Travel Journal
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July 4th - July 10th
Saturday July 10, 2004 Tel Aviv 10:30pm
So after another night out with friends, I had agreed to drive with Eyal
Eliyahu up to Karmiel to teach a workshop! The drives were uneventful,
but very funny! Eyal has the best sense of humor and I laughed myself
silly (and almost off the road!) After returning to Kfar Saba (we left his
car there) he insisted that I come to eat with him and Daniella his VERY
PREGNANT wife (she is due on the 5th of August. So I followed him to
Rosh Ha'Ayin and then on to Re'ut to a party Kobi Michaeli was having! It
was a lot of fun and he had a nice turn out not just of his dancers but
some friends from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem made the journey! There was
a nice performance by Chaim Vaknin's group from Beer Sheva. It ended
at around 2am and I had a surprise...NO FOOD! I was happy to sleep!
Friday July 9, 2004 Tel Aviv 10:30pm
So I am going to explain this histalmut thing that you all hear about all the
time. For those who have been, well you know, for those who haven't...it's
an experience! The histalmut is eccentially the place that the
choreographers come to present their latest and greatest! But it's really
more than that! It's networking, seeing and being seen and lots of
politics! A true study in choreographer nature! :o) This being the
histalmut before Karmiel, there were manyof us "visitors". Also, it being
the first histalmut after the Memorial Day camps, many of us "VIsitors"
knew the dances before the Israelis!
We had taped 32 dances for the histalmut but I think only about 8 where
taught (Bein Ha'Etzba'ot, Semel Ahava, Ha'Lev, Ha'Milim Ha'Chasserot,
Ha'Hatzaga Nigmeret, Lecha Eli, Yad Elohim, Yedi'a, and may be I missed
one..I came late) and another 8 or so were just demonstrated. The
teaching part is similar to a normal camp teaching session (just faster
and in hebrew)! Most of the people who come are teachers in Israel and
have extensive dance experience. It's still fun to see them struggle with
the same parts that we struggled with at the camps!
Pretty much anyone who is current in Rikudai Am was there today, Gadi
Bitton, the producer, Yaron Ben-Simchon, his trusted assistant, Shlomo
Maman, Eli Ronen, Victor Gabbay, Shimon Shuker, Dudu Barzilay, Rafi
Ziv, Yaron Carmel, Oren Ashkenazi, Yom-Tov Ochayon, Israel Shabtai,
Itzik Ben-Dahan, and countless others. Gaby Almog from Brazil, William
(from Portland, now Los Angelse,) and Iris, Edy Greenblatt, Sandra from
Brazil, Danilo also Brazil, Maszi from Hungary were some of the world
wide participants and I am sure in my tiredness I have missed some
others! SO I am sorry in advanced! We had a special treat...Sagiv Cohen,
singer of Chaki Od Rega and Tni Li Avir, sang live while we danced (well
actually I was relegated to photographer status!) He has an amaazing
voice and was sweet enough to let Meliss and Mira pose for some
pictures! It finally ended at around 3pm and a bunch of us went out to
eat...surprise surprise! I just woke up from a nap and planning another
night out with some friends! Layla tov and Shabbat Shalom!
Thursday July 8, 2004 Tel Aviv
Dragged my butt out of bed at around noon (I only dragged my butt into
bed around 5am!) So after getting ready I drove up to Zichron Ya'akov to
spend some time with Yaron Carmel and his puppy dog Oz (the sweetest
Golden Retriever puppies EVER!) After fixing his computer and just
hanging out we headed out to Misgav in the north near Karmiel. Yaron has
a great session there. I had never been and have promised to make that
journey for years now! I am so glad that I did!
Dani and Ruthy's group made the trip and those 50 people were joined by
550 others! Even with a graduation party going on next door (and limited
parking) the gym was packed! Yankele Levy made an appearance and we
danced about 5 dances of his! It was a great sight! There is a picture
online! Oren Shmuel also joined the festivities. I also had the pleasure of
meeting some new people like Ro'i Friedman (the co-choreographer with
Gadi of Bein Ha'Etzba'ot) and Eitan and Dorit who, even though they are
young, run a separate oldies couples session during the evening in
Misgav (Eitan is just finishing his course for Markidim at Tel Aviv
University!) The session ended at around 1:45 in the morning and we had
some great laughs on the way back to Zichron (as well as a phone call
from my friend Gali from Los Angeles!) At the end I drove back to Tel
Aviv rather then sleep there (I was wide awake and needed to be up early
for the histalmut!) So I finally got back to my apartment at 5:15am! TIRED!
