Dance Orchestra
Klezmer & Hasidic Repertoire

August 4 - 9, 2025
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 3 - 6 p.m. | intermediate & advanced

with Ilya Shneyveys, Jordan Hirsch, Anna Lowenstein & Simon Roth

Ever dreamed of playing in a leading klezmer dance band? Now’s your chance! Join the Dance Orchestra workshop and immerse yourself in a week of learning, playing, and exploring Yiddish and Hasidic dance music with an expert team of seasoned klezmer musicians.

This year, we’ll dive into a rich and diverse repertoire of Yiddish and Hasidic dance tunes. Given the volume of material to cover, we will primarily work with sheet music. Strong music reading skills (or intermediate reading skills with solid learning-by-ear experience) will be helpful. Sheet music will be provided in advance for at-home practice.

During the workshop, we’ll focus on interpreting written music, recognizing the various Yiddish dance genres, and finding the right tempos, accompaniment, and phrasing to make the music truly danceable. You’ll gain valuable experience in ensemble playing and arrangement techniques that can be applied in your own bands.

Working closely with dancers is essential to understanding the style and nuances of klezmer as dance music. In addition to the daily 6-hour workshop, there will be nightly jam sessions and other opportunities to play, dance, and meet new friends and collaborators.

We encourage all participants in the Dance Orchestra to "switch sides" from time to time by joining in the Dance workshop; likewise, participants of the Dance workshop who are also musicians can join the Dance Orchestra from time to time. The idea is to get a better feeling for the synergy between Yiddish music and Yiddish dance.

The week concludes with the Dance Ball, a highlight of Yiddish Summer Weimar that brings everything together in a joyous celebration of music and dance.

Workshop fee: 
465 € Standard / 315 € Reduced / 645 € Sponsor / 165 € under 18