Published: 15 February 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
EVYATAR SAID AND YOUSEF HASASNA are not professional dancers, nor are they teachers in any formal sense, but both have absorbed their cultural training naturally over many years.
And not long ago, this Yemenite Jew from Kfar Sava and Palestinian from the outskirts of Hebron joined forces to lead a unique dance workshop they call “Steps from Sana’a to Hebron.”
The knowledge they impart is instilled deep inside their bodies, and they are trying to convey it to the general public.
“The dabke is in every home and it’s an inseparable part of our culture,” Hasasna says of the Palestinian dance. “We’ve been dancing it at weddings, events, and family gatherings since we were little.”
Said speaks similarly about the dance of Yemenite Jews. “I had the privilege of learning about my culture and investigating it thoroughly through dance,” he says. He’s been watching people dance since he was a child. “I watch videos from events, I searched in archives and I would go to see my aunts and uncles dance.”
FULL STORY This Israeli-Palestinian dance project is the epitome of coexistence – but the occupation may destroy it (Haaretz)
Photo: Shira Eviatar, left, Yousef Hasasna and Evyatar Said (Haaretz)
