BeTof UTzlil
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Hebrew: בתוף וצליל (With Drum and Sound). Circle dance by Moshiko Halevy, 1975.
Moshiko says this about the dance:
Every dance has its own inspiration. BeTof UTzlil was one of the choreographies I did at the beginning to show what Israeli folk dance can be. I first composed the music, and after that I found out that I could add lyrics, so I added something about "be happy and dance with drum and sounds".[1]
The recording commonly used for the dance comes from vinyl record MIH-3 and is instrumental-only. But as Moshiko says, there are indeed lyrics, and the later CD recordings contain them. Here they are:
גילו חולו וחוללו
הרועים בתוף וצליל
ובקול רנה פצחו נא
זמר שיר עליז חביב
(x2)
ואל על
ואל על נפרוש ידנו
ונודה
ונודה לאל עליון
השומר
השומר צאן מרעיתנו
ומרבה תנובת הצאן
(x2)
Choreographic Notes
In the first section, after the two claps standing on R and facing RLOD, we take two step-hops backwards (that is, LOD), L then R. Then we have step-hop L forwards (which is RLOD), step R forward turning to face LOD, then step L forward in LOD. The motion RLOD in these last few steps is often lost, or when performed correctly causes collisions with dancers who improperly move LOD with every step.
In the second section, a mnemonic for where to step with the right foot is "East/North/South/West", the left foot in place except for "South", where we travel backwards. The "South" step is the only travelling step, all others are in place.
References and Links
- ↑ Telephone conversation with Moshiko, May 21 2025