Events generally in Northern California
Aaron Alpert is excited to announce Nirkoda Romani (Hebrew for “let’s dance Romanian style”), a workshop with Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu, beloved teachers of Romanian folk dance (and good friends). Aaron Alpert will also be teaching Israeli dances. The evenings will be filled with dance parties MCed by Loui Tucker (Sat.) and Adony Beniares (Sun.).
Teaching sessions span 2-5:00pm and parties 7:30-11pm, with a break for dinner (on your own). This is a three-day weekend (Presidents’ Day), so you can sleep in Monday!
The venue is Etz Chayim at 4161 Alma St., Palo Alto, CA. It has a wonderful sprung wood floor (it was formerly a basketball court), air conditioning and heating, and plentiful free parking.
There are four events total (two teaching sessions and two parties). If you pre-register by Feb. 8, the entire weekend is $100, or a la carte is $35 per each event. If you pay at the door, prices increase to $110 for the entire weekend or $40 per event.
More details may be found at http://nirkoda.com/romani. If you have further questions, please email Aaron Alpert.
Cristian and Sonia have been guest performers with the Collage International Dance Ensemble of Boston, have been regular teachers at l’ École supérieure de danse du Québec and have been selected to be part of the Artists in the Schools program sponsored by the Québec Ministry of Education. In recent years, they have developed a specific interest in working with recreational folk dance groups in Canada and the United States, Mexico and Brazil. They have been teaching in Europa (Austria, England, Poland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France) in Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia) and Australia to share their love of Romanian folk traditions.
In recent years, Cristian and Sonia have developed a specific interest in working with recreational folk dance groups. They’ve been teaching in Brazil, Canada and the United States, Europe (Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands), Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan) to share their love of Romanian folk traditions. They have taught workshops in Canada and the United States and choreographed Romanian suites for performing groups, including the world-renowned BYU Folk Dance Ensemble in Utah. Read more…
Aaron Alpert started dancing before he was born! His parents met at Israeli folk dancing in Los Angeles, and his childhood is filled with dance memories, from participating in his first dance camp at the age of two months, to acting as his father’s “remote control” when he taught, to performing in Saturday night talent shows at the Camp Alonim for Jewish youth that takes place every summer just north of Los Angeles, California.
In his first year at UC Berkeley, Aaron became one of the instructors and the curriculum developer for Jewish Studies 98: The Israeli Dance DeCal. In January 2009, Aaron joined the teaching/DJ rotation at Cafe Simcha, a weekly Israeli dance session held near Berkeley. He also sporadically substitutes for leaders of other South Bay Israeli dance groups.
In October 2012, Aaron started his own dance session, Nirkoda! (Let’s dance!) in the San Francisco Bay area. After the first 10 months in a small studio on the Stanford University campus, the evening dance party was popular enough to require moving to a larger venue, Temple Etz Chayim in Palo Alto, California, where it continues to attract dancers. Aaron has been a staff member at Camp Rikud, an annual dance camp for Israeli dance aficionados. Aaron attended Stockton Folk Dance Camp as a participant in 2017 and has been a member of the staff in 2018, 2020 (online), and 2024. Read more…
Federation members can add or update their upcoming dance events to the calendar by sending event details to events@folkdance.com