Ramot

Hebrew: רמות. Dance by Moshe Eskayo.

History

On April 16, 1986 Eskayo gave a workshop in Boston. He also gave a styling class, and for practice used steps that later became Ramot. The dance was named for the town in Israel (a suburb of Jerusalem) in which his daughter Irit lived.

Ramot was introduced at Hora Shalom 1986.

Anecdotes

On multiple occasions, Moshe Eskayo has stopped a session when he notices people dancing Ramot incorrectly. After correcting the mistakes, the session continues.

Variations

Often a wild clapping is seen in part 1 (on counts 20-24),specially in Israel. The original never saw any claps in this part.

However, Moshe does a clap on the sixth count of the second part. This clap is often lost, especially in Israel.

In the third part, many people turn too late to face out of the center. The (half pivot) turn is correctly on the third beat, that is, touch right (count 9), forward with weight on right (count 10), then turn 180 so the next step is left in place (count 11), facing out, right in place (count 12).

Open Questions

How did this dance become "Debka Ramot"? It was introduced as "Ramot"!

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnodvp29Jh4 (note the speed of the original)
Ramot at israelidances.com
Video at Rokdim (with the turn in part three taught late, incorrectly)