is the top of the world, or so the natives of that area would claim. This is in the Himalayas where the tallest mountains in the world reside and we think specifically in Nepal, the country that is north of India. If we only had the figure on the left in this shot, we might claim that this is a picture of the elusive Yeti (or Meh-Teh), the mythical creature that is said to roam that part of the world. But, the lovely Ofra is on the right and so we can conclude that this is the well known and omnipresent couple, Ofra and Marek Milbar, known to all the Israeli dance natives of the Delaware Valley for their participation in almost every session in the Philadelphia area. We do know that besides a regular schedule of Israeli dance, when this couple travels it's not just to the shore and back. At times they have been in training to climb Mt Washington in New Hampshire and this picture pertains to their exploration of Southeast Asia which included travels throughout India.
The Himalayas, as with the Andes and Rockies pictured above with Yael and Jani, are the result of plate techtonics, what our planet is basically made up of at its surface. The plates are forever moving and where they make contact with each other, mountain ranges are the result. This mountain range, the Himalayas, spans Asia from Afghanistan (where the populace calls this the Hindu Kush range) into China. While most people know of Mt Everest, which is part of the Himalayas, what you may not know is that all of the top 100 tallest mountains in the world, per Wikipedia, are part of this range. Included in this is K2, a subsidiary peak of Everest, which is said to be the most dangerous mountain in the world having claimed the most lives of would-be climbers. We assume that Ofra and Marek's visit to this area of the world was much less perilous and we thank them for the use of this photograph.
Of course, if you are striving to be a pioneer in travel having already been such in Israeli dancing, you could do what our next dancer has done: visit all 50 states. With a visit to the capital of Mississippi, Jackson, in 2010, Les Grunes has achieved the ultimate travel quest within the United States. Hopefully (and we're not sure what this says if you don't realize this) it is obvious to you that we have posed Les in front of the Capitol building in Jackson, the seat of legislative power in that state. For those keeping track, capital pertains to a location and capitol pertains to a building when talking about seat of power in a state and hopefully we've spelled all of this correctly.
Les' quest to visit all 50 states started many years ago. Obviously visits to Alaska and Hawaii involve quite a bit of travel as these states are not adjoining the others but Les reports the biggest challenge was the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho which he resolved by taking a trip in stages between Chicago and Seattle. Now that he has visited all 50 states, we do not know what the next quest in travel will be. We do believe that there are now 168 countries in the world with the recent addition of Southern Sudan. Possibly this may make a worthy target for Les and possibly sometime in the future this web site will cover that achievement.
By the way, we should add that Les is one of the pioneers of Israeli dance in this area having started at Penn Hillel in the late 70's, moved to the Gershman Y and now occasionally attending various sessions.
It would seem natural that an interst in Israeli dance might lead to an interest, and perhaps a career, in other physical activity. Our next dancer made this transition. Originally a psychologist, who continues to teach related subjects at Philadelphia University, Patty Segal has completed her training and requirements to also be a pilates instructor. The picture to the right shows Patty in one of the pilate positions which many trainers would designate as Pushup prone. If you have tried this position you will understand why she is not smiling.
If you want to do research on this popular exercise regimen, don't forget to add the ending letter 's' or you will be researching one of the Roman emperors. This regimen's history does not quite go back that far. It is the creation of Joseph Pilates in Germany in the early 1900's. He extended the range of his personal use of this system as he subsequently lived in England before moving to the US.
Pilates attempts to use body position in exercise to strengthen sets of muscles without the use of free weights (this is before the nautilas machines that transformed free weights into controlled systems) although other apparatus can be part of a pilates routine. It is said that practitioners of pilates can see real changes to their body structure. And will you allow us to point to Patty as one such example. She always was attractive but today she is very slim and very athletic, the poster child for the regimen that she trains others on.
Our next picture is the result of a suggestion of Barbara Hruda who dances out of the Wilmington and Newark, De sessions. Barbara has been the recipient of one of the Israeli dancer of the week awards based on her tenacity and courage in dancing through great pain, which she does everytime she gets on a dance floor. Apparently, some weeks ago, as she relates, Marc or Mark Rauer (we don't know either) made it to the Wilmington session after several months of being absent. Barbara noticed that he had become somewhat more muscular and was very impressed when he made a muscle as she felt his bi and triceps. That started a Email conversation with this web site as to what was being done for this muscularity to be evidenced. A little research, a few calls and we nailed done the Bally's fitness location where this was happening.
At 6:00Am this web site, camera at the ready, was at the pool where we were introduced to several participants who do water aerobics on Friday morning. Our subject, we were told, was probably up on the treadmill doing his running reginen and we went to find him. Being unsuccessful at that, we returned to the pool and there he was (or perhaps it was a younger Ed Rendell) and we took the shot that is on the right. From left to right is Marc(k), Eileen and La Vera. Others were in the pool but unfortunately our subject of this section jumped out of the pool, grabbed our camera and ungraciously, if not maliciously, broke our flash leaving us only with this picture, so it will have to do.
We found out that the muscles are the result of these aerobics, a running regimen, but most importantly, two one-hour sessions with a personal trainer every week for the last six months lifting increasing amounts of weight. There's your answer Barbara and we're sorry we couldn't get the picture of him getting out of the pool per your request (a kind of reverse Ursula Andress in Dr No, if you will)
All of this is occurring at a local Bally's which is a big name nationally in terms of fitness. Research indicates that when this company was created it consisted of three parts somewhat related. One part was these health clubs. Another part was the casinos under the Bally's name. And the third part was a manufacturing arm that did both exercise and gambling equipment. You can see where the third part would feed the other two. The years have not been totally favorable to this company and it has been forced to divest itself of both its gaming and equipment divisions. But, in spite of our broken flash, we enjoyed our visit and everyone (except for one person) was very welcoming.
