Contact: Dan Blacksberg 215-317-5889 For Immediate Release dan.blacksberg@gmail.com
Trombonist Dan Blacksberg Brings “The Big Yiddish Dance Party”
to West Philadelphia
A Day-long celebration of klezmer music and dance!
2pm: dance workshop w/ Steven Lee Weintraub; $5-10 suggested
4pm: music master class w/ Dan Blacksber and Michael Winograd; $5-10 suggested
7pm: big Yiddish public dance party; FREE
On November 18th at 7PM I will present “The Big Yiddish Dance Party” at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia. This party aims to bring klezmer music to Philadelphia the way it is meant to be experienced, with live music and dance leading by some of the best and brightest performers active today. In addition to the evening dance party, the day will include two workshops, one led by master dance leader Steve Weintraub exploring different styles of Yiddish dance, the other, led by myself and clarinetist Michael Winograd, will be on the nuances of klezmer style for advances instrumentalists. The dance party will be a free event, while the workshops will have a suggested donation of $5-10.
My goal for this event is to give Philadelphians the chance to experience the incredible energy and joy the combination of klezmer music and dance gives when each is done at its highest level. For the past several years, this groups of musicians - with Steve leading the dancing - has been thrilling audiences and moving bodies all across North America and Europe at places like the Richmond Folk Festival, Lowell Folk Festival, the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto, and the Festival of Jewish Culture in Cracow, Poland. I want the “The Big Yiddish Dance Party” to be a meaningful and fun way to experience klezmer for everyone, whether they are deep into the music, or hearing it for the first time.
Trombonist Dan Blacksberg is quickly making a name for himself in his native Philadelphia and internationally for his work in the experimental and Jewish music worlds. A 2012 Pew Fellow in the Arts, Blacksberg brings a burly, rough-edged sound intended to push at the technical and textural extremes of his instrument and carve out new spaces for the trombone in whatever genre in which he finds himself. He is a leader with projects such as the Dan Blacksberg Trio, Hasidic punk band Electric Simcha, and co-leader of new music duo Archer Spade, and noise duo Superlith. He is also highly in demand as a sideman, working with groups such as the Anthony Braxton Quartet and Alan Bern's Other Europeans. As a teacher and practitioner of traditional klezmer on the trombone, Dan has taught performed in festivals all over the world, such as the Klezkamp, Klezkanada, Lowell Folk Festival, the Krakow Fesitval of Jewish Culture, and Yiddish Summer Weimar.
Born on Governor’s Island and Bar Mitzvahed in the Bronx, Steven Lee Weintraub received his dance training in Manhattan with Alvin Ailey and Erick Hawkins, among others, and studied dance pedagogy with Phyllis Weikert. He is in international demand as a teacher of traditional Yiddish dance at festivals and workshops including Klezkamp, Klezkanada, and festivals in Krakow, Weimar, Furth, Paris and London to name a few. Much of his career has been creating and performing Jewish dance; he has worked with choreographers Felix Fibich and Shula Kivel, and has performed the work of Fred Berk. He was a principal dancer and choreographer with the Israeli folkdance group Parparim and was assistant director of the annual Israeli Folk Dance Festival in NYC. For many years he choreographed and danced with his partner Sharona Paller Rubenstien. This spring, Steve was the recipient of a DanceBridge space grant, which facilitated the debut performance of the New Yiddish Dance Ensemble.
Though only 30 years of age, Michael Winograd is considered a modern master of the klezmer clarinet style. Like others in the klezmer revival he has a jazz background, and graduated with distinction in 2005 from the New England Conservatory in Boston. Winograd has since fully immersed himself in the klezmer world. In 2006, he founded the first Yiddish dance house, or Tanzhoyz, in New York City where traditional European Jewish dance is performed, taught and celebrated by some of the greatest musicians and dancers in klezmer today. He also keeps the tradition alive by teaching at Living Traditions' annual KlezKamp in New York and KlezKanada outside of Montreal, and has been musical director of "Kids and Yiddish" at the Folksbeine Yiddish Theater in New York City. He has taught and performed all over the world.
Nov. 18th: The Big Yiddish Dance Party at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St.
2PM: Dance Workshop, 4PM: Music Masterclass, 7PM: Public Dance Party. Workshops
suggested donation $5-10, Party: Free
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