Larry Denenberg
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Larry Denenberg (full name Lawrence Alan Denenberg) is a dancer, teacher, and occasional markid living in Newton, Massachusetts (just outside Boston).
Although Larry was born in Omaha, he moved to Boston in 1972 and has lived there ever since, with the exception of short stints in Haifa.
Larry started folkdancing on January 13 1977, invited by a then-roommate, at the (then) Thursday session of the MITFDC. The first dance he taught was Tzaddik Katamar, on May 3 1978, and he first programmed on March 28 1979. He attended the Sunday night international folkdance sessions and was a teacher and programmer there as well. In 1981, he and George Kirby published the Israeli section of the MITFDC catalog in book form. When the MITFDC's Tuesday night advanced Balkan dancing was replaced by contra dancing, he was an occasional caller.
George Kirby and Ed Kaplan invited Larry to join the local group Screamin' Sa'adya and the Electric Camels in 1985; he performed with the group from 1986 (when it was called "Khamsin") through 1997, and in several other groups including Zikukim and Sucaria through 2017. These performances took place at the Israel Folkdance Festival of Boston (where Larry was the Festival Honoree in 2013), the New York Israel Folk Dance Festival, and the New England Folk Festival, plus other one-off venues including the first Karmiel Festival (with Bustan Boston) and Larry's Boston wedding reception, where he performed with Collage.
Larry is the founder and (with Karen Kaplan) co-director of the first Hora Eclipse in 2017, virtual Hora Eclipse 1.5 in 2021, and Hora Eclipse 2 in 2024 (in conjunction with Kochavim and the National Folk Organization). Along with five others, he founded, planned, and taught at Hora Shalosh. Larry is also the creator of and a major contributor to HoraWiki.
In October 2022 Larry was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in his right femur. Much of the femur was accordingly removed and replaced with metal prosthesis. After two years of therapy he has resumed dancing to some extent and is hoping to improve further.
Links
Larry's home page, including his dance résumé