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Published On: Apr 19, 2005 10:17 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Apr 19, 2005 10:17 PM
Sat - January 1, 2005
Winter Rikud december 30 - Jan 2
On our way home from Machol Miami, so
why not drop in to David Dassa's camp at Malibu for New Year's!
Joining us are Danni Dassa, Shlomo Maman, Yaron
Ben-Simchon, and local choreographers and dance friends for a weekend at the old
Camp Hess Kramer at Malibu.
I fondly recall my previous visits to this site in the early '90s which David Dassa is using as a test bed before he shifts May Rikud to the site in 2005. (Get your reservations in early as it will be strictly limited to 300 max.)
Here, Israel Yakovee held several Finjan camps. It was fun during a debka-only session this afternoon to recall learning debkas from Moshiko (Lu Hayit) and Moshe Eskayo (D. Ramot and Keff) here.
David and his staff have gone to a lot of trouble, since he also has to incorporate Shabbat and New Year's Eve into the program. We have done performances already in groups (mine was led by Shlomo), and it was great to be part of his temporary performing group performing Shabbat dances.
There is a good mix of experienced dancers and lots of young folk, for which David can feel justly proud in grooming a new generation of folk dancers with a good grasp of classic and contemporary dances.
This weekend we'll relearn old classics and be exposed to new material.
One positive change at Hess Kramer is dancing on a wooden floor in the old linoleumed dining area. There is also a wireless internet connection! One Windows XP and one old G3 Mac running Jaguar is in an adjoining area. The Windows machine is out of action due to be infiltrated with spyware!
Here we are surfing away!
I fondly recall my previous visits to this site in the early '90s which David Dassa is using as a test bed before he shifts May Rikud to the site in 2005. (Get your reservations in early as it will be strictly limited to 300 max.)
Here, Israel Yakovee held several Finjan camps. It was fun during a debka-only session this afternoon to recall learning debkas from Moshiko (Lu Hayit) and Moshe Eskayo (D. Ramot and Keff) here.
David and his staff have gone to a lot of trouble, since he also has to incorporate Shabbat and New Year's Eve into the program. We have done performances already in groups (mine was led by Shlomo), and it was great to be part of his temporary performing group performing Shabbat dances.
There is a good mix of experienced dancers and lots of young folk, for which David can feel justly proud in grooming a new generation of folk dancers with a good grasp of classic and contemporary dances.
This weekend we'll relearn old classics and be exposed to new material.
One positive change at Hess Kramer is dancing on a wooden floor in the old linoleumed dining area. There is also a wireless internet connection! One Windows XP and one old G3 Mac running Jaguar is in an adjoining area. The Windows machine is out of action due to be infiltrated with spyware!
Here we are surfing away!
!
More news to follow.
Posted at 05:41 PM |
Mon - December 27, 2004
Machol Miami - Sunday night marathon and party
The masked ball
theme...
By Sunday 5pm, all that was going to be taught,
was taught. Time to relax and
party.
Theme for Sunday night was "Masked Ball", and as we discovered after dinner, Camp Director Peggy Elimelech had been inspired to develop this theme after seeing a performance in Israel of guest choreographer Avi Levy's Avivim troupe.
Looking like dancers from Circe d'soleil, his group performed an outstanding sequence wearing masks and costumes.
Before that, one of his troupe who is featured on the video website. Mor Azzugi, participated in her wheelchair in a special choreography with her troupe. There were some very damp eyes in the ballroom watching this performance, culminating in her standing out of her wheelchair supported by her friends and fellow dancers. After getting the OK from Avi, I expect I'll upload this special sequence some time soon.
As per usual, Machol Miami ran like clockwork, with wonderful decorations developed by Irith Shade and her "slaves"; Ken Avner and Laurie Markus assisting with the programming, and many accomplished local and visiting dances. Food and refreshmentts were abundant, as we've come to expect from recent camps.
There were a few standout dances, principally the couples from Sunday morning. We'll see which ones get picked up for regular sessions. Mind you, with Winter Rikud coming up, and two Hishtalmiot videos on their way soon, they'll have stiff competition for floor space.
