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By Regan Lipes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/p>\n
(AJNews) \u2013 Truly seasoned Edmontonians, with deep roots in the community might remember a very special performance at the Israeli Pavilion for Heritage Days in 1981. Menachem Begin of the Likud Party was the Prime Minister of Israel, Olivia Newton-John\u2019s \u201cPhysical\u201d was playing on the car radio assisted by a protruding metal antenna, and Maya Goldberg made Edmonton history! She had only been in the city for a few years, but the Israeli-born, kibbutz-raised, natural performer put some major moves in motion with the inaugural Shiru HaShir folk dance recital at Heritage Days. For those not old enough to remember, not to worry, Maya and her dancers have only gained in popularity and momentum, and the costumes have become more colorful and vibrant, so even forty-five years after they first took to the stage, Shiru HaShir is still a dazzling and captivating sight to behold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been performing since I was a child,\u201d explained Maya in a recent interview in her comfortable living room.\u00a0 \u201cLook,\u201d she pointed around her. \u201cYou see how all my furniture is against the wall, nothing in the middle of the room?\u00a0 That\u2019s so people can dance.\u201d\u00a0 At eighty-five-years-young, Maya has more spirit and energy than most people half her age.\u00a0 She never sits for long, getting up to make coffee, offer up Israeli confections, demonstrate a dance move or two, or to collect old photos to unleash the time-capsule of Shiru HaShir\u2019s memories.\u00a0 She grew up on a kibbutz near Caesarea, and although she lives in Canada, Israel is always in her heart.\u00a0 \u201cMy father, he came from Latvia, and my first dance, that I can remember was the Kozachok,\u201d she recalled with clarity.\u00a0 \u201cBut I\u2019ve been dancing since my father would hold me as a baby and dance with me in his arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Jewish Federation of Edmonton approached Maya in 1981 to choreograph and perform a series of Israeli folk dances to showcase the brightness and joy of Eretz Yisrael, she gracefully leapt at the opportunity. \u201cShavuot is my favorite holiday,\u201d explained Maya.\u00a0 \u201cThese dances are about the earth, planting, harvesting, connecting with nature,\u201d with this she sprang up from her seat and demonstrated how particular dance moves were inspired by working the land. Another set of dances reflect the time-honoured rituals and traditions of Jewish teaching. \u201cSome of the dance movements show how men pray in shul, and all part of a greater story.\u201d\u00a0 A third compilation of dance is devoted to the wonder and radiance of Israel itself. \u201cI want to show people how amazing and beautiful Israel is, how alive and healthy, and I can do that through dance,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n
The walls of Maya\u2019s warm and welcoming home are an endless collage of artwork and dance photography. Moving from picture to picture, she noted: \u201cI remember everyone, but only by their first name. How often do you use last names anymore?\u00a0 Everybody\u2019s first names, I remember.\u201d In other times Shiru HaShir performed for the community during holiday celebrations. Now the Jewish community, and greater Edmonton, look forward to their Heritage Days recital once a year. \u201cIt was all thanks to the volunteers,\u201d Maya stated firmly.\u00a0 \u201cNothing here,\u201d she gestured to a montage of dance shots, \u201cNothing would have happened without the volunteers and those who supported us. Nobody was getting anything out of this except for the fun of dancing.\u201d\u00a0 Even now, as she works on repairing costumes and drumming up participation for the year to come, Maya is categorical that she can only do what she does because of the people around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want people to dance and have fun,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWe had some neighbours over for dinner, and my daughter was joking and saying that I wasn\u2019t going to feed them till after everyone danced. It wasn\u2019t really a joke; I wanted everyone to dance and have fun.\u201d\u00a0 She is proud that in past years, three generations of her family have danced together representing Israeli pride. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a good dancer, but you do need to have fun!\u201d Maya has no intent to slow down, and she\u2019s already thinking about next year. \u201cThe mud this year! The costumes were soaked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maya and Shiru HaShir are always looking for new faces and an infusion of fresh energy for their group. \u201cNobody is too old, but we don\u2019t take anyone younger than sixteen,\u201d she explained. \u201cSomebody came to me and said they couldn\u2019t dance because they\u2019re in their sixties,\u201d she waved a hand with mocking dismissal. \u201cI\u2019m eighty-five so sixty seems young.\u201d\u00a0 Those who may be new to Edmonton and are looking for some healthy cardio and kibbitzing should contact her. Maya is hesitant to take praise without pointing to her fellow dancers, volunteers, and supporters as the stars of the show, but it really is this firecracker of a woman who ignited Edmonton\u2019s love of Israeli folk dance forty-five years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Regan Lipes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter (AJNews) \u2013 Truly seasoned Edmontonians, with deep roots in the community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-922048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}