YANKELE LEVY
In 2005, Bat Amanoot talked with Yankele Levy about his life, as choreographer and teacher. (Edition 1, Vol. 3)
In this special Yemenite issue of Bat Amanoot, we spoke with him again. This time we asked him about the Yemenite culture he grew up in, and its influence on his dances.
Yaacov (Yankele) Levy was born in Jerusalem to a traditional Yemenite family. He has choreographed more than 80 dances.
BA: Tell us a bit about the Yemenite culture that you grew with in your family?
YL: My father is Yemenite; he came to Jerusalem when he was 5 years old with my grandfather. My grandfather came from Yemen in 1904. They walked through the desert. In 1914, during the Second World War, people were starving in Palestine. My grandfather had an Arabic friend from in Ramallah. He was walking hours there by foot. He got some corn, and from this they survived and did not starve.
My mother was from Iraq. I had a Yemenite education: I went with my father to Yemenite festivals, etc., since I was Bar Mitzvah and when I was in the army.
BA: When did you start creating dances?
YL: I started to create dances that were not Yemenite. My first dance was Eten Bamidbar (1958) I was preparing it for a show for disturbed children, for Tu Bishvat.
My own style was Yemenite, but I was shy. I didn’t want to show, because I thought in Israel they did not like Arabic and Yemenite style. But when I started to study in Oranim, I saw that I could show it. Yardena Cohen was my teacher. She taught us to create what was in our hearts. I went to her (class) twice a week.
Then I tried my Yemenite style. I did Geulim (1971), I did Sei Yona (1974), I did Bat Teiyman (1970), I did many others which were very Yemenite.
BA: How did you incorporate Yemenite style into your dances?
YL: When I was young I had problems with my right foot. I had six operations, so that I could walk. I had to walk with special shoes. When I was 6, my grandfather made a ceremony to show how I could dance with him, and my foot was ok. My grandfather was a very good dancer. When I went to Yardena Cohen, I picked the music that I heard in my home, and my grandfather danced, so my body moved that way. Yardena gave me the push to be myself. When we started with Yemenite style, we tried to play with it, what comes from our heart, not to think too much. I try to make Yemenite style for the younger generation; to make it step-by-step, that everybody can understand.
BA: How has IFD choreographer Benzi Tiram influenced Yemenite style dancing?
YL: He was born in Jerusalem, moved to Tel Aviv, of Yemenite family. When I came to the army, he was my officer, I am younger than he. He taught in Haifa for a long time. His style of teaching was “strict” There are two styles of teaching. One is that everything must be right, from the beginning, The other is to make the people happy, and with time they come and do what is right; not to push them. But Benzi changed. Now we are teaching that if the people don’t know it, ok, it will come the next day.
Link to Yankele Levy’s dances:
http://israelidances.com/search.asp?S=A&intPageNo=1&ChoreographerName=Yankele%20Levy
Link to dances of Bentzi Tiram:
http://www.jewishaustralia.com/choreographer.asp?name=bentzitiram
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