Culture Report

Culture Report
Fi l m S p o r t s D a n ce Ar t Fo o d M u s i c
Swinging
in the
Holy Land
Enthusiasts generate a swing dancing revival in Israel
By Paul Alster
TOMER NEUBERG / FLASH 90
A swing dancing session at
Holy Lindy Land, Tel Aviv
Dance
I
t’s Thursday night in the center of
the city that never sleeps. Tel Aviv
is buzzing as the end of the working
week sees hordes of people enjoying
the restaurants, bars and cafés of the
all-action Mediterranean coastal city.
The 50-story Azrieli Towers dominate
the night sky. In the foreground, masses
descend on the new “in spot,” the impressive, recently restored Sarona quarter. I
struggle to find a parking spot. I’m in a
hurry, eventually squeezing my car ‒ in
classic Tel Aviv fashion ‒ into an impossibly cramped space, thanks to the help of
two bystanders respectively tapping the
hood, then the trunk, as I move within a
whisker of the vehicles both in front and
behind.
Racing into the lobby of a building
on Heftman Street, there’s absolutely
no doubt I’ve arrived at the right place.
From two floors above, I hear the opening bars of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,”
Irving Berlin’s classic 1911 number that
led the way into a new age of American
music and dancing – the Jazz Age, which
spanned the pre-World War I to the postWorld War II period.
This is Holy Lindy Land, the center of
the swing dancing revival in Israel, where
the Lindy Hop, the Black Bottom and, of
course, the Charleston itself, are part and
parcel of the scene.
It’s not just in Tel Aviv that swing dancing is attracting classes full of young and
not-quite-so-young people buzzing with
enthusiasm, embracing dancing inextricably linked to the only major art form
that is originally American – jazz itself.
They’re struttin’ their stuff at classes in
Haifa and Jerusalem, too, and rumor has
it that they could also be about to start
shimmying in classes in the Palestinian
Authority capital Ramallah.
But why are young Israelis ‒ for whom
being “cool” is often a prerequisite –
flocking to swing dancing? They could
let their hair down at hip-hop gigs, breakdancing, discos, salsa, grunge, you name
it. Why turn back the clock to the era of
the classic big bands of Tommy Dorsey,
Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke
Ellington, and of speakeasies, flappers
and tap dancing?
“It’s more vibrant and energetic than
many other dances,” Ron Dobrovinsky,
CEO of Holy Lindy Land, tells The Jeru40
salem Report. “There is more movement,
and it’s a little more physical than some
other dances. Some people get fit through
the dancing, but you don’t have to be fit
to enjoy it.
You can go anywhere
in the world and
find a swing dance
community who feel
like family
“Swing dancing is a family of dances
and there are many dances inside that
family. The Lindy Hop is more energetic, the Balboa can be faster but more relaxed, blues dancing can be even more
relaxed because the music is slower, but
not always. I would say swing dancing
in general tends to be more rhythmical
and rhythmically develops the dancer as
well.”
DOBROVINSKY AND his colleagues
have seen the popularity of swing dancing
surge in recent years. And it’s not just in
Israel, but around the globe. The popular
“I Charleston the World” videos vividly
demonstrate the international resurgence
of swing dancing. Clubs in more than
100 locations have compiled videos promoting the dance while at the same time
providing breathtaking backdrops of their
hometowns: London, Paris, New York,
Berlin, Beijing, as well as unconventional
places as varied as Georgia, Ecuador, Siberia, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Burundi.
The “I Charleston Tel Aviv” video, produced by Holy Lindy Land, is among the
most viewed of all ‒ teachers and students
from the school seen dancing in Habima
Square, outside city hall, in the converted Old Railway Station at Neve Tzedek,
on surf boards at the Tel Aviv beach, and
even on the very top of the Azrieli Tower
itself.
