Ruth Goodman

Based in New York City, Ruth Goodman is the director of the Israeli Dance Institute, the Jewish Dance Division of the 92nd Street "Y", the annual Israel Folk Dance Festival, and the Parparim Ensemble of Israeli Dance and Song. Ruth conducts workshops and seminars throughout the Americas and holds a Master of Arts degree in Dance Education from Columbia University Teachers College. Ruth has been guiding and working together with Keshet Chaim since 1988 and has been a great source of inspiration for the company's educational programs. Keshet Chaim worked with Ruth on a week-long residency in Texas, brought her to Los Angeles to teach workshops at the Skirball Cultural Center for our Inbal project and with her, produced "Moving Out of the Box", a program to educate teachers to use Israeli dance in the classroom. Her contribution to Israeli dance education is immeasurable.

Cecilia Hanono

Director of the Educational Programs

(See Bio page )

Erica Goldman

Erica Goldman was born and raised in New York, where she first inherited her love of Israeli dance from her father. She was the director of the student performance troupe B'yachad and danced with various other East Coast Israeli dance troupes including Parparim and Screaming Sa'adya. In addition, she performed with and choreographed for the Mandala Folkdance Ensemble. She was a principal dancer of the highly acclaimed Collage Dance Ensemble before relocating to Los Angeles in 2004 and immediately joining Keshet Chaim. Erica is currently the Dance Director of Camp Alonim and the Brandeis-Bardin campus of American Jewish University. She teaches Israeli dance at New Community Jewish High School and is the dance specialist at Temple Judea. Erica holds a degree in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from Brandeis University and was an engineering linguist for Comverse Technology for over seven years.

Kobi Rozenfeld

Kobi was born in Rehovot, Israel, and has been dancing and choreographing from a very early age. He toured the world with Yonatan Karmon and Yovel Dance Group. He performed in successful productions of "Fun Tazi", "Cabaret", "Peter Pan" and "K'Mo BeSeret". His credits for choreography include the videos and national and international tours for pop singers Roni Superstar, Mali Levi and Shiri Maimon. He created choreography for "The Little Mermaid" and won contests in choreography at the International Carmiel Dance Festival and the Israeli Jazz Contest in Haifa. Kobi began working with Keshet Chaim upon his arrival in the United States. He has choreographed eleven new pieces for the company to great acclaim. Kobi teaches Israeli dance at Temple Menorah, and is a guest Master Teacher at New Community Jewish High School. He has presented new work twice at the prestigious "Carnival: Choreographer's Ball" at the Key Club in Hollywood, California.

Fran Amkraut

Fran Amkraut's passion for dance and the performing arts developed in her youth at summer camp. During her many years of active leadership in the Israeli folkdance community, Fran has helped to enrich the experiences of both new and veteran dancers through her teaching, choreography and development of educational materials. Until 2001, Fran was the group coordinator for the Annual Israel Folk Dance Festival and Festival of the Arts in New York City, and she is currently the supervisor for the Jewish Performing Arts program at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. Fran has also choreographed extensively and as a member of different dance troupes, she has performed throughout the United States and Israel. A graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, with a bachelor's degree in history, Fran relocated to Los Angeles and earned her MBA in non-profit management at the University of Judaism. In addition to her ongoing work with Camp Yavneh, Fran is also involved with the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble in Los Angeles as a resident teacher and choreographer and help develop the company's educational program. Fran uses her professional skills to continue to bring performing arts and the joy of dance to the community.
 

Rachel Leah Cohen

Rachel Leah Cohen is excited to be working with the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble in the "Mielk and Chani" educational production. She earned her degree in theatre from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA and works professionally as a director as well as an actor. After touring internationally with the Missoula Children's Theatre for a year and a half as Pinocchio in "Pinocchio", she went to Milken Community High School to help develop the drama program where she taught and directed for six years. She has been awarded the Steven Spielberg Theatre Fellowship and has studied at acting conservatories such as Circle in the Square and the Stanislavski Summer Conservatory. Some of her favorite stage credits include "Pizza Man", "Noises Off", "The Wizard of Oz", and "Graceland". Rachel's new love is her TV series she wrote and produced, My Life is A Diet www.MyLifeIsADiet.com.