Markidim (Dance Leaders)

Cheryl Feit and Gordon Smith

 

There has been a long tradition of Israeli Folk dancing in Detroit.  It originally had it roots in the International Folk dance community, but expanded to include groups which concentrated primarily on  Israeli dances.  Thru the years there have been both performing and drop-in groups.   We would like to thank both past and current successful dance leaders in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area including but not limited to: Uri Segal, Sunny Segal, Cheryl Litt, Gingi, Dave Peisner, Tom Starks, Shelly Jackier, Avi Zechory, Amnon Steiner, Laura Steiner, Cheryl Feit, and Gordon Smith.

Dancing in the West Bloomfield JCC began in 1993 led by Shelly Jackier and Avi Zechory.  In 2005, after they moved to California, Cheryl Feit and Gordon Smith became the new dance leaders. 

Currently, Cheryl Feit and Gordon Smith continue  as Markidim for the Wednesday night dance session.  The regular drop-in session begins at 7:15 pm and continues until 10:00pm at which time we begin our couple dance session.  Our philosophy is to keep our group alive and current by regularly teaching new dances.   We also teach and maintain classic dances in our repertoire.  Any dance taught is repeated in the program until we feel comfortable with it. We maintain a core group of dances by regularly reviewing dances taught in the past and reintroducing them into the program as necessary for retention.

Recently, we have implemented a classic/oldies night approximately once/month, so that we will have more time to enjoy these excellent dances.
Also, we hold couple dance workshops on some weekends to have more time to  learn and dance Israeli partner dancing. Contact us if you are interested.