In the Beginning.
The pioneers who arrived in Israel (Palestine) at the end of the 19th century, wanted to create a Hebrew culture that differed from the Jewish culture identified with the Diaspora. Among the many questions asked, was the question of the kind of dance that would grow and develop in the "new Israel". As long as classical ballet was the only existing artistic genre in Europe, there was no possibility of developing artistic dance in the Yishuv, because of the idealistic opposition of the pioneers to this genre, which symbolized "old world" values in their eyes.
*By Dr. Ruth Eshel (Tel Aviv)
