Dance Orchestra
Three Worlds of Dance: Hasidic, Yiddish, Balfolk
August 11 - 15, 2026
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 3 - 6 p.m. | intermediate & advanced
with Szilvia Csaranko, Susi Evans, Vivien Zeller & Craig Judelman
This year, we’re trying something new and very exciting with the Dance Orchestra and Dance Workshops. Yiddish tantshayzer (dance houses) have been springing up all around Europe and North America and Yiddish dancing is in the middle of an amazing comeback. This new Yiddish dance scene occasionally crosses paths with the international Balfolk scene – an incredibly vibrant current dance and music culture based on various European dance traditions that is hugely popular among young people. We thought it was high time to bring these two dance worlds together in one place, and what better place than at Yiddish Summer Weimar?
Since you can’t have too much of a good thing, we’ll also be diving into contemporary Hasidic dance and dance music. This is a living tradition that goes very deep inside each dancer and then emerges with astounding sensuality, energy, freedom and ecstasy.
The Dance Orchestra is wall-to-wall musical fun! We’ll be exploring three different styles and repertoires this year: music for traditional, secular Yiddish dance, music for contemporary Hasidic dance, and music for Balfolk dance. You can read more about each of these repertoires below.
This is a repertoire and style workshop: 90% of the time we’ll be reading from written music and learning how music and dance work together. There will also be nightly music and dance jam sessions/parties and our famous public dance ball with a live orchestra (you!) at the end of the workshop. If you’re a Balfolk fan, come join us at Yiddish Summer Weimar and experience the very different but just as energetic and fun worlds of Yiddish and Hassidic dance music! And if you’re a Yiddish dance music fan, don’t miss the chance to dive into Hassidic and Balfolk dance music! And now, please read the following “Hot Tips:”
Hot Tip #1 To participate in this workshop, you should be quite comfortable playing your instrument – we’ll be moving at a quick pace! You’ll receive most of the scores before you come to Weimar to give you time to practice and play them with more freedom. Scores will be provided for all transposing instruments (C, Bb, Eb, bass clef). The main language of instruction will be English, with assistance in German and Russian if needed.
Hot Tip #2 If you enjoy playing a diverse repertoire in a large musical ensemble under expert guidance, and you can both play your instrument and read music quite well, this workshop is for you! If you are more interested in a detailed exploration of the elements of klezmer style, or if you’re more interested in learning by ear, we recommend the Introduction to Klezmer Music or the Intermediate Instrumental Workshop instead.
Hot Tip #3 Is this workshop right for me? Take the self-evaluation and find out!
Hot Tip #4 The number of clarinets in the Dance Orchestra workshop is limited (otherwise the clarinets squeeze out all of the other instruments). So, if you’re a clarinetist, register early to be sure you get a place.
Hot Tip #5 If you're curious and would like to learn more about the worlds of music and dance we will be exploring, read on!
About Yiddish Dance & Dance Music
by Alan Bern more
About Yiddish Dance & Dance Music
by Alan Bern
Unlike many Israeli dances, Yiddish dance isn’t the brainchild of choreographers, but the everyday dance culture that was passed from one generation to the next at weddings and other celebrations in Yiddish culture. The music for Yiddish dance includes many genres that are familiar to klezmer music fans, such as freylekhs, bulgars, shers, zhoks, and many others. In fact, for many generations these genres were played only for dancing, long before they were ever played in concerts for listening audiences. So, to really understand their special grooves, it’s essential to feel how they work when accompanying dancers. Dancers are the anchor that keep Yiddish dance music from just floating off into nowhereland. back
About Balfolk
by Vivien Zeller more
About Balfolk
by Vivien Zeller
Balfolk is a vibrant European dance and music culture based on traditional dances from various regions of Europe, particularly France and Brittany, and continues to thrive today in a modern social dance scene. The dancing is not limited to traditional melodies. Over the last 40 years, a vibrant music scene has emerged with many new dance music compositions in the Balfolk style.
In the Dance Orchestra, we’ll focus on the special energy of Balfolk dance music. Together, we will work on arrangements for typical Balfolk dances such as mazurka, schottisch, bourrée, and rondeau, and discover how individual voices come together to create a high energy ensemble sound.
We’ll be looking at how to create a larger ensemble: melodies, second voices, rhythmic accompaniments, and bass lines intertwine to create the groove that carries the dancers. We’ll also work on typical stylistic features of Balfolk music, on phrasing, dynamics, and how music supports dance. Dance songs are also an important part of Balfolk repertoire, and it’s quite likely that one or two of them will appear in our Dance Orchestra, too. back
About Hasidic Music
by Alan Bern more
About Hasidic Music
by Alan Bern
Hasidic Judaism began in the 18th century in Eastern Europe as a spiritual revival movement in which music has always played an absolutely essential role. Today, there are over 100 different Hasidic dynasties based mostly in North America, Israel, and Belgium, each with its own musical traditions and repertoires. They share in common an emphasis on the spiritual function of music; its ability to lead the singer or instrumentalist from a state of deep, contemplative devotion to one of euphoric ecstasy.
Traditionally, Hasidic music and klezmer music greatly overlap especially in the dance repertoire, and many melodies that we know today as freylekhs or bulgars found their way from klezmer music into Hasidic music, as well as vice versa. But, along with the growth and evolution of Hasidic communities, the repertoire, style, rhythms, and moods of Hasidic music have changed greatly over time, especially since the mid-20th century, under the influence of popular music and Middle Eastern music. For example, the freylekhs genre is popular in contemporary Hasidic music, and includes many well-known klezmer melodies, but played with a beat that derives from Arabic music, and using harmonies, arrangements and effects that come from contemporary popular music.
In the Dance Orchestra we’ll explore both the contemporary Hasidic style applied to familiar klezmer melodies as well as music composed within the Hasidic communities. Our goal will be to provide music that fully supports the spiritual qualities of Hasidic dance, and we are very fortunate to have Eli Benedict as dance teacher and guide for that purpose. Please read the following article on Hasidic dance, written by Eli, to get a more vivid sense of what to expect. back
About Hasidic Dance: The Art and Soul of Movement
by Eli Benedict (YSW26 Dance Workshop teacher) more
About Hasidic Dance: The Art and Soul of Movement
by Eli Benedict (YSW26 Dance Workshop teacher)
Hasidic dance is more than just a joyful expression - it is a rich and enigmatic movement tradition that intertwines spirituality, personal emotion, and artistic form. It serves as a gateway to both communal connection and deep introspection, with gestures and steps steeped in centuries of meaning, passed down like whispers through time. Growing up in this tradition, Eli Benedict absorbed these dances from childhood, internalizing their rhythm, improvisational freedom, and the philosophy behind them.
The Dance Workshop offers a hands-on journey into the living, breathing world of Hasidic dance - an art form where movement becomes storytelling, and the body speaks in ways words cannot. Participants will encounter a wide spectrum of dance forms within the tradition: solo dances, couple dances, circle dances, larger group dances, and theatrical or stage expressions.
In connection with this year’s festival theme exploring women in Yiddish culture, the workshop will also touch upon women’s dance traditions and movement forms that developed in female social spaces within Ashkenazi life. back