Never a dull moment!
Theme for Sunday night was "Masked Ball", and as we discovered after dinner, Camp Director Peggy Elimelech had been inspired to develop this theme after seeing a performance in Israel of guest choreographer Avi Levy's Avivim troupe.
Looking like dancers from Circe d'soleil, his group performed an outstanding sequence wearing masks and costumes.
Before that, one of his troupe who is featured on the video website. Mor Azzugi, participated in her wheelchair in a special choreography with her troupe. There were some very damp eyes in the ballroom watching this performance, culminating in her standing out of her wheelchair supported by her friends and fellow dancers. After getting the OK from Avi, I expect I'll upload this special sequence some time soon.
As per usual, Machol Miami ran like clockwork, with wonderful decorations developed by Irith Shade and her "slaves"; Ken Avner and Laurie Markus assisting with the programming, and many accomplished local and visiting dances. Food and refreshmentts were abundant, as we've come to expect from recent camps.
There were a few standout dances, principally the couples from Sunday morning. We'll see which ones get picked up for regular sessions. Mind you, with Winter Rikud coming up, and two Hishtalmiot videos on their way soon, they'll have stiff competition for floor space.
Never a dull moment!
Posted at 02:24 PM |
Machol Miami day 3 - dances taught
More late nights in the Florida
warmth, and a couple of partner dances emerge as winners....*
Avi
Levy
11. Hal'a - Latin-style circle
12. *Ner Al hachelon - a partner dance, very popular, to new music of Stella Maris, sung by the winner of the Israeli Idol TV competition, to a live recording
Dudu Barzilai
13. *Sipur Machur - Partner dance of Itzik Ben-Dahan
Haim Vaknin
14. Sof Ha'olam Smole - a circle dance of Jack Ochayon
Mali and Moshe
15. Isha Al Hachof - a 9/8 timed circle dance of Mali and Moshe (already on the web, but this video to be uploaded soon)
Aviv Ben-Ishay
16. Chagigah Yevenit - circle dance of local 22 year old Beer Sheva young man, who is an excellent dancer
17. Chori Chori - line dance
11. Hal'a - Latin-style circle
12. *Ner Al hachelon - a partner dance, very popular, to new music of Stella Maris, sung by the winner of the Israeli Idol TV competition, to a live recording
Dudu Barzilai
13. *Sipur Machur - Partner dance of Itzik Ben-Dahan
Haim Vaknin
14. Sof Ha'olam Smole - a circle dance of Jack Ochayon
Mali and Moshe
15. Isha Al Hachof - a 9/8 timed circle dance of Mali and Moshe (already on the web, but this video to be uploaded soon)
Aviv Ben-Ishay
16. Chagigah Yevenit - circle dance of local 22 year old Beer Sheva young man, who is an excellent dancer
17. Chori Chori - line dance
Posted at 09:14 AM |
Sun - December 26, 2004
Machol Miami Day 2 - Dances taught
After a 2.30am finish, and 4am for
some who choose to jacuzzi before bedtime, a sensible start on Christmas day of
10 am saw reviews of Friday's material and new dances taught.
Avi
Levy
5. At Oti Shofefer - A greek-style circle dance
6. Az ma - a fun couple dance with some interesting group moves
Dudu Barzilai
7. Otach Letzidi - couple dance
8. Lo Yachol Lehafsik - circle dance
Haim Vaknin
9. Tnu Beketzev - circle of Shlomo Maman
10. Cholem Otach - couple of Roi Freedman which proved popular
5. At Oti Shofefer - A greek-style circle dance
6. Az ma - a fun couple dance with some interesting group moves
Dudu Barzilai
7. Otach Letzidi - couple dance
8. Lo Yachol Lehafsik - circle dance
Haim Vaknin
9. Tnu Beketzev - circle of Shlomo Maman
10. Cholem Otach - couple of Roi Freedman which proved popular
Posted at 10:07 AM |
Fri - December 24, 2004
Machol Miami Day 1
Dances taught on Day 1. 2pm -
5pm
Avi
Levy
1. Ein Ahava - a fast paced rock'n'roll style partner danced to music and lyrics by a relative unknown in Israel, Robert Gillmore.