Already filmed and about to be released
is an “I Charleston Jerusalem” video,
where iconic images of the capital will
provide a breathtaking background to
witty, energetic and entertaining swing
dancers from across the country. “It really
THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 14, 2015
was fun,” Dobrovinsky smiles recalling
filming in Jerusalem. “We filmed in August and whoever wanted to join, it was
open to them.”
We’re chatting outside one of three
dance classes taking place for beginners,
intermediates and advanced students.
Quietly spoken, he is an accomplished allround dancer who discovered swing dancing having previously been a hip-hop,
salsa, and breakdance exponent. Together
with dance partner Sharon Guzman, he
has represented Israel many times in international competitions. He tells me the
swing dance school began back in 2007
and original founder Shirley Osher is still
an integral part of its success.
Like others I met at the dance classes,
Dobrovinsky cited all-time great dancers
such as the Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr. as idols for those learning
the new technique. Swing dancing, I’m
repeatedly told, is about learning from the
past while at the same time being creative
and adding moves of your own, moves
that help the dance maintain an original
flavor.
The beginners’ class was made up of
men and women generally ranging in age
from 20-35, but there were others there up
to and beyond the 50 mark. Some have
danced before, but for others this is their
first time tackling such a challenge. The
format, whereby the class works in rotation, means that during the lesson everyone gets to dance with each other at
some point. It’s tailor-made for meeting
new people and, undoubtedly, losing your
inhibitions.
Watching from the sidelines it’s clear
that some people click very quickly,
catching the steps without batting an eyelid. Others are going to have to work a
lot harder. Ilya Grigoriev and his partner
were teaching the class I attended, showing the students how to perform an “underpass.” They make it look really simple
as the girl moves under the arm of the guy
and around. The class tried it; some succeeded, others tied themselves in knots.
One petite young woman with blond
dreadlocks topped by a “pork pie” hat
Ron Dobrovinsky, CEO of Holy Lindy
Land: ‘Swing dancing is more vibrant
and energetic than many other dances’
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COURTESY HOLY LINDY LAND
COURTESY HOLY LINDY LAND
COURTESY HOLY LINDY LAND
Dance
catches the eye as a particularly good
mover. On the rotation, she teams up for a
few minutes with a towering middle-aged
man and they try the new moves to a song
called “Cincinnati Lou.” To a strutting
beat the lyrics begin, “I’ve got a gal called
Cincinnati Lou, I don’t know nuttin’ that
she won’t do, she can drink more beer
than a two-ton truck can haul, she’s the
belle of the ball, Cincinatti Lou.”
“Miss Dreadlocks” floats like a butterfly; he moves stiffly. Ilya moves in to
show him again how the steps go. It’s going to take a lot of work, but this mature
student seems up for the challenge. There
are smiles and concentration in equal doses from all concerned.
“You can tell from the very first lesson
if someone has a natural dance talent,”
Grigoriev tells The Report. “Not everyone who can move can be a good dancer,
and the other way around, you don’t have
to know how to move to be a good dancer. One of our staff members started out
finding the moves very hard, but because
of his love for the music and the era, he
really worked at it and is now one of our
best teachers.
“In my experience, it’s not about the
ability to dance ‒ it’s about the passion
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for the music. If you have the passion,
you will put in enough hours. There’s no
doubt that the more people are exposed to
the music the better dancers they become.
When anyone asks for the first time ‘How
do I practice?’ I tell them to listen to a lot
of music, clap along with it, then walk
along with it. That’s the main thing. Essentially, you can tell if someone is going
to become a good dancer if you see them
really enjoying themselves in class.”
It’s not about the
ability to dance –
it’s about the passion
for the music
Once the lessons end at 11 p.m., the
weekly swing dance party begins. The
bright lights of the main dance studio are
dimmed, the volume of the music moves
up a notch, and away they go.
“We were looking for something that
we can dance together and it is great music, a great rhythm, just great fun,” Gili,
from Petah Tikva, tells me. “We had nev-
THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 14, 2015
er danced before.” Her husband, David,
a gym teacher, adds, “We wanted to find
dancing that we could do as a couple. We
want to go as far as we can with this dancing. There are some great moves.”