Wednesday July 7, 2004 Tel Aviv
I finally got some sleep! This morning I met a friend for brunch before
heading down to Ashdod to meet Avi & Leital Levy for lunch and go over
to his studio. Unfortunetally I was not able to stay to see his kids perform
(although I am now a proud owner of a DVD of Avivims latest show...which
was AMAZING!) THe good news is that Avi will be joined by some of his
dancers at Machol Miami this year, so maybe we can talk him into having
them perform one of the pieces! :o)
I then headed back to Tel Aviv to meet my friend Smadar & Avi
Ben-Loulou for coffee. We met in the mall in Hertzeliya and watched their
son Noam running around the play area there! Afterwards off to dinner
with childhood friends, Zivit and Dani and their newborn daughter Romi,
in Hod Hasharon for a great dinner. I ate entirely too much and returned
home at around 1am happy! Thinking it was going to be a early night
(compared to the usual), I got ready for bed...not a good idea, because at
about 1:30am I had a friend visit and out I went for more coffee and
catching up (it's a good thing that there is always a place to go and sit
here in Tel Aviv!)!!!
Tuesday July 6, 2004 Tel Aviv 9:15pm
I am tired!!! Caught up with an old friend last night and we went out to
dance (not Israeli) and drink and just catch up! Finally dragged myself
home around 5am (I think I am getting too old for this!) :o)
Today I drove Mishael to Karmiel for the teachers workshop. During the
hour and a half drive up I learn a lot about Mishael's history regarding
Rikudai Am (it 's really quite interesting!) The workshop was nice. It is a
nice group from all over the world that has several dance workshops
everyday (the day we went Yankele Levy and Israel Shiker were there
earlier!) and at night they go dancing! Dani Ben-Shalom and Ruthy Slann
really offer LOTS of dancing! Mishael taught 4 dances of Dudu's (El
Ha'or, Mala Mala, Lecha Karati & Mitchamek Mi Shiga'on).
On the way back to Tel Aviv we stopped at Sa'adia (& Margalit, his wife)
Amishai's house. It was a nice little break and fun to see these two old
time friends at home! I then spend a couple of hours with Odelia and
Ma'ayan before going home and passing out! :o)
Monday July 5, 2004 Tel Aviv 7:25pm
YASSU! The Greeks won the Euro 2004 (I think they had the WORST Odds
of winning the Championship!) Dancing last night was fun! THe turnout
was good even with the game and as always the Barzilays were great
Markidim! The usual crowd of foreigners made an appearance and as
predicted we went out to eat but this time was slightly different because
we were invited back to Mishael's house! In 5 minutes flat there was
fresh fruit washed, watermelon cut and plenty to drink! We even were
graced with a brief visit by Ma'ayan! :o) Pahzeet left to NY today, so I
took her to the airport at 5 in the morning (we were up anyway) and Alana
had to get to the airport at 10 to catch a ride up to Karmiel for the special
course Dani Ben-Shalom and Ruthy Slann host every year! So after 2
airport runs I drove to Jerusalem to spend the day with Ilana V. We had a
great lunch and a nice time just walking around Jerusalem. I drove home
at around 6ish and am NOT planning on dancing tonight (or for the better
part of the week!) See ya!
Sunday July 4, 2004 Tel Aviv 6:20pm
Happy July 4th for the Americans (I wouldn't have even thought about it if
it hadn't been for reading the news online!) In Israel the big deal here is
the impending match between Portugal and Greece in the Euro (basically
by how much Portugal is going to win!) Everyone is anticipating low turn
out at dance sessions and short couples sets till after the match!!!! :o)
I hope you all had a nice Shabbat, mine was great!
Friday night Alana and I had a great dinner outside in Tel Aviv over
looking the ocean during sunset! What a better way to welcome Shabbat I
really can't imagine! After which I headed off to see some old friends and
spend time gossiping about other old friends and playing with their new
daughter (a leap year baby!)!! I came home tired but very happy!
Saturday turned into a dance marathon! In the morning it was dancing on
the beach in Tel Aviv with Sara Aviv (a sure way to drop 2 pounds on 2
hours!). Motze Shabbat was a dual-dance whirlwind with a stop at Levi
Bar-Gil's session in Hertziliya and then another session in Natanya. Levi
was a great host (warm as always) and we had fun dancing with him! The
Natanya session was nothing to write home about (we arrived late) but
the trip was anyway an excuse to see Daniel and Nathalie before their
return to New York (they went on their honeymoon to Greece and returned
to Israel on Friday!) Once again the Hubers were up for the trip and we
all went out to eat after dancing (as if we would EVER miss eating!!)
Between all that dancing, I was at the beach for many hours. The water
was perfect as was the company! Ilana V., Rita (from NY), Iris (who used
to live in NY many years ago), Diane (from Montreal) and her husband, as
well as Mishael and Dudu! We finally left at 6pm (with slightly red body
parts!) But it was well worth it!
Today it was really hot out and I decided to stay inside most of the day
(until it was time for me to come for my afternoon coffee at the Coffee
Bean in Tel Aviv! Tonight I'm going dancing at Beit Dani with the
Barzilays! Tomorrow I am off to Jerusalem (for the first time in years) for
a visit with Ilana in her home town!)
Hope you all have a great day and enjoy the new pictures!