Israeli Dancing with Ken Avner

06/04/2026

Dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US). This week I'll introduce a new circle dance, Chag Hameshek חג המשק by Avi Levy, music by Elai Botner. I'll also teach a couples dance from 2009 that never made its way into our repertoire: Rov Hasha'ot רוב השעות by Sagi Azran & Sharon Elkaslassy, sung by Ilan Damti (with some help from the Idan Raichel Project). Cool dance, great music.

Last week I reviewed Bederech Emuna Bacharti בדרך אמונה בחרתי (Erez Tubul / Moshe Peretz / circle / 2026) and this week I'll introduce another new dance, Chag Hameshek חג המשק by Avi Levy, music by Elai Botner. I'll also teach a couples dance from 2009 that never made its way i...

05/28/2026

We are dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US), back after a week off for Shavu'ot - I hope that everyone who observes the holiday had a wonderful time.

Before our break I taught Bederech Emuna Bacharti בדרך אמונה בחרתי (Erez Tubul / Moshe Peretz / circle / 2026) and I'll review it tonight.

We are back after a week off for Shavu'ot - I hope that everyone who observes the holiday had a wonderful time. Before our break I taught Bederech Emuna Bacharti בדרך אמונה בחרתי (Erez Tubul / Moshe Peretz / circle / 2026) and I'll review it this week. Speaking of teaching, please l...

05/14/2026

We are dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US). This week I'll teach a new dance, Bederech Emuna Bacharti בדרך אמונה בחרתי. The dance is by Erez Tubul. The deeply moving words to the song, based on text from Psalms, were written by Agam Berger after her release from more than a year in captivity in Gaza.

Last week I reviewed the 2 dances I taught the week before, Omed Basha'ar עומד בשער (Ohad Atia and Gadi Bitton / Amir Benayoun / 2008.2013 / circle) and Akevim VeJeans עקבים וג'ינס (Dudu Barzilay / Omer Adam / 2026 / couple). This week I'll teach another new dance, Bederech ...

05/07/2026

We are dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US). I will review the 2 dances I taught last week, Omed Basha'ar עומד בשער (Ohad Atia and Gadi Bitton / Amir Benayoun / 2008.2013 / circle) and Akevim VeJeans עקבים וג'ינס (Dudu Barzilay / Omer Adam / 2026 / couple). Plus, of course, dancing your requests.

And look for the dance info to be back in the Zoom chat tonight!

Tonight I will review the 2 dances I taught last week, Omed Basha'ar עומד בשער (Ohad Atia and Gadi Bitton / Amir Benayoun / 2008.2013 / circle) and Akevim VeJeans עקבים וג'ינס (Dudu Barzilay / Omer Adam / 2026 / couple). Plus, of course, dancing your requests.

04/30/2026

We are dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US). We'd love to see you there!

It was great to see everyone in blue and white last week as we celebrated Israel's birthday. In the spirit of marking the passage of time, this week I'll teach 2 dances: an "older" circle dance, Omed Basha'ar עומד בשער from 2008* (dance from Ohad Atia and Gadi Bitton, song by Amir Benayoun) and a new couples dance, Akevim VeJeans עקבים וג'ינס from this year (dance by Dudu Barzilay, song by Omer Adam). For reasons that can be explained only by the Dance Deities, Omed Basha'ar has come up several times in conversations in the past few weeks, so I'm taking that as a sign that I need to teach it! *I'll explain about "2008" during the teaching.

This and more in the email:

Great to see everyone in blue and white last week as we celebrated Israel's birthday. In the spirit of marking the passage of time, this week I'll teach 2 dances: an "older" circle dance, Omed Basha'ar עומד בשער from 2008* (dance from Ohad Atia and Gadi Bitton, song by Amir Benayoun) and a ...

04/23/2026

We're back from Texas, and we're dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US). This week is Yom Ha'atsma'ut יום העצמאות, Israel's Independence day (78 years young). Please wear blue / white for the occasion and we'll dance lots of dances for the land of Israel. חג עצמאות שמח 🇮🇱 💙✡️

Since the calendar has been so crazy lately, I'll review Yeladim Shel Kayits ילדים של קיץ (Michael Barzelai / Idan Raichel / circle / 2025) one more time tonight. New dance next week.

There was a nice showing from the DMV at Kochavim - I hope y'all enjoyed it. For everyone else, it's still true that you can be only in one place at a time. But we're back, so it's all good! This week is Yom Ha'atsma'ut יום העצמאות, Israel's Independence day (78 years young). Please wear b...

04/16/2026

** We are NOT dancing at Shaare Tefila tonight! **

But if you leave for Texas now, you can probably make it in time for Kochavim.

Last week we had some treats (foods and dances) for Mimuna and I reviewed Yeladim Shel Kayits ילדים של קיץ (Michael Barzelai / Idan Raichel / circle / 2025). We'll be back "karagil" (as usual) next week.

04/09/2026

Dancing starts at *8:30* (Eastern US) tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom.

I hope everyone had (or is still having) a wonderful Passover. For those observing 8 days, it ends in Olney at around 8:25pm tonight, so dancing will start after that at 8:30. We'll mark the end of Passover with a Moroccan Mimuna tonight - some special treats and a dance or 2.

Last time we met I taught Yeladim Shel Kayits ילדים של קיץ (Michael Barzelai / Idan Raichel / circle / 2025) and I'll review it tonight.

** Schedule for the rest of April **

📆 April 16th - No dancing! I will be at Kochavim. Y'all should come too! https://www.kochavim.net
📆 April 23rd - We return to our normal schedule.

https://mailchi.mp/8feadb7ee8dc/thursday-night-israeli-dancing-6750788

Dancing starts at 8:30 tonight! I hope everyone had (or is still having) a wonderful Passover. For those observing 8 days, it ends in Olney at around 8:25pm tonight, so dancing will start after that at 8:30. We'll mark the end of Passover with a Moroccan Mimuna tonight - some special treats and a d...

04/02/2026

No dancing tonight. חג פסח שמח!

03/26/2026

Spring is springing and the trees and flowers are starting to bloom. Yay!

We are dancing tonight at Shaare Tefila and on Zoom, 8-11ish pm (Eastern US), and in anticipation of warmer weather, this week I will be teaching a circle dance called Yeladim Shel Kayits ילדים של קיץ. Dance from Michael Barzelai, song by Idan Raichel. I'll also review the couples dance I taught last week, also from Michael Barzelai, called Halev Sheli Patu'ach הלב שלי פתוח.

** Planning ahead: Schedule for April **

📆 April 2nd is Passover (2nd Seder) and we are not dancing. Go find the Afikomen!
📆 April 9th Passover ends at sunset, and dancing will start at 8:30pm. Mimuna!
📆 April 16th I will be at Kochavim. Y'all should come too! https://www.kochavim.net
📆 April 23rd we return to our normal schedule.

All this and more in the email: https://mailchi.mp/f656c7ef81a7/thursday-night-israeli-dancing-6750478