ISRAELI FOLK DANCE
(IFD)
Almost every Israeli folk dance is set to a piece of original Israeli folk music. The majority of these dances were created for the public, to be danced by groups of Israelis in celebration of Israel's existence. Israeli folk dancing is similar to country-western line dancing in its use of repetition in its choreography. Dances can be performed in circles, duos, trios or lines. Costumes tended to be light and lose fitting. Many of the movements correspond directly to lyrics of the music it is danced to. It is the job of the yotzer to select a piece of music and construct a dance accordingly. The movements are extremely varied and come from Arab, Romanian and Yemenite tradition; or Klezmer music from Eastern Europe.