Dudu Barzilai
2. Mi Yohav Otach Kamoni - circle dance with singer Yoav Yitzchak
3. Yam hamishalot - Greek-style circle dance previously seen, but fortunately unchanged!
Haim Vaknin
4. Balagan, by Kobi Michaeli. Circle dance, previously seen at Finjan and modified on the Chagigah 2004 video, and as shown on my video website
1. Ein Ahava - a fast paced rock'n'roll style partner danced to music and lyrics by a relative unknown in Israel, Robert Gillmore.
Dudu Barzilai
2. Mi Yohav Otach Kamoni - circle dance with singer Yoav Yitzchak
3. Yam hamishalot - Greek-style circle dance previously seen, but fortunately unchanged!
Haim Vaknin
4. Balagan, by Kobi Michaeli. Circle dance, previously seen at Finjan and modified on the Chagigah 2004 video, and as shown on my video website
Posted at 04:56 PM |
Thu - December 23, 2004
Luggage arrived - fresh clothes to dance in! Machol Miami 2004 pre-camp party
Our luggage finally arrived from Chicago just as
we were getting to head down to South Beach for dinner at prime112 at the Browns
Hotel.
This place specialises in meat and we weren't disappointed. One guest had a $20 Kobe hot dog, a 20" doggie he couldn't finish.
I played safe and had tuna, and we all shared a terrific key lime pie with schlog (whipped cream) and huckleberry sauce!
Then off to North Miami and dancing with the local crowd and the interstaters and internationals here for Machol Miami.
Quite a few familiar faces in a crowd which exceeded 120, with camp guests Dudu and Haim setting the pace. Avi Levy joined later after returning with his troupe from a dancer performance.
Everyone is looking forward to a fun weekend - the weather is likely to keep us indoors rather than by the pool and there is already quite a festive mood.
More reports to follow throughout the weekend since we have wi-fi in the lobby!
This place specialises in meat and we weren't disappointed. One guest had a $20 Kobe hot dog, a 20" doggie he couldn't finish.
I played safe and had tuna, and we all shared a terrific key lime pie with schlog (whipped cream) and huckleberry sauce!
Then off to North Miami and dancing with the local crowd and the interstaters and internationals here for Machol Miami.
Quite a few familiar faces in a crowd which exceeded 120, with camp guests Dudu and Haim setting the pace. Avi Levy joined later after returning with his troupe from a dancer performance.
Everyone is looking forward to a fun weekend - the weather is likely to keep us indoors rather than by the pool and there is already quite a festive mood.
More reports to follow throughout the weekend since we have wi-fi in the lobby!
Posted at 05:35 PM |
Wed - December 22, 2004
Off to Machol Miami 2004
Finally made it to Fort Lauderdale. Don't try
this without adult supervision,
kiddies.
1. Melbourne -> Sydney - 1 hr
2. Layover in Sydney - 1 hr
3. Sydney -> San Francisco - 13 hrs
4. Layover in San Francisco - 1hr
5. San Francisco -> Chicago - 3.5hrs
6. Layover in Chicago - 1 hr
7. Chicago -> Fort Lauderdale - 3hrs
8. Wait for luggage to arrive - never happens, still waiting 12 hours later.
Total travel time: about 24 hrs door to door.
1. Melbourne -> Sydney - 1 hr
2. Layover in Sydney - 1 hr
3. Sydney -> San Francisco - 13 hrs
4. Layover in San Francisco - 1hr
5. San Francisco -> Chicago - 3.5hrs
6. Layover in Chicago - 1 hr
7. Chicago -> Fort Lauderdale - 3hrs
8. Wait for luggage to arrive - never happens, still waiting 12 hours later.
Total travel time: about 24 hrs door to door.
Posted at 07:51 AM |
Tue - September 21, 2004
Dances recently taught in Melbourne
Between the three Melbourne groups,
it's rare that a good dance gets passed by, although occasionally a sickly one
sneaks through...
