Spotlight Keeping Dance Alive New Festival Dancers continue under new director. Esther Allweiss Ingber Special to the Jewish News Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. "Dance is a very meaningful and spiri- tual addition to religious worship," she said. T he Festival Dancers, an institution woven into the fabric of Detroit's cultural life, is continuing at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit under a new director. Harriet Berg, the celebrated teacher/choreographer who founded the dance troupe in 1966, chose Rochelle Morais to succeed her at the beginning of the 2010 season. "Rochelle has all the qualities I was look- ing for to carry on this unique organiza- tion," Berg said. "She is a beautiful dancer, has an extensive knowledge of all aspects of Jewish dance, and sets a shining example as a creative and disciplined leader." Reflecting this changing of the guard, the semi-professional company has been renamed the New Festival Dancers, but Morais of Farmington Hills said its purpose remains the same: "to perform and keep alive the dances of our Jewish heritage." For 43 years, Berg's Festival Dancers excelled at presenting Israeli and traditional Jewish folkdance with elements of contem- porary and modern dance. They performed at the JCC and throughout Metro Detroit as well as participating in workshops for teaching and preserving the dances. Berg of Detroit, now artistic adviser, compares the New Festival Dancers' reper- toire to the braided Havdalah candle. "The 'strands' represent dances originat- ing in different parts of the Jewish world:' she said. They are "Eastern European" for Ashkenazi; "Yemenite" for the bibli- cal era; "Israeli" for the last 50 years; and "Sephardic/Ladino" for the lesser-known dances of Spain and Arabic lands in the Mediterranean diaspora. In addition to Morais, members of the New Festival Dancers are Karen Burstein of Farmington Hills, Marci Iwrey of Walled Lake and Tessa Goldberg and Cheryl Litt, both of West Bloomfield. Goldberg and Litt are the only new members. The women all have other dance inter- ests. Litt teaches Israeli dancing Thursday nights at the JCC of Washtenaw County in Ann Arbor. Iwrey, known professionally as "Mambo Marci" (www.mambomarci. corn), is a Latin dance instructor at the West Bloomfield JCC. Goldberg, executive director at Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield, has a dance background in ballet, Flamenco, Israeli dancing and, most recently, Salsa. She trained with Berg 56 April 1 2010 New Festival Dancers, clockwise from top left: Karen Burstein, Cheryl Litt, Marci lwrey, Tessa Goldberg and Rochelle Morals. a number of years ago at some Festival Dancers workshops. Following Her Passion New director Morals was born in South Africa (as was Goldberg) and came with her family to Toronto at age 8. She also lived in Israel, Cincinnati and Rochester, N.Y., before moving to Michigan four years ago when her husband, Rabbi Robert Morals, became director of education at Temple Israel. They have four children. Morals took ballet lessons as a child and studied dance through the Margaret Morris Movement. She first tried Israeli dancing as a kid at a Jewish day school and has come back to it for the last nine years. When Morais joined the Festival Dancers three years ago, membership was dwindling and Berg's involvement had lessened as she tended her ill and now- deceased husband, Irving. "I wanted to find a way to keep the group alive said Morais, who teamed with Iwrey, Berg's administrative assistant for 10 years, to hold rehearsals and maintain the precious choreography. "Let's just rehearse and see when people can perform:' Morais said. "When they can, great. If not, let's not worry about it." Morals said she's interested in taking recent Jewish dances already choreographed for recreational and social dancing and adapting them to the stage. She and the oth- ers also enjoy doing their own choreography. Their creative process involves using "some of what's out there as a starting inspiration to get new choreography going:' Morals said. "If we like the music or a particular dance and think it would make a good performance piece, we'll start improvising to the music." Her two favorite dances she has intro- duced into the group's rich repertory are an Israeli dance, "Tzel Midbar," which means "desert shade and "Klezmer," a classic piece of Eastern European Jewish music. Morais rearranged them both for current performances. Coming up, the dancers are working on a new piece where "we're each taking a solo that speaks to us as individuals:' Morals said. "We're also looking at the Israeli dance music that's already out there. Karen Burstein, whose background is in ballet and modern dance, is very interested in prayer and dance, so we want to do some pieces set to prayers." "Festival Dancers have a well-grounded reputation in as far as they are one of the few groups performing liturgical dance said Berg, adding that she's pleased with the direction the group is pursuing. Locally, the dancers have performed dur- ing Friday night services at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Temple Emanu-El in Bloomfield Township, Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park and Congregation The Public Spotlight Meer Jewish Federation Apartments, Shaarey Zedek and other community venues have presented the New Festival Dancers this winter. On March 21, the troupe performed and taught Israeli folk- dances to teens and young adults attending a national conference for Humanistic Jews at Butzel Conference Center in Ortonville. Morals said the dancers are excited about doing more public performances when the new stage opens at the JCC in West Bloomfield. The Berman theater construc- tion project was announced last June at the JCC's tribute to Harriet Berg. The afternoon featured an exhibition of memorabilia from Berg's more than 50 years of artistic activity at the JCC — teaching dance classes and founding both the Festival Dancers, who performed at the tribute, and the Young Dancers Guild. The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, led by a Berg student formerly of Detroit, also performed. The Berg family presented an original sculpture by Irving Berg, "The Family',' for the new theater. Berg remains artistic director of the Madame Cadillac Dancers, who perform dances from early Detroit. She's also artis- tic director for Dance Through History, a new company that performs dances popu- lar in the 16th-20th centuries. The New Festival Dancers hold 90-min- ute rehearsals most Sunday afternoons at the West Bloomfield JCC. The dancers remain a high-energy group with a flexible schedule because the troupe is comprised of busy working mothers. That was always the case, according to Berg. "Dance is too important to be limited to the young. Mature dancers have so much depth and knowledge to bring to the arts" Morals said the New Festival Dancers are encouraging men who enjoy Israeli dancing to join them, too. "If someone is interested, we'd love for them to check us out and see what we're doing:' Morals said. "If they have some kind of dance background, it would be wonderful. With more dancers, we can do more exciting choreography." ❑ To book the New Festival Dancers, contact Heidi Budaj, JCC director of arts, culture and education, at (248) 432-5466 or hbudaj@ jccdet.org.