Back in summer 2007 we started to think about an Israeli folk dance camp suitable for beginners - after we realized that most other IFD camps worldwide demanded a minimum of knowledge of most of the basic steps, to say the least...

Thus we created a course for beginners with beginners' dances, starting with the very first basic steps like a grapevine, a Yemenite, and others. Within a couple of weeks our 1st winter camp in the Bavarian Alps was fully booked, since we have only a limited space of approx. 35-40 beds available in our lovely guest house. Also the camps to ofllow were already fully booked around mid-September. A proof that demand is high enough for something like a camp for beginners.

We also open this camp for folk dance teachers who are interested in a didactical progress and/or who would like to learn some of the old Israeli pioneer dances, many of them sadly enough already (too) often forgotten. For a list of the dances having been taught so far please click here.

The name of our guest house is Studienzentrum Josefstal, situated about 4 km south of Schliersee in Upper Bavaria (83727 Josefstal-Schliersee, Oberbayern), a beautiful Bavarian lake: by car approx. 60 km south of Munich.

Our slogan for this camp is:

Dancing into the New Year

which includes approximately 20-24 hours of teaching, and, of course, the new year's evening party. By the way, a CD with the music of the dances taught at this seminar is included in the seminar price and will be mailed by regular mail approx. 2-3 weeks after the end of the seminar. A DVD with the dances being taught and demonstrated may be purchased upon request.

Our camp director as well as dance instructor is Matti Goldschmidt. Please double-click here for all of the dances created by him, courtesy of Jewish Australia.