Because Melbourne enjoys such a wide range of
dance sessions - you can dance here practically any day and night of the week
here except Friday - it's rare that a good dance sneaks under the bar and isn't
brought into a session somewhere.
And because Melbourne is the home of hebrewsongs.com, the Aussie IFD database, and the web video site, we are consistently up-to-date with new material.
A couple of dances from Keff have already proven popular, including Moshe Eskayo's Debka Larden (originally shown at Sababa 2004); and two dances from Rafi Ziv, a circle called Gam Ani Rotze, and a couple originally seen earlier in the year at Rikud, and more recently at Keff: Hane'urim ha'avudim. I'll post videos of these Rafi dances in a short while.
Batia Kronenberg's Halev has also got a guernsey as we say, having proven very popular in Israel on all accounts.
No one has touched Nona Malki's Chai Le Ma'anech couple dance.
Although today I got a nice set of emails from Tsvi Dean Adler, CAIB, who described himself as an "Israeli and International folk dance critic". He wrote: "This symmetric dance's unique fabric and appeal has the potential of becoming one of the 'good old classic'." I have his email address if anyone wants to contact him directly. I Googled his name and didn't come up with anything, so don't know if "CAIB" means Canadian Accident Investigation Board or something else. But both he and Nona share the same service provider (shaw.ca) so perhaps they know each other.
Coming soon to the video pages will be Yankele Ziv's Shinit et Chayay, and video adoptions will once more start soon, to keep the site up through 2004 and 2005. As usual Jody Underwood
will be handling
the adoptions, and again great thanks are due her.
And because Melbourne is the home of hebrewsongs.com, the Aussie IFD database, and the web video site, we are consistently up-to-date with new material.
A couple of dances from Keff have already proven popular, including Moshe Eskayo's Debka Larden (originally shown at Sababa 2004); and two dances from Rafi Ziv, a circle called Gam Ani Rotze, and a couple originally seen earlier in the year at Rikud, and more recently at Keff: Hane'urim ha'avudim. I'll post videos of these Rafi dances in a short while.
Batia Kronenberg's Halev has also got a guernsey as we say, having proven very popular in Israel on all accounts.
No one has touched Nona Malki's Chai Le Ma'anech couple dance.
Although today I got a nice set of emails from Tsvi Dean Adler, CAIB, who described himself as an "Israeli and International folk dance critic". He wrote: "This symmetric dance's unique fabric and appeal has the potential of becoming one of the 'good old classic'." I have his email address if anyone wants to contact him directly. I Googled his name and didn't come up with anything, so don't know if "CAIB" means Canadian Accident Investigation Board or something else. But both he and Nona share the same service provider (shaw.ca) so perhaps they know each other.
Coming soon to the video pages will be Yankele Ziv's Shinit et Chayay, and video adoptions will once more start soon, to keep the site up through 2004 and 2005. As usual Jody Underwood
will be handling
the adoptions, and again great thanks are due her.Posted at 12:31 AM |
Sat - September 4, 2004
Dropping into Finjan in LA - nice look of surprise from Yoni and Chuck!
We left New York early and arrived to
spend the day in LA. So what do dancers do? You drop into a dance camp, don't
you!
Up at 5am to catch the shuttle into JFK for
United's 855am service to LAX. Arrived early, no queues in Premier Executive and
the plane was half full. Very smooth flight in Business, and caught up on a
little sleep.
We arrived at 1130 or so PDT, and did the usual email and phone calls in the Red Carpet Lounge, then caught the Hilton shuttle over to the hotel, to surprise Yoni Carr and husband Skip with our unannounced arrival.
It would have been worth a picture to see her face when we walked up to her to say hullo - I think she must have thought we were visions, as we had not let her know at all we were coming. Indeed, she had heard we weren't heading to Keff either, so she was really caught off guard. But being who she was, she welcomed us with open arms, and asked us to stay prior to us having to leave about 930pm to catch our 11pm flight to Sydney.
We gave her a gift for her grandson for which she was very appreciative, and got to see the Finjan facilities. The Ballroom is enormous with a great wooden dance floor which covers the entire floor space, and she has set aside some rooms adjacent for meals and snacks. Alongside Machol Miami which is held at the Fort Lauderdale Sheraton, these are probably the most luxurious camps going.
