What makes us dance?

In another six weeks, IY"H. about 100 women will take the stage in both the Gush Etzion and Efrat Community Centers to dance their hearts out - tap, jazz, modern, 60s, hip hop, Israeli, Mediterranean, ballet, African. You name it, they'll dance it.

By the time the lights go up on stage, they'll have rehearsed for more than three months. Some rehearse twice a week, some four times and some five. Some (like me, who just cannot get out of bed in the morning) are in their dancing shoes in the dance room at the Efrat Matnas at 8:30 AM.

Some (like my friends, who are early to bed-ers) are in the dance room in Alon Shvut until after 10 PM.

What makes these wonderful women work so hard to perfect their dances? What makes the choreographers give their personal time to bring perfection to their troupes?

It's not because they're hoping to get to Broadway, or the American Ballet Theater, or the Israeli Batsheva Dance Troupe. It's not because they're expecting talent scouts to find them. It's not because they'll get a raise if they're in top form.

And yet we do paradiddles at 8:30 in the morning (you try to paradiddle at 8:30 AM!!) and leap and turn at 7 at night. We crouch like a lion and rock like Elvis at 9. We do the hora at 10 PM.
It's a busy week, and a very busy few months.There are no salaries here, no egos, no theater future.

There are just 100 women who love to dance, and decided that if they're lucky enough to have this talent, that they'd like to dedicate it to a higher cause. Our choreographers, who are magnificent and professional dancers, are amazing role models for their dancers, and use their talents and love to encourage their dancers to reach heights they've never dreamed of. B"H, it's a great feeling to be able to help others with our dance.

And so, now for the third year in a row, we're dancing to raise money for Pesach food for the needy. It's called KIMCHA D'PISCHA. Our monies go to the Gush Etzion Foundation, which is routing everything we raised to the needy.

And we welcome women from all over Israel to our audience. They tap their toes and dance in their seats. And together we raise dance to a mitzvah.

This year's show, "DAMES of the DANCE 3" is The Seven Days of Creation.

It's going to be unbelievably exciting and fun, and you're invited.

Sunday, March 7

Thursday, March 11

Monday matinee, March 15

YOU'LL LOVE IT.

To find out more information, click here: www.voices-magazine.com/dames.htm .

You can buy tickets on line, or call one of our ticket sellers. (And while we're talking about ticket sellers, our hearts go out to our tickets sellers and their families who endure almost 24 hours of telephone calls and emails for six weeks. They do it with their whole hearts. Our gratitude to them.)

And may you always be blessed with wonderful reasons to dance, dance, dance.

A PS - One more note: It's not easy to find place for 30 women to practice dancing. No one's living room is big enough. No one has a basement for rehearsals. But rehearse we do, and we really have to thank OUR COMMUNITIES for their participation in our Mitzvah. Specially special is the kindness of the Matnas of Efrat and the Vaad of Alon Shvut who go above and beyond to enable our women to keep doing their dancing mitzvot. Kol hakavod.

(Photo above by Rebecca Flash Kowalsky.)