PIFD News

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Welcome to Portland Israeli Folk Dance News -- PIFD News
Your resource for basic info for all the sessions and classes in the Portland metro area.

This site is not regularly updated Last update 8/2/26

See the B'YACHAD'26 page regular updates.

For the most current info for Portland area sessions and classes please visit:

Facebook "Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR"

or contact the specific session leaders listed below.

PIFD News Web: sites.google.com/site/pifdnews FB: Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR

What is Israeli Folk Dancing?

Exerpts from Israelidance.info - First, and most importantly, it is a lot of fun. [It's a cultural treasure] with great music, exercise, and friends...

Besides getting your endorphins flowing, and getting great exercise for your heart, you learn to move your body to music. To get better at dancing, there is no substitute for time-on-the-floor.

The music is from all over the world, old and new, with a huge variety of styles and rythms. Some lyrics are from the bible and are thousands of years old. Many old favorites are pioneering songs from Israel's early days and are 50+ years old. [Hora Aggadati is over 100. Influeneces of steps include Middle Eastern, Eastern Europe, Russia and more]

Almost all of the songs are in Hebrew, many are remade from originals in other languages including Arabic, French, Greek, Spanish, Turkish and many other languages.

We do most dances in group circles, some in lines. Some of the dances we do with partners.

B'YACHAD PNW'26 Israeli folk dance retreat, Friday, August 28-Sunday, Aug 30, 2026.

Great for intermediate/advanced dancers, AND now for beginners with some experience. See B'YACHAD page on this site

Questions? Email Debbi - debbirm@aol.com

WHERE TO ISRAELI FOLK DANCE in Portland

IF YOU'RE NEW OR RETURNING TO DANCE, PLEASE CONFIRM TIME DETAILS WITH DANCE LEADERS LISTED BELOW.

Sunday afternoons at the Southwest Community Center with Rhona & Sue

Summer schedule at SWCC: drop-in open dance only 3:30-4:30, $6/$5 seniors. The drop-in fee is good for the whole center's drop-in activities all day.

SWCC Summer drop-in session ends Sept 27. Dates for drop-in are Sundays, Aug. 9, 16, 23 & Sept. 6, 20 & 27

Location: We dance in the bright and beautiful dance studio at the Southwest Community Center, 6820 SW 45th Ave., Portland, OR 97219 - corner of SW Vermont St. and SW 45th Ave., at the northwest corner of Gabriel Park, 503-823-2840. Overflow parking is across Vermont in the big parking lot.

Multnomah Arts Center, learn/review easy and intermediate dances and the stories about them with Rhona Feldman. Classes are full & end 8/19.

For questions: rhonaf@comcast.net.

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Sunday evenings at the Water Tower with Donna

Review & instruction, 7:30 pm followed by open dancing until 10:30+ pm

Water Tower Dance Hall, 8936 SW 17th Ave, Portland.

$7 at door

Questions? Email session leader Donna Cole at donna@donnacolestudio.com or pdxisraelidance@gmail.com

Bring your water bottle and change into your dance shoes when you arrive (this protects our beautiful dance floors)

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Monday evenings at Leedy with Donna

Review & instruction 7-8 pm, open dance til 10 pm. $7

Leedy Grange, 835 NW Saltzman Rd in Cedar Mill. (Just east of the Target shared parking lot.)

Questions? Email Donna Cole at donna@donnacolestudio.com or pdxisraelidance@gmail.com

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Wednesday beginner's & intermediate classes at Mutlnomah Arts Center with Rhona, ends Aug. 19.

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Thursday evenings, Cafe Shalom, at the Water Tower with Allison

Intermediate drop-in class 7-8 pm

Open dance 8 to 10 pm, starts with easy dances

Water Tower Dance Hall, 8936 SW 17th Ave, Portland. $7 or $12 (for both)

Questions? Email Allison Victor at allisuev@gmail.com

Contacts for local session leaders and teachers:

Donna Cole - donna@donnacolestudio.com, or pdxisraelidance@gmail.com

Rhona Feldman - rhonaf@comcast.net,

Debbi Montrose - B'YACHAD PNW annual dance week-end - debbirm@aol.com

Allison Victor - allisuev@gmail.com

Sue Wendel - pifdnews@gmail.com

Please visit Facebook "Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR" for the most current info.

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About "PIFD News" website and the Facebook page "Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR"

Portland Israeli Folk Dance News website, and Facebook page were started after the 40 years of dancing in Portland celebration back in 2013.

PIFD News is a resource for basic Portland session/class info, and includes a B'YACHAD PNW page,

Portland dance history, and bios of some of the dancers in Portland. PIFD News (https://sites.google.com/site/pifdnews) managed by Sue Wendel. It has only intermittent updates.

The Facebook page, created by Candi Swan in 2013, is where to find the most current and timely announcements for all Portland sessions and classes and more. All Portland session leaders are admins for the FB page and can post announcements there at any time.

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New and returning dancers:

Did you know that the Portland area has weekly sessions and classes Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays? Whether you haven't danced in a while (think summer camp or your college days), or want to try something new, we have it all covered. Each week dozens of dancers come together for friendship, exercise, and the joy of dance!

There is beginner and intermediate instruction, circle-line-couples dances, and most of all the joy of dancing, making new friends, and participating in this cultural treasure – over 50 years strong in Portland.