Numbers expected are about 100, with Yoni not expecting higher numbers due to her absence in Israel, and the popularity of Chagigat/Hilulim next month.
Still, it was nice to catch up with familiar faces from previous Yoni camps, and the feeling here is very relaxed.
As a bonus we joined in the 5pm session, and learnt new dances from each of Kobi Michaeli and Avi Perez.
Kobi's was a circle using updated music for "Naomi", the line dance we had just danced the week before at Keff. Avi's dance was a slow and very pleasant dance. A nice start to Finjan, and I am looking forward to hearing about the rest of the camp's materials. While it was small, the local gathering was very friendly, and we were saddened to have to leave after Shabat dinner before the evening's dance session started.
Our thanks to Yoni and Chuck for the brief hosting of us, and to all the camp attendees who made us so welcome and feeling a part of the camp, albeit all too briefly. A very nice coda for our US trip.
We arrived at 1130 or so PDT, and did the usual email and phone calls in the Red Carpet Lounge, then caught the Hilton shuttle over to the hotel, to surprise Yoni Carr and husband Skip with our unannounced arrival.
It would have been worth a picture to see her face when we walked up to her to say hullo - I think she must have thought we were visions, as we had not let her know at all we were coming. Indeed, she had heard we weren't heading to Keff either, so she was really caught off guard. But being who she was, she welcomed us with open arms, and asked us to stay prior to us having to leave about 930pm to catch our 11pm flight to Sydney.
We gave her a gift for her grandson for which she was very appreciative, and got to see the Finjan facilities. The Ballroom is enormous with a great wooden dance floor which covers the entire floor space, and she has set aside some rooms adjacent for meals and snacks. Alongside Machol Miami which is held at the Fort Lauderdale Sheraton, these are probably the most luxurious camps going.
Numbers expected are about 100, with Yoni not expecting higher numbers due to her absence in Israel, and the popularity of Chagigat/Hilulim next month.
Still, it was nice to catch up with familiar faces from previous Yoni camps, and the feeling here is very relaxed.
As a bonus we joined in the 5pm session, and learnt new dances from each of Kobi Michaeli and Avi Perez.
Kobi's was a circle using updated music for "Naomi", the line dance we had just danced the week before at Keff. Avi's dance was a slow and very pleasant dance. A nice start to Finjan, and I am looking forward to hearing about the rest of the camp's materials. While it was small, the local gathering was very friendly, and we were saddened to have to leave after Shabat dinner before the evening's dance session started.
Our thanks to Yoni and Chuck for the brief hosting of us, and to all the camp attendees who made us so welcome and feeling a part of the camp, albeit all too briefly. A very nice coda for our US trip.
Posted at 08:15 AM |
Wed - August 25, 2004
Day 1 Keff
It's a big crowd already, with lots of
new faces amongst the old crowd.
Keff kicked off this afternoon (I know it says
Wednesday, but the Powerbook is still set to Melbourne time, 14 hours ahead.)
Lili and I had a much needed snooze between 1 and 4pm before going out for some
shopping.
After we got back the Keff bus drew up, with much of the contingent being young South Americans. They are here in good numbers, which makes programming a challenge for Rob Markowitz as their knowledge of some classics and partners doesn't match their awareness of recent dances, especially those taught in recent Keffs.
Yigal Triki was the first to teach a dance, Batia Kronenberg's Halev, which is apparently very popular in Israel now. It's up on the video site with the choreographer here. Another dance which will be popular with a young crowd who like pop Israeli material, but it has no legs, IMHO.
Sagi, the 17 year old also visiting Keff for the first time, was full of confidence and very thankful to Moshe and Eileen for bringing him onto staff. He danced most of the night with huge energy, and taught a dance of his own. Quite a nice first effort, reminded me of Dudu's elements and the Keff crowd was very supportive.
Mana'avu made its presence felt again at Keff, and the open dancing features many of the dances you'd expect to see in a popular open session. There aren't enough older heads here to justify classic material just yet. I counted one Moshiko dance, Alizut, and quite a few Shmulik. Partner sets were kept short - 2 or 3 - and quite easy.
