Meanwhile, 5,500 miles away in Daejeon City, South Korea, practitioners of the ancient Korean martial art of Haedong Gumdo have been competing for medals in an international competition.
The bronze medal was won by Josh Segal, performing the sword dance to a medley of Israeli songs, including Nigun Atik, Hava Nagila, and Erev Shel Shoshanim.
Enjoy!
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The dance begins with "Nigun Atik" which is an Israeli folk song (popular in Israel but substantially unknown abroad) and then moves into Hava Nagila (the cliché for every Jewish Wedding and Bart/Bat Mitzvah. Josh Segal shows that he is a person conversant with our culture as well as an accomplished dancer.
ReplyDeleteJosh... where did you study this? How long have you studied? Why did you get into this art form?
ReplyDeleteI trained at Haidong Gumdo for 4 years and many of the movements come from it. I am also frequently into dancing Russian, Jewish, and Lebanese styles, of which I taught my self.
DeleteMost of the dance I performed in Korea was Improvised on the spot, with chunks of my Gumdo Forms put in.
Now that I'm home, I am going to talk to the media in my hometown, Tucson, and perhaps teach a class in Sword dance if I can raise any Interest.