Dance Workshop
Three Worlds of Dance: Hasidic, Yiddish, Balfolk

August 11 - 15, 2026
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 3 - 6 p.m. | all levels

with Vivien Zeller, Eli Benedict & Andreas Schmitges

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 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. Read more about each of these repertoires below: 

About Yiddish Dance & Dance Music
by Alan Bern                                              
Unlike Israeli dance, 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.

About Balfolk
by Vivien Zeller                                                                         
Based on traditional Western European fashion dances of the 19th century, particularly French and Breton dances, a lively European dance and music culture has developed over the last 40 years, which thrives today in a modern social dance scene called balfolk.

Typical balfolk dances include the waltz, mazurka, schottische, bourrée, an dro, and Scottish. Many are danced in pairs, others in rows or circles. The steps and structures are often simple. Many are danced in pairs, others in lines or circles. What matters in balfolk dancing is more than just performing steps. Equally important is musicality, communication, and the shared energy on the dance floor. Dancers vary their steps, respond to the music, and develop their ownstyle. Balfolk thus combines tradition, improvisation, and communal dancing.

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.

 

Workshop fee: 
395 € Standard / 320 € Reduced / 545 € Sponsor / 145 € Under 18