Rafi turned up late having been delayed with his flight, and launched into dancing his recent material from last year's camp. Expect the energy levels to rise once more people arrive and new material is taught. Meir is in fine form, his En Ani very popular still. He is looking forward to his next visit to Australia he told me.
We finished off with Eskayo's Zingarella with Moshe leading, having revived it in Montreal a few years back. It's been in a our local repertoire for many years.
So an early night for us, and ready to spring into action in the morning. More news to come.
After we got back the Keff bus drew up, with much of the contingent being young South Americans. They are here in good numbers, which makes programming a challenge for Rob Markowitz as their knowledge of some classics and partners doesn't match their awareness of recent dances, especially those taught in recent Keffs.
Yigal Triki was the first to teach a dance, Batia Kronenberg's Halev, which is apparently very popular in Israel now. It's up on the video site with the choreographer here. Another dance which will be popular with a young crowd who like pop Israeli material, but it has no legs, IMHO.
Sagi, the 17 year old also visiting Keff for the first time, was full of confidence and very thankful to Moshe and Eileen for bringing him onto staff. He danced most of the night with huge energy, and taught a dance of his own. Quite a nice first effort, reminded me of Dudu's elements and the Keff crowd was very supportive.
Mana'avu made its presence felt again at Keff, and the open dancing features many of the dances you'd expect to see in a popular open session. There aren't enough older heads here to justify classic material just yet. I counted one Moshiko dance, Alizut, and quite a few Shmulik. Partner sets were kept short - 2 or 3 - and quite easy.
Rafi turned up late having been delayed with his flight, and launched into dancing his recent material from last year's camp. Expect the energy levels to rise once more people arrive and new material is taught. Meir is in fine form, his En Ani very popular still. He is looking forward to his next visit to Australia he told me.
We finished off with Eskayo's Zingarella with Moshe leading, having revived it in Montreal a few years back. It's been in a our local repertoire for many years.
So an early night for us, and ready to spring into action in the morning. More news to come.
Posted at 04:45 PM |
Early to Keff, and much to do...
Usually, we catch the mid-town bus to Keff,
getting in near to 4pm. By then, there's usually quite a gathering to act as a
greeting party, helping with luggage and lots of hello's and how are
you's.
This year, we came up with Eileen's parents who were gracious enough to host us for a few days, and walked into Benny hard at work completing the decorations and audio-visual setup.
There is a huge sombrero hanging in the hall which Benny created, and we are told it lights up and rotates. We'll see it in action tonight.
It's warm - about 80F - and there are still many of the camp staff who have been here for the summer in attendance. It's good to be here instead of the madhouse New York is about to become with the Republican Convention, but I think we will walk into the thick of things once camp is over.
Yigal Triki is already here, having stayed with Eileen, and so is Gerard from France. We hear there is a contingent from Japan for the first time, and I wonder if it's the same group we have seen at Yoni's Camp Yona.
Eileen's sons who usually help out will be absent this year through work and study so a lot more is left for the family to do, as well as the regular helpers like Joanie from Boston who is already here working on registrations for the other early arrivals.
This year, we came up with Eileen's parents who were gracious enough to host us for a few days, and walked into Benny hard at work completing the decorations and audio-visual setup.
There is a huge sombrero hanging in the hall which Benny created, and we are told it lights up and rotates. We'll see it in action tonight.
It's warm - about 80F - and there are still many of the camp staff who have been here for the summer in attendance. It's good to be here instead of the madhouse New York is about to become with the Republican Convention, but I think we will walk into the thick of things once camp is over.
Yigal Triki is already here, having stayed with Eileen, and so is Gerard from France. We hear there is a contingent from Japan for the first time, and I wonder if it's the same group we have seen at Yoni's Camp Yona.
Eileen's sons who usually help out will be absent this year through work and study so a lot more is left for the family to do, as well as the regular helpers like Joanie from Boston who is already here working on registrations for the other early arrivals.