I wondered why Israeli folk dancing
or hip-hop, for example, hadn’t attracted
them. “They’re not for couples. There’s
something in this ‒ the music, the groove.
You get a real buzz after you’ve been
dancing. We even practice at home in our
living room. We have two children – five
years old and a year and a half – and we’re
already teaching them. The little one has
just learned how to walk so he’s ready to
dance now!”
Robert, from Netanya, says he came
from a different dance class. “I’d been
going there for six months before I realized I wanted to try something more
challenging. The basic steps are not too
difficult, but the physical challenge of going through a whole party session for two
hours is something else.”
I stepped outside into the corridor to
chat to people. Some are soldiers home
for the weekend, wanting to let their
hair down. Others work in hi-tech, law,
you name it. There are lots of students.
All of a sudden, there’s a rush back into
COURTESY HOLY LINDY LAND
the party room. I hear people shouting
“Shim Sham, Shim Sham!” What on
earth is going on?
What’s happening is one of the classic
swing dances that people learn early on
at the classes. Dancing side by side to the
classic 1939 Jimmy Lunceford recording
of “T’ain’t What You Do – It’s the Way
That You Do It”, about 60 people in rows
of seven or eight all face the mirrored wall
and are moving in sync through the various phases of the Shim Sham dance.
It’s thrilling to watch and I’d love to
join in, but reckon I’d probably move the
wrong way and cause a chaotic domino effect. When the music ends, a cheer
goes up from both the dancers and those
watching open-mouthed or nodding their
approval from the sidelines.
“YOU KNOW, these days many people
either don’t know or have forgotten how
to interact with each other,” Aluma, an
experienced dancer tells me. “They are
so into their iPhones and computers and
don’t know how to really relate to others.
Here it’s intelligent and all about communicating with other people. You can go
anywhere in the world and find a swing
dance community who feel like family.”
I get the feeling, though, that in Israel
there is a tad more to it than that. People
want to escape the pressure-cooker lifestyle, the constant bad news and the fear
of war and violence. The day I attended
the class, three apparently random stabbing attacks had taken place around the
country as the latest wave of terror continued unabated into a sixth week.
“During the 2014 Gaza War, people
wanted to escape the shitty situation and
kept dancing even as Tel Aviv was so
tense with all the air-raid sirens going
off,” Dobrovinsky recalls.
With the BDS movement grabbing
headlines and Israeli goods produced in
the West Bank and Golan now being labelled by the EU, what sort of reaction do
Israeli swing dancers get when they travel
abroad?
“We are very well received when we
go abroad,” Dobrovinsky assures me.
“The culture is a very friendly one. Jazz
dancing was one of the very first things
to bring black and white people together.
They broke the barriers in the US before
the color barrier was officially broken. In
this world, we have a culture of openness
and friendship.”
“We have a lot of friends who come here
THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 14, 2015
Stills from the ‘I Charleston Tel Aviv’
video, produced by Holy Lindy Land
to dance in Israel and we go visit them –
UK, France, Norway, Germany; the biggest swing dancing festival takes place in
Sweden and is very popular. I met one of
my best friends through swing dancing.
He grew up in Sweden but is Iranian. He
has a school there and we have a school
here and we’ve helped each other grow.
They’ve visited Israel a lot of times and
I lived with them for four months and
trained with them, so there are a lot of real
friendships made.”
The pace of the party music has
changed. A jazz fan for as long as I can remember, I recognize the opening bars as
old “Satchmo” (Louis Armstrong) starts
to growl the lyrics. It couldn’t have been
more appropriate.
I exit Tel Aviv’s vibrant swing dancing
club to the refrain of “C’est Si Bon.” And
you know what? It really is.
■
Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist.
Follow him on Twitter @paul_alster and
visit his website: www.paulalster.com
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