Join our monthly series celebrating The Joy of Jewish Music and Dance! Great for musicians, dancers, and enthusiasts to meet, schmooze, or simply to take in the beauty of these rich traditions. Bring your instruments and dancing shoes.
This month’s workshop is all about Klezmer music! The workshop will be led by teaching artists Dmitri Gaskin, Misha Khalikulov, and Bruce Bierman
During the first 90 minutes, participants can choose between spaces to learn multi-ethnic music and dance technique and styles. Participants will all come together for a 30 minute dance party focusing on the dances and tunes taught in the prior hour. The remaining segment will be an informal music jam in one or more of the classroom spaces at the JCC East Bay.
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Dmitri Gaskin (he/him) is an accordion player and composer specializing in Klezmer music. He performs with bands Tsvey Brider, Baymele, and Saul Goodman’s Klezmer Band. With his duo Tsvey Brider (“two brothers” in Yiddish), Dmitri has co-written an album of new Yiddish song, Kosmopolitn (Borscht Beat, 2022). He has also performed and taught at music festivals including Yidstock, Yiddish Summer Weimar, KlezCalifornia, Klezmer on Ice, and others. Outside of Klezmer, Dmitri won the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award for contemporary classical music. He studied accordion with Josh Horowitz and Alan Bern. Dmitri lives in rural Santa Cruz county with his wife and their four goats.
Misha Khalikulov is a cellist and music educator born in Soviet Uzbekistan and raised in San Francisco. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from UCLA, studying under Antonio Lysy. Misha spent nearly 14 years with the internationally touring group The April Fishes, performing extensively in Europe and Asia. He is also a member of the Klezmer trio Baymele, alongside accordionist Dmitri Gaskin and violinist Matthew Stein, and has performed with acclaimed artists like Anthony Russell. Misha plays with contemporary group StringQuake and Hungarian folk group Vadalma. In January 2019, he toured Vietnam with Vietnamese musician Van-Anh Vo. Passionate about bridging divides through music, Misha teaches children through several non-profit organizations, including Harmony Project Bay Area and Bay Area Music Project. He has recorded on over 40 albums across various styles.
Bruce Bierman is a celebrated Jewish dance master, theater director, and arts educator. He is co-artistic director of the award-winning Yiddish Theatre Ensemble in Berkeley where he has directed and choreographed The Megilleh of Itzik Manger for the Berkeley Jewish Music Festival, Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance, and most recently Between Worlds starring Naomi Newman. He served as Yiddish dance and theater dramaturg for Paula Vogel’s Tony Award winning play, Indecent at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage and the most recent production at the San Francisco Playhouse which YTE also co-produced. Bruce was also a lead dancer and teaching artist with the Los Angeles Aman Folk Ensemble bringing world music and dance to youth throughout the L.A. Unified School District.
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Single session tickets: Sliding scale $25-54
Co-presented by KlezCalifornia