We have been told that Shani is scarlett in Hebrew, apparently one of the three magical colors as designated in the Bible. It is also the name of a relatively successful clothing concern, if you go by awards and reputation, run by a local Israeli dancer, Becky Peretz, pictured on the left in the photograph to the right. It is thanks to Becky's daughter that Becky is now local as she moved into the Princeton area a few years ago from Pittsburgh, where she ran one of the Israeli dance classes there, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. Pittsburgh's loss is our gain!
Becky was always promiment at Hora Aviv where she was a part of the Pittsburgh contingent and also ran a Yoga class for those dancers who were able to rise and shine somewhat early in the morning after a long night of dancing. She had plenty of practice in yoga, among other things, as she had had a career in the physical training area which included a stint at one of the campuses of Penn State conducting classes in Yoga.
But, the creative bug to create clothes and especially hats, which we can tell you are spectacular having seen them in person at the Germantown Jewish Centre craft show where she was an exhibitor, has propelled her into this boutique garment trade. The hats on some occasions are adorned with silk flowers and she uses silk to create much of her clothes. it is her contention, backed up by many references, that she is creating wearable art.
Research on the internet shows that Becky travels to many craft shows and fairs throughout the year and does quite well per the awards given out to the vendors of these shows. This would include an Honorable mention in 2010 at the Allentown Art festival and third place at the same festival in 2009.
Of course, besides this little sideline, Becky is also a great dancer having taken up this version of folk dancing at a young age in Israel.
In August of 2005, one of the great disasters to befell this nation occurred as Hurricane Katrina pounced on New Orleans and the gulf coast. Many of us watched in horror as people were trapped on sections of Interstate I-10 where it had not collapsed. The individual to the right had the misfortune of watching this in person as his whole world collapsed.
Bill Kroetz is a native Philadelphian who had moved to the New Orleans area and was a home owner. The flooding in New Orleans destroyed the livability of his home and he was forced to flee being rescued on one of the sections of I-10 indicated above. With some family in the Philadelphia, in short order Bill was put up in housing near City Avenue and to some degree left to his own devices. Others might have bemoaned their fate but not Bill. Among the things that he got into while in Philadelphia was Israeli dancing and while positioned locally was a regular at Don's Thuursday session and quite often made it to the Germantown Sunday Morning session. All the while he was dancing among us, he was very busy working long distance to return his home into the comfortable residence that it once was.
But the true mark of the man is the award (and picture) to the right. While a refugee here, he refused to succomb to his own misfortune. Very early in his stay he began to volunteer on Sunday afternoons at Inglis house and soon became a very significant figure there to the point that he was awarded as the volunteer of the year in 2006.
By 2008, Bill had returned to his home in New Orleans.But, not only was he missed by some of the local Israeli dancers, he was also sorely missed by the residents of this home for the severely disabled.
For one returning Israeli dancer, Wendy Friedman picured to the right, who teaches fitness classes of various types for a living, the aforementioned picture is the culmination of her passion for all things Italian especially if they involve the singer Claudio Baglioni, who not surprisingly is also in this picture. The picture was taken in Atlantic City during March, 2010 at the Trump Taj Mahal where Claudio was in concert. Wendy, known as Guendolin when travelling through Italy, has been Claudio's biggest fan (or so it would seem) since 1972 and the 2010 Atlantic city concert was the fourth concert of his that she has attended since 2004.
Being fluent in italian, she has for many years had a correspondence with this singer, some of it published, so it was natural for him to ask her backstage after the performance as you see here. As for the performance, research on the internet indicates that Wendy is not alone in her passion for this singer. Videos of this performance in Atlantic city show that the auditorium was sold out and both the audience (which had a high ratio of male participation) and the singer responded to the energy in the room.
Claudio Baglioni has been writing and performing music since 1965. Since 1971, he has collaborated with Paola Massari, herself a noted singer and songwriter, whom he would later marry and has recently divorced. It is his theme music that was played at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Since 1973 he has been touring Europe and then the Americas to great acclaim.
In the previous section, we discussed the passion of Wendy Friedman. Her husband, David, a family physician, has a passion for golf. Supposedly, golf has its origin in Scotland and this is the reason that the British Open is such a prestigious event in this modern era of golf.
The beauty of golf is that it depends on hand and eye coordination which some people have and others do not. It does not depend on a specific body type or specific body strengths. Scotland has produced other sporting events. Most involve throwing large objects long distances - such as the hammer throw and the caber toss - where hand and eye coordination is not key. This may explain why golf, and not these other sports, has popularly spread around the world.
To the right is a tribute to this passion of David's done by Wendy, a montage of David on the left posed next to Paul Simon who is pictured at one of his concerts in Yankee stadium. David has been dropped in from another picture. As posed, David is accompanying Paul with a set of golf clubs in a gold bag.
David does bear a resemblance to Paul Simon in build, bearing and look even today. The base picture of Paul Simon in Yankee stadium is believed to have been taken as part of the Joe DiMaggio tribute that Simon was involved with after the death of the Yankee clipper in 1999.
This is Tsipi behind the Scuba mask. When Tsipi is dancing, and not scuba diving as she appears here, she can be seen occasionally at the Cherry Hill session when accompanying her sister Ety. Generally, however, Tsipi is travelling aroud the world in the boat she shares with her husband. When living asea while travelling the world, it's not a bad idea to be familiar with the environment you find yourself in and we think this picture shows that Tsipi has adapted quite well to her lifestyle.