Cuban Youth Hit Havana for First National Israeli Folk Dance Festival

Last month, more than one hundred Jewish youngsters from throughout Cuba – including 65 from the capital city and representatives from nine Jewish communities of the Provinces – gathered in Havana to celebrate the island's first national Rikudim festival. Dubbed Shorashim, the JDC-sponsored festival of Israeli folk dance honored the richness of
Jewish history and culture through movement.

In the months leading up to the festival, four Rikudim teachers were sent from Havana to the Provinces in order to train the various youth dance groups who would participate. These instructors held numerous intensive weekend dance seminars in the Jewish communities of Cienfuegos, Santci Spiritus, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. Members of the island's sparse Jewish communities that do not have sufficient numbers of youth to form Rikudim groups were also invited to attend the festival.

JDC provided each of the participating communities with funding to create their own traditional Rikudim dresses.

The festival, which doubled as a National Youth Meeting, was held at Havana's Beth Shalom (Patronato) Synagogue. Delegates arrived at the synagogue on Friday before sundown to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat together with 170 community members. They then shared a traditional Shabbat dinner. For many of these young Cuban Jews, it was their first experience of a synagogue service and hearing the Torah being read.

On Saturday, Rikudim activities and rehearsal commenced after a community lunch. A Havdalah ceremony that evening marked the end of Shabbat and the opening of the festival, for which 270 people gathered to witness intricate dance performances.

Each delegation, including Havana's two Rikudim groups for children (ages 3 to 6 and 7 to 13), performed two dances. The evening featured musical performances, as well. Myriam, A talented vocalist from Costa Rica, sang songs in Yiddish, Ladino, and Hebrew throughout the festival (JDC sponsored her to trip to Cuba to train Hebrew school teachers). Two youth from the Jewish community, Anna and David, also played traditional Jewish melodies on piano and viola.

The climax of the festival was the closing piece, in which Myriam sang Shir la Shalom (Song for the Peace) while 80 dancers from the whole country, led by Argentine choreographer Dany, performed a beautiful sequence of movement.

At a closing ceremony the following day, the community had a chance to reflect on how meaningful the weekend had been to Cuban Jewry. "I was very moved by the experience," remarked one prominent leader. "It was special to see all of these youngsters come together with such spirit and unity," he said. The participants then received t-shirts, designed by a member of the Youth Organization of Havana, and said their goodbyes. JDC representatives in Cuba noted that, over the course of the weekend, the youth delegations from all of the Provinces had built notably strong ties with one another.

For Adela, Vice President of the Patronato Synagogue, this event set the tone for a bright future for the island's Jews. "Now we can say that the Community has reached maturity," she said. "Now we can affirm that Am Yisrael b'Cuba Chai, the Jewish people in Cuba live!"