Please see Facebook "Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR" for current news and info. Questions? Feel free to contact: Sue Wendel, session leader, instructor, and publisher, pifdnews@gmail.com if you have any questions.

See details and history on this site. (Portland Israeli Folk Dance News: sites.google.com/site/pifdnews)

RECAP: 50 YEARS dance celebration held June 2023: Wow, what a fantastic evening of celebration of over 50 years of dance on June 24th, 2023. Six hours of dancing (and schmoozing) led by Rhona and Nancy, Allison, and Donna. People of all ages, levels, and locations were in attendance celebrating over 50 years of Israeli folk dancing in Portland, and Israel at 75. Made possible by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. See some photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/a7poWUkHZpzYDEvE9

The evening demonstrated how everyone working together can pull off an event that everyone enjoyed. Specifically it took planners, session leaders, and many volunteers who helped with planning, publicity, food shopping, registration, set-up, decorations, food prep, day of registration, greeters, volunteer coordination, memory table, and clean-up to pull it all together. Thank you, thank you everyone!!

Here is the list of leaders, teachers and volunteers for the 50th anniversary celebration in 2023 that we have to date. Please let me hear from you if we inadvertently left you off the volunteer list.

Session leaders honored: Our Portland session leaders from 1972* to present:

Marna Kleinman Snyder 1972-73

Sue Wendel 1973-77, 2013-Present

Ann Fischer (z"l) with Dee Wolf and Bonnie Bliesner 1977 – 1985

Hoa Brown 1986-88

Dudi Amir 1988-2010

William Harvey 1997-2004

Allison Victor 1997-Present

Robin Bacon Shone 2002-2007

Avi Tayar 2002-Present

Donna Cole 2010-Present

Rhona Feldman 2018-Present

*and Bill Nelson early 1960s-Present

* Debbi Montrose, B'YACHAD weekend 2001-Present

2023 Event Sponsor:

Jewish Federation of Greater Portland - Mark Blattner, President & CEO

2023 Planners, helpers, and current Session Leaders honored:

Rhona Feldman

Debbi Montrose

Sue Wendel

Nancy Fraser

Allison Victor

Donna Cole

Teachers honored:

Cindy Merrill

Debbi Montrose

Nancy Fraser

Avi Tayar

Melinda Holtzman

Shannon Cahill-Weisser

Anne Woods

David Rutiezer

Dorice Horenstein

Nurit Arton Kahana

Ruti Keenan

Rut Hen

Gary Fox

Heidi Vorst

Volunteers at the 50th anniversary dance party, thank you!

JoAnna Wendel

Mimi Epstein

Melinda Holtzman

Bonnie Bliesner

Cindy Merrill

Lynne Chassin

Shoshana Siegal

Deborah Nye

Shannon Cahill-Weisser

Gary Fox

Clay Swartz

Elizabeth Didner Why We Dance 2023 interviews

Larry Bliesner

Peter Weiss & Sharah Keenan

Peter Wendel pre tech help

Sarah Coblens

Mia Birk

Gary Sherman

Lisa Dunning

Susan & Bill Nelson

Evie Oxman

Gail Schwartz

Sara Harwin

Susan Swank

Todd Coblens

Eran & Tami Guy

Kathy Voss

Richard Ginnis

Peter Wendel

It was an amazing event, thanks to you!

Questions about sessions and classes?

For current dance sessions, beginner and intermediate classes, and event info please visit Facebook "Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland, OR".

BE IMORTAL, SUBMIT YOUR DANCE BIO FOR "WHY WE DANCE"

2026 - this is an ongoing request - Just 5 easy questions to answer for the Why We Dance paragraph: Email your paragraph and a photo to Sue at pifdnews@gmail.com. It will be published on this site's "Why We Dance" page upon permission.

When did you start to dance?
Where?
Why?
Favorite memory? (optional)
If you could describe IFD in one word, what would it be?

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See the 2013 40th Anniversary of Israeli Folk Dancing in Portland picture album here

Portland DANCE NOTES -- IFD IN THE NEWS! CLICK ON ARROW TO EXPAND

Jewish Review 3-1-23 at left. "Celebrate Israel with folk dancing"

Jewish Review 1-18-23 at left. "Share a Story of 50 Years of Folk Dancing."

See Featured IFD article in the 8/4/21 Jewish Review! https://cdn.fedweb.org/fed-29/2/JR080421.pdf

Dancing outdoors at the MAC. Article in the Jewish Review 4/27/21 https://www.jewishportland.org/jewishreview

See the article about virtual folk dancing in Portland, OR in the May 13th edition of the Jewish Review https://cdn.fedweb.org/fed-29/2/JR%2520May%252013%2520final1.pdf

See this article about virtual dancing around the world in Tablet (thanks Rhona for sending) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/israeli-folk-dance-during-pandemic

I am excited to share JOTV's just released Episode 4 The Curious and Creative, which features Israeli folk dancing (starts at 3:15). I am so grateful to all the dancers who attended that night of fliming! And thank you to the JOTV team for featuring this fun and cultural activity as part of Epsiode 4 -- as they artistically highlight our love of Israeli dance for their viewers to learn about and enjoy.

Jewish Oregon TV Epidsode 4 The Curious and Creative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ztsp7l5jxk&feature=youtu.be

2008 article

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