Posted at 04:25 AM |
Sat - August 21, 2004
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Keff we go
An almost last minute change in my
studies means there is a gap allowing Lili and me to head to Keff for another
week of fun and frivolity.
We are at T-12 hours before our United Airlines
747 wings its way to Sydney then LAX, then a 767 to
JFK.
Another year, another Keff.
Wasn't sure we would make it and the flights are full, but we managed exit row because of our exalted status with UA's Frequent Flyer program. We have an aisle and window in a row of 3, but because it's exit, someone is bound to sit between us... even though UA is meant to keep it blocked. But exit row is a prize catch, and if you say you're over 6' you'll get it... but it was our best choice of what was available.
The Keff line up this year is hardly stellar compared with previous years and other camps, but as we've learnt over the years, our enjoyment of Keff is more tied up with being part of the Keff family than it is with learning three dozen dances from the "names".
If the South Americans turn out en masse, and the Israeli imports live up to their reputation for making ruach, it may well surpass the Keff of 2002 which was brilliant. That was the year of Eileen's back injury, and somehow even without her being very mobile and pretty much sidelined it was a memorable camp, perhaps because the Family was so glad she survived her close call.
Anyway, I don't know how often I'll be able to blog from Keff, but hopefully there are now more open wireless connections in Monroe for Lili and me to "borrow" some bandwidth and keep up our repartee.
As they say, watch this space!
Another year, another Keff.
Wasn't sure we would make it and the flights are full, but we managed exit row because of our exalted status with UA's Frequent Flyer program. We have an aisle and window in a row of 3, but because it's exit, someone is bound to sit between us... even though UA is meant to keep it blocked. But exit row is a prize catch, and if you say you're over 6' you'll get it... but it was our best choice of what was available.
The Keff line up this year is hardly stellar compared with previous years and other camps, but as we've learnt over the years, our enjoyment of Keff is more tied up with being part of the Keff family than it is with learning three dozen dances from the "names".
If the South Americans turn out en masse, and the Israeli imports live up to their reputation for making ruach, it may well surpass the Keff of 2002 which was brilliant. That was the year of Eileen's back injury, and somehow even without her being very mobile and pretty much sidelined it was a memorable camp, perhaps because the Family was so glad she survived her close call.
Anyway, I don't know how often I'll be able to blog from Keff, but hopefully there are now more open wireless connections in Monroe for Lili and me to "borrow" some bandwidth and keep up our repartee.
As they say, watch this space!
Posted at 10:12 PM |
Mon - August 16, 2004
Gadi's Echad Mi Yodea taught in Melbourne with video appetizer
... and iMovie comes to the
rescue.
With another Melbourne group having taught Gadi
Bitton's Karmiel 2004 winner, it seemed the next thing to do was to teach it at
Hora too, but with a difference.
Rather than just teaching the steps, the Hora group was presented first with the winning dance from the Karmiel official video, showing Gadi's performing group in action.
We used a video projector hooked to my Powerbook to project the video on the wall, but there was one problem. Rather than use the video on my website (seen here), we thought it best to show the official video which used several camera angles since this is a 7 minute dance. That meant digitising the VHS tape using my Canopus ADC-100 which was pretty easy to do. But, oh my! the sound quality! Eech!
My original thought was that it wouldn't be possible to overlay or dub over the mp3 of the song, since there would be some slippage by the time we got to verse 13, in which case we might see verse 13 but hear verse 12!
Having digitised the VHS into Apple's iMovie on the Powerbook, I then imported the Echad mp3 from iTunes into iMovie's timeline area. My initial attempts to sync. the two were not successful since it simply wasn't a matter of aligning the files in the iMovie clip area at the point each started. Why? Well, I had included the titles for the video which added a few more seconds. So I had to use my ear to sync them which proved more difficult than I first thought.
So I took advantage of iMovie 4's new audio feature which shows an audio waveform within the mp3 clip. So, I first extracted the audio track from the video track, with all its noise and scratches and made sure its wave form was visible. Then I shifted the imported audio track, also with waveform showing, so I visibly aligned the two as you can see below. The top layer is the video, the middle layer is the extracted audio, and the bottom layer is the imported iTunes music file.
