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The Joy of Jewish Music and Dance
NEW LOCATION: Congregation Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA
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Join the October-May monthly series celebrating The Joy of Jewish Music and Dance! Great for musicians, dancers, and enthusiasts to meet, learn, play, shmooze, or simply to take in the beauty of these rich traditions. Bring your instruments and dancing shoes.
For the February 22, 2026 session, klezmer music will be taught by Ilya Shneyveys and Yiddish dance by Sarah Myerson!
Ilya and Sarah are delightful and have a deep well of klezmer and Yiddish music and dance, which they travel the world to perform and teach. Between the two of them they play accordion, poyk, drumkit, guitar, ukulele, as well as all manner of string and wind instruments. They sing in Yiddish, Ukrainian, and Hebrew. They teach and lead dance…They’ve performed and recorded with many of the klezmer greats from around the world. Catch them while they are here!
Read more about our instructors below.
Session format: During the first 2 hours choose between separate concurrent music and dance workshops. Then participants will break for snack, and come back together to share what they’ve learned in a fun dance party setting.
Basic instrumental proficiency is recommended for musicians. All instruments, singers, and dancers are welcome.
Tickets are $25 – $54 sliding scale. Preregister to save your spot and for faster check in at the door. Otherwise, get your tickets at the door.
Kids 18 and under can attend free.
No one turned away for lack of funds. Arrange volunteer/trade or reduced price entry in advance, or with the person at the door.
Additional donations are welcome to help sustain, grow, and cover the cost of this series. Additional donations would help cover travel costs of out-of-town instructors and many costs that are currently offset by donations.
The series is made possible by volunteer time and expertise of organizers Mike Perlmutter, Zina Pozen, and Bruce Bierman, as well as the financial support of Noah Youngs, Amos Lans, and other generous individuals, fiscal sponsorship and support by KlezCalifornia. We are grateful to our past host Sarah Wolfman-Robichaud and the JCC East Bay, and to our new hosts at Congregation Netivot Shalom.
Direct questions about the series to: JOY@KlezCalifornia.org
Instructor Bios
Sarah Myerson is an ordained cantor actively working to connect egalitarian Jewish religious with secular/cultural Yiddish communities. She serves as the Kol Bo Spiritual Leader of Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Sarah is proficient in Yiddish, and a master of traditional Yiddish singing. She teaches Yiddish song workshops and Yiddish dance workshops in person worldwide, hybrid, and fully remotely online. Sarah leads Yiddish dance at weddings and other events, and performs as a multi-instrumentalist in a variety of musical settings. She writes and performs original compositions, for example with Jewish spiritual music duo Shekedina. Sarah has a Master of Sacred Music and Diploma of Hazzan from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a Bachelor of Music (Composition Honors) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. www.cantorsarahmyerson.com
Originally from Riga, Latvia, now based in Brooklyn, NY, Ilya Shneyveys is a accordionist and multi-instrumentalist, educator, composer, arranger, and producer of Yiddish music. With expertise spanning from traditional klezmer accordion to experimental and fusion projects, Ilya performs and teaches at Jewish festivals around the world, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to your local synagogue catering hall. Ilya is a founding member of Berlin’s Neukölln Klezmer Sessions and Shtetl Berlin, and a long-time faculty member of Yiddish Summer Weimar. His notable projects and collaborations include Forshpil, Alpen Klezmer, KaraYam, Caravan Orchestra, Dobranotch, Shekedina, Black Rooster Kapelye, Michael Winograd and The Klezmatics. Ilya has received multiple awards for his work, including the 2014 RUTH World Music Award at TFF Rudolstadt, the 2017 Shimon-Peres-Prize, and the Eiserne Eversteiner Preis in 2017. https://ilya.shneyveys.com/
Series Dates