Dance has been a part of Jewish tradition ever since Moses’ sister, Miriam, led the Israelite women in song and dance after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and parted the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20-21).  

Throughout the centuries, Jews have celebrated weddings, b’nai mitzvah and other joyous occasions through dance. Nowhere, however, has dance been as widely adopted as in Israel. Israeli folk dancing pre-dates the establishment of the State of Israel. Since the creation of the first modern Israeli Folk Dance, Hora Agadati, in 1924, Israeli folk dancing has grown into the country’s national dance form, incorporating both the traditional and contemporary characteristics of Israeli life. Today, there are over 5,000 different Israeli folk dances, and hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world who enjoy dancing on a regular basis.

It is only appropriate that this year’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) celebration at the Jewish Community Center features a dance session with one of Israel’s most popular folk dance instructors, Ofer Alfasi.

The celebration takes place Monday, April 15 at the JCC’s Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with a variety of activities and performances planned (full event information in the ChaiLights calendar on page 29).

Alfasi has been teaching Israeli folk dance for over 17 years. Currently, teaching dance sessions in several Israeli cities — including Tel Aviv, Beer Sheva, Petach Tikva, and Ashkelon — Alfasi has been a guest teacher at Jewish summer camps and folk dance workshops in America, London, France, Canada, Austria, Poland, Latvia, Hungary and other countries.

Alfasi never expected to become a dance instructor. After finishing his mandatory army service in 1991, he was searching for a career path. Around the same time, his uncle — popular choreographer Moti Alfasi — lost his driver’s license, and was looking for someone to drive him to dance sessions. Alfasi obliged, and soon discovered that he loved the dance sessions. Shortly afterwards, Moti encouraged Alfasi to attend the two-year study program for Israeli folk dance instructors at Beit Hamlin in Tel Aviv, which enabled Alfasi to get his teaching certificate. Today, Alfasi teaches four nights a week. His sessions attract as many as 200 people a night.

“I love everything about Israeli folk dancing,” says Alfasi. “It makes people happy and when they hear the songs, it brings them closer to Israel. Also, I love the fact that folk dancing unites Jewish communities throughout the world.”

For the past few summers, Alfasi has taught dancing at a Jewish summer camp in Hungary that attracts over 1,600 Jewish campers from all over Europe. He also once ran a dance workshop for a skiers in Austria, who spent their days skiing in the Alps, and their nights enjoying Israeli folk dancing, despite 20-degree below-zero weather outside.

Alfasi particularly loves teaching dance to children. His trip to St. Louis—which is funded by the Lubin-Green Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis (see more information below) —will include workshops with children at the JCC’s Early Childhood Center, the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, the Shaare Shalom Hebrew school and a community wide teen program that is expected to attract over 100 Jewish teens from throughout St. Louis.

Dancers from the St. Louis Israeli folk dance Monday night session and Hora Gil will also participate in the teaching sessions.