Rather than just teaching the steps, the Hora group was presented first with the winning dance from the Karmiel official video, showing Gadi's performing group in action.
We used a video projector hooked to my Powerbook to project the video on the wall, but there was one problem. Rather than use the video on my website (seen here), we thought it best to show the official video which used several camera angles since this is a 7 minute dance. That meant digitising the VHS tape using my Canopus ADC-100 which was pretty easy to do. But, oh my! the sound quality! Eech!
My original thought was that it wouldn't be possible to overlay or dub over the mp3 of the song, since there would be some slippage by the time we got to verse 13, in which case we might see verse 13 but hear verse 12!
Having digitised the VHS into Apple's iMovie on the Powerbook, I then imported the Echad mp3 from iTunes into iMovie's timeline area. My initial attempts to sync. the two were not successful since it simply wasn't a matter of aligning the files in the iMovie clip area at the point each started. Why? Well, I had included the titles for the video which added a few more seconds. So I had to use my ear to sync them which proved more difficult than I first thought.
So I took advantage of iMovie 4's new audio feature which shows an audio waveform within the mp3 clip. So, I first extracted the audio track from the video track, with all its noise and scratches and made sure its wave form was visible. Then I shifted the imported audio track, also with waveform showing, so I visibly aligned the two as you can see below. The top layer is the video, the middle layer is the extracted audio, and the bottom layer is the imported iTunes music file.
It looked a pretty good visual match so using
iMovie's ability to lock the audio clip into position, I let the movie play. Lo
and behold (pardon my biblical allusions), the sound actually aligned extremely
well throughout the entire seven minutes. I then overlayed the end applause from
the actual soundtrack and it worked very well! I don't think anyone detected
what I had done, and all probably thought the audio quality of the original
video was excellent. As if!
All this from free iLife applications, iMovie and iTunes. Mind you, the Canopus digitiser wasn't cheap but it has turned out to be very good value, allowing me to import both PAL and NTSC VHS tapes.
And what of the dance itself?
Well, after learning part 1 and the repeating chorus, we quickly ran through parts 2 - 13 and then repeated the dance at the end of the night.
It was certainly an experience and by about part 10 the first time through I was working a little to remember what came before, But the second time through, it was much easier. Definitely something to look forward to Gadi teaching to hear and see his interpretation.
All this from free iLife applications, iMovie and iTunes. Mind you, the Canopus digitiser wasn't cheap but it has turned out to be very good value, allowing me to import both PAL and NTSC VHS tapes.
And what of the dance itself?
Well, after learning part 1 and the repeating chorus, we quickly ran through parts 2 - 13 and then repeated the dance at the end of the night.
It was certainly an experience and by about part 10 the first time through I was working a little to remember what came before, But the second time through, it was much easier. Definitely something to look forward to Gadi teaching to hear and see his interpretation.
Posted at 07:29 PM |
Thu - August 12, 2004
Newsday.com features Israeli dance in New York
April Grunspan from Arizona (nee Rochester)
offers a heads up on an interesting online article about people and dancing in
New York. Are you mentioned?
You can read the original article here. I don't know how long the article will
remain current, so if the link fails you can see a pdf of the article here. It's called newsdayifd.com and is about
90kb.
Quite an interesting take on a subject many writers often misconstrue or make fun of mercilessly.
Quite an interesting take on a subject many writers often misconstrue or make fun of mercilessly.
Posted at 03:43 AM |
Wed - July 14, 2004
Just what you want for the summer - Oakley's THUMP sunglasses with built-in MP3 player!
Here's Tour de France competitor
wearing Oakey's new sunnies, priced at $395 for 128MB, and $495 for 256 MB
(about 60 songs)
It had to happen I guess. Sunnies with built in mp3 players suitable for connection to Macs and PCs using fast USB 2.0 connections.
Now, I can just see Irith Shade dancing on the Tayelet
to her
own rhythms wearing these fine
specs!Catch Irith's blog-style travel diary, and coverage of Karmiel 2004 here.
And the Oakley press release about its Thump sunnies here.
Posted at 12:33 AM |