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On Sunday October 14th 2007, Dany and his wife Noga, celebrated the 40th ANNIVERSARY of their Israeli Dancing session at Kibbutz Givat Chayim Me’uchad in the Cheffer Valley.!! This was quite a milestone. Dany’s session is the most veteran Israeli folk dance session in Israel and around the world!! Over 700 dancers attended!! CONGRATULATIONS DANY! MAZELTOV – KOL HA KAVOD! The beginning was in 1967. From that time until 1975, Dany lead the session as a hobby. He asked the manager in Kibbutz Ha’ogen for a tape player and a sound system, and was told: “first go ahead and start the group, and then we’ll see…”After Dany completed with honors the course for Israeli folk Dance instructors in Haifa in 1975, his session started blossoming. The name of the Cheffer Valey dance session was becoming well known, and Dany was recognized as an artist. His session was recognized by Kibbutz Ha’ogen and by the kibbutz movement as a legitimate activity. From 1967 on (the days of the 6 Day War), the dancers met regularly every Sunday evening. In those days, the session moved around among the settlements of Emek Cheffer: Kibbutz Ha’ogen, Kibbutz Ma’abarot, Moshav Beit Cherut and Kibbutz Ein Hachoresh. The session had a modest number of dancers. Later on it turned into a large and respectable regionally recognized session. Everyone knew that the regional Emek Cheffer session is something special.In those days, every member of the group had a membership card, and only the members could participate.In 1991 Dany and Noga left Kibbutz Ha’ogen and moved to Hadera. The session found it’s new home in Kibbutz Givat Chayim Me’uchad, where it is taking place to this day. Dany Benshalom became a visible and active representative of the Israeli Folklore. He is one of the founders of the Organization of Israeli Folk Dance Instructors and Choreographers, and a teacher in the Zinman College for P.E. and in the Ulpan for Israeli Folk dance teachers at the Wingate Institute.Since 1984 to the present, he travels to teach in Israeli Folk dance workshops abroad. He is the co-director of Karmiel USA weekend workshop, together with Ruthy Slann. In all the passing years, there was always an atmosphere of fun and friendship in Dany’s session, a sense of a united big family and a true warm Israeli feeling, with dancers celebrating together the Holydays, birthdays, weddings, and lately, more and more celebrations of new grandchildren.Thanks to the core of founders that stayed loyal to the group through all these years, Dany and Noga (who joined later) succeeded in keeping the session alive through thick and thin. In spite of the fact that many new sessions sprung up in the area, the Sunday night session in Givat Chayim is a serious, well known, leading session (chug) that carved a unique name for itself with its quality and level. Today, the session has about 200 dancers, coming from all around the centre of Israel
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