Stephen Becharas... and The Staff Of e4/ffeti -riail 6638 Telegraph Road at Maple 851-0313 In the Bloomfield Plaza Sincerely Wishes It's Many Friends And Customers SHELLEY KLEIMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR We thank you for your gracious patronage... and most sincerely wish the very best in health, joy and prosperity to all buy one ticket get one FREE FAMOUS SEAFOOD TAVET>" with this ad exp. 9/30/95 Wish Their Friends and Customers A Healthy and Happy New Year 682-1900 FOR TIMES & FILMS ORCHARD LAKE ROAD AT 12 MILE • FARMINGTON HILLS • 553-7000 LAUREL PARK PLACE • SIX MILE AT 1-275 • LIVONIA • 464-9030 George and Bill Golematis And the staff of (1101%10's You're never too old to quit blowing smoke. R ESTAU RANT Wish 'I heir Customers & Friends A Very Healthy & Happy New Year With Many Thanks For l'he Big Welcome Back! Holy Land Folk Dancing American Heart Association WE'RE FIGHTING FOP 1CURIIFE n any given night, in any given city or town in Israel, thousands of people leave their inhibitions and daily cares at home to take part in the quintessential national pastime: Israeli folk dancing. Etti Avraham, now 34, has been folk dancing since she was 8. A licensed instructor for the past 12 years, she teaches four• nights a week in Jerusalem, and every two months attends ad- vanced dance seminars. The atmosphere is welcoming in her beginners' class in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem. As in many local classes, the average age is 30- plus, with many more women than men. The music is vintage Israeli, nostalgically familiar as the 50 otherwise strangers join hands and dance, many singing along as they circle the gym floor. The music soon shifts to Chasidic, then Oriental, and the steps and pace change accordingly. In the center of the circle, Ms. Avraham starts teaching a new dance. Everyone laughs as each tries to follow her graceful moves. It's a mixed group: divorcees and retirees, business executives and office clerks, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, religious and secu- lar, rich and poor. Two young Russian immi- grants explain, in halting He- brew, how they came to the class by chance and love it. A middle- aged religious couple, formerly from Great Britain, say they don't want to be wallflowers at their children's weddings. Another cou- ple, well into their 50s, chat with a young woman waiting for the advanced class to begin. They have been attending the begin- ners' class for the past five years. "If I can dance, anyone can," says the heavyset man, as his wife's knowing smile confirms. An estimated 250,000 Israelis take part in Israeli folk dancing on a regular basis. Some attend classes once a week at a local community center or school. Oth- ers, the addicts — and it does seem to be addictive — go up to five times a week. There are 2,000 instructors na- tionwide (only 300 are licensed by the Ministry of Education and Culture) and 300-400 nonprofes- sional troupes which perform in Israel and abroad. The highlight of the year for all folk dance enthusiasts is the Carmiel Dance Festival, a three- day extravaganza of perfor- mances by professional and non-professional troupes and all- night dance sessions for per- formers and spectators alike. In an age of sophisticated home entertainment, what com- pels so many people to leave their videos, their cable television channels and their computer games, to go to stark social halls and dance until midnight, if not later? "It's a physical and emotional release," or "a great way to meet people," are oft-quoted respons- es. Israeli folk dancing grew out of a need. The early years of the state conjure up images of healthy, young pioneers, dancing in a circle, holding hands, their sleeves rolled up, celebrating life in their new country. Immi- It's a physical and emotional release. grants, many of them refugees, brought with them dances from the Diaspora — the hora from Romania, the polka from Poland, Chasidic dances from eastern Eu- rope. But for the new settlers, the impulse was to create everything new — land, language, culture — and dance was no exception. Many of the folk dances were adapted from dance forms brought over with each succes- sive wave of immigration, as well as by local Arab dances. In the 1950s, the Yemenite tra- dition would have a profound im- pact on Israeli dance forms. Israeli folk dancing thus became an amalgam of the many cultures assimilating into the new coun- try. Folk dancing has become big business over the past 10 years. Competition among instructors and composers is often stiff. New dances appear weekly — about 150 a year. El WZPS Early Deadlines The Jewish News has early dead- lines for the issues of Sept 29 and Oct 6: Display ads Deadline is 5 pm Friday, Sept 22, for the Sept. 29 issue and 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, for the Oct. 6 issue. Classified ads Deadline is 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept 26, for the Sept. 29 issue and 10 am. Monday, Oct 2, for the Oct. 6 issue. Local news Normal deadlines of noon Thursday, eight days prior to publi- cation.