Commentary

 Israeli Folk Dancing: A View from Inside the Circle

 History of Israeli dancing  [Article 1]

 History of Israeli dancing [Article 2]

Why is this fun? By Howard Wachtel

Tidbits: About Israeli dance styles and steps

The 'DEBKA' is a style of dance, originally Arabic in origin, and originally done by men only. It refers to a strong, bouncy style of dance with strong, stacatto like movements. There are however, dozens of debkas in today's Israeli dance repertoire, many of which, have been choreographed in the last couple of decades, and aside from their style (strong and bouncy) are not traditional debkas.

The debka step is a specific step used in many debka and debka style dances. It is traditionally done by placing the heel of one foot forward, and then lifting it slightly and falling forward onto that same foot (usually to the count of 1&). Sometimes 2 or 4 of them, alternating feet are strung together.

HORA refers to a closed circle dance usually spirited in nature. The origin of the Hora is from the Rumanian 'oro' also a closed circle dance, and was adopted by Israel because the closed circle form represents unity.

"It fitted perfectly the pioneer character of those settlers and the social set-up of the kibbutz especially. The tightly closed circle, with linked arms and hands on shoulders of neighbors was the exact expression of the close human relationship between all the members of the community; all...with equal rights and equal value, regardless of sex or of dancing ability. Simple energetic movements - stamping, jumping and leg swinging...for hours and hours."

from Harikud - the Jewish Dance by Fred Berk 1972 UAHC & AZYF