Noami Leaf Halpern and the History of Jewish Dance

by SUSAN MILAMED

The field of Jewish dance history received a major boost with YIVO’s acquisition of the collection of Noami Aleh-Leaf Halpern, whose dance career spanned seven decades. Fifteen boxes of dance programs, handbills, itineraries, clippings, photographs, correspondence, publications, costumes, and artwork from the 1920s-2014 are being accessioned, with more on the way.

Born in Jerusalem in 1914, Noami came to America as a child with her parents, Reuven Leaf of the Bezalel Institute and Sarah Kantorowitz, a weaver and seamstress. She danced at the Farband’s summer Camp Kindervelt, where her father taught art. She studied with choreographer Michel Fokine and performed in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1934. A return to Palestine in 1935 inspired her life’s work interpreting Jewish and Near Eastern dance traditions. During the 1930s-50s, Leaf Halpern toured France, Luxembourg, Belgium Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Israel, Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S. Among her memorabilia is a pristine program for her January 1938 Antwerp performance at an event promoting YIVO, which can be seen among the photos in the gallery below.

Leaf Halpern danced at Fred Berk’s Israeli Dance Festivals in the 1950s, founded and led the Boston-area Festival Dance Company in the 1960s, and became a pioneer within the sacred dance movement. She trained as a dance therapist, taught modern dance, and coached actors into her eighties. The collection will undoubtedly be a new, invaluable resource for exploring nearly a century of Jewish art and cultural life.

Susan Milamed is a volunteer in the YIVO Archives.