Dance Workshop
Three Worlds of Dance – Hasidic, Yiddish, Balfolk
August 11 - 15, 2026
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 3 - 6 p.m. | open to all
with Eli Benedict, Lena Anseeuw & Andreas Schmitges
This year, we’re trying something new and very exciting with the Dance Workshop and Dance Orchestra. 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 Hassidic 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.
What makes the Dance Workshop at Yiddish Summer Weimar so special?
First, it’s wall-to-wall dancing, with clear instruction by dance masters who are deep into their dance cultures and share their knowledge and experience with you, Next, it’s the nightly dance and music jam sessions/parties that take place in cafés and other public spaces in Weimar and fill the summer nights with their joy and energy. Then, it’s the unique opportunity to dance to the live music of a 35-piece Dance Orchestra that really rocks. And finally, it’s the public Dance Ball that culminates not only the workshop but the entire Yiddish Summer Weimar 2026 festival, where everything comes together in one last, amazing night.
What can you expect from this year’s Dance Workshop?
We’ll be exploring three different styles and repertoires this year: music for traditional, secular Yiddish dance, music for contemporary Hassidic dance, and music for Balfolk dance. You can read more about these worlds of dance and music below.
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. Yiddish dance is accompanied by music that includes many genres 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 Yiddish dance is really the “home” for much of klezmer music. back
About Balfolk
by Lena Anseeuw
more
About Balfolk
by Lena Anseeuw
Balfolk is a social dance tradition that has its roots all over Western Europe. The term comes from the words bal (dance party) and folk (folklore).
Balfolk dancing isn’t limited to a single culture. Dances from all over Europe have found their way into the repertoire, making it a very diverse and accessible form of dance. Starting in the 1970s, folk culture experienced a true revival. Dances and songs that were preserved at regional gatherings were brought to wider stages, transforming those local traditions into a shared heritage and allowing them to travel far beyond their places of origin.
The dances themselves are diverse and vary widely in style and feeling. Many are danced in pairs, but circle dances and chain dances are also very common. Typical dances include mazurka, scottish, bourrée, an dro, and chapelloise.
As diverse as the dances and songs, are the dancers. The balfolk community is very welcoming and open. There’s room for everyone, and the main idea is to have fun. The basic steps of many dances are beginner-friendly, and before every balfolk event, there is a workshop so everyone has a chance to participate.
In this workshop we’ll start with the basics: the steps of the most popular dances. We’ll listen to music, explore rhythms, and learn some less common dances.
Then, we’ll learn to communicate with each other. Not with words, but through movement and intention. We’ll learn how to lead confidently and how to interpret those impulses as a follower. We’ll transform circle dances from individual steps, to one collective movement as a group. We’ll also explore existing variations and learn how to bring our own creativity into movement.
I have been part of the balfolk scene for 17 years and have learned from many wonderful dancers and musicians across Europe. Dancing is a lifelong passion of mine, and I’m excited to share it with you. 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. back
About Hasidic Dance: The Art and Soul of Movement
by Eli Benedict more
About Hasidic Dance: The Art and Soul of Movement
by Eli Benedict
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
