HALELU DANCE COMPANY IS A GROUP OF WOMEN, PROFESSIONAL DANCERS COMING FROM THE SECULAR DANCE WORLD, OR ORTHODOCHS HOUSEHOLDS, WHO HAVE FOUND THEIR WAYS TO RELIGION, DANCE, AND RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE.
Many of HALELU Dance Company members are also working as Dance, Yoga, Pilates, and Tai-Chi teachers all over Israel, alongside with being full-time mothers to their children.
Chaya was born in 1971 in Tel-Aviv, to parents who made "Aliyah" from Morocco. She took her first steps in ballet & point at the local dance school in her neighborhood and very quickly became a leading student. She participated each year in the professional summer course at"Bat Dor" school of Dance.
Chaya majored in high school at sports and was trained by Maccabi team at floor gymnastics and competed all over Israel.
In her army service, Chaya was trained to be a sports commanders in paratroopers and sea force units. After completing her army service she traveled to India, learned Indian dance and mastered in yoga.
When she returned to Israel she began her academic dance studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Dance and was a professional dancer at Israeli folk dance company "Mechola".
During these years her journey towards Judaism started to sprout and she decided to leave her studies, and make her new way towards leading Jewish religious life. Chaya created a solo performance piece named "Mibsari Eloka" describing her spiritual way towards religion.
Her production received enormous support and was a milestone in Israeli female- religious dance world.
Her path from the secular dance world into her solo among the religious community gave her the drive to build "Hallelu dance school" for woman and girls in 2004 in Jerusalem.
From this grew "Halelu dance company" -aspiring to give out the vision of the wholeness of the Jewish religious life and rituals through the art of dance.
CHAYA SHLOMO [director/dancer]
Hannah was born in London, the UK in 1976, she is a Professional dancer & ballet, contemporary and Pilates instructor. She is dancing, choreographing and co-directing "HALELU" Dance Company.
Hannah began her dance studies at Bat Dor dance school, Tel Aviv and passed with honors all R.A.D ballet exams S.A.D.T tap dance exams. She danced at Telma Yalin high school of Arts and took her GCES in Dance & French.
After completing her IDF army service at the Ministry Of Defense she went back to dance at "Bicurey Haitim" dance school and decided to continue from there to take higher
studies in dance at "Seminar Hakibutzim" College, where she received her B.E.D in dance and movement.
During these studies, Hannah took a dance workshop at "The Place", London and at "Menagerie Deverre", France. These global experiences made her decide to return to Israel and join the JDT Jerusalem Dance Theatre Company for 3 years.
As she was about to join a dance company in Israel, decided to look through the paths of her Jewish religion, and postpone her dance career for a while in order to study at a Beit Midrash for women.
Today she is married and mother of 3 children. She leads a religious life but has found back the way to live a Jewish religious life without giving away her biggest passion- to dance.
HANNAH LEA MIRON [choreographer/dancer]
Emuna was born in Upstate New York. She began dancing at the age of 3. She completed a B.F.A. in modern dance performance from the State University of New York at Purchase, Conservatory of Dance, including a year abroad in which she attended the Amsterdam School of Dance in Holland.
She was a founder/dancer/ choreographer in "Unexpected Company", which received a Puffin Grant for their project that combined dance classes, community work and culminated in performances.
Emuna participated in the New York State Summer School of the Arts under the direction of Carolyn Adams, the Bates Dance Festival, and the Glenwood Springs Dance Festival, and has performed with the Kaleidoscope Dance Theater under the
direction of Sean Mcleod.
In her career, Emuna has been fortunate to work with the choreographers, Linda Kent, Ruth Andrien, Carolyn Adams, Sondra Loring, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Sean Mcleod, Kevin
Wynne and Doug Varone among others.
In Israel, Emuna taught modern dance at Halelu and the Emek Hayarden Dance Studio among other classes.
In 2000 she traveled to India to learn yoga, where she met her husband, and together they began a spiritual quest that ultimately led them back to Judaism.
Today, Emuna is a mother of 6, enjoys performing with Hallelu, and teaches yoga at Elima Alternative Medicine School, in the Teacher Training Course as well as a guide for the Fertility Awareness Method.
EMUNA BEN GERA [dancer]
LIRON PIVNIK [dancer]
Liron started learning dance in Bat-Dor Dance School, Tel Aviv and graduated from High School with a major in dance. After graduation, Liron performed with the company "Muza" and continued with different courses in the "Bicori Itim Center", as well as continuing in New York at Steps, Dancespace and Broadway Dance Center.
In addition, Liron earned a B.ed from the Academia for Dance in Jerusalem and the Wingate Institute. She has taught in numerous dance centers and schools throughout the country, as well as organizing a school for dance in Tel Aviv.
Liron finished her Master's degree in choreography in the Academia in Jerusalem.
Today, Liron lives with her family in Bnei Brak, teaches dance and trains dance teachers in a variety of institutions in the religious and orthodox world, as well as dancing with the Hallelu dance company.
SAPIR BEN SIMHON [dancer]
Sapir was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Maale Edomim in a family of religious background. From a young age, she danced in the local professional dance company "Bamidbar", performing ballet and later also modern dance, Jazz, Hip Hop, contemporary dance, Improvisation, Hora, etc. Parallel to this, she attended the Arts Ulpana in Jerusalem where she completed her high school dance studies.
Sapir searches for a balance between her religious and dancer identities - two worlds which she did not manage to bridge, and as a result of lack of space for exercising her talent in a religious environment. After doing the Sherut Leumi, Sapir completed her studies as a gymnastics trainer, and then she joined the Maslool for dancers training led by Miriam Engel. Right after these studies, Sapir joined the company Angela with which she had performed for two years, along with teaching around Jerusalem. After her marriage, Sapir decided not to perform for mixed audiences and continued with teaching alone, until she became familiar with the Halelu Dance Company and joined out of a wholesome spirit and a connection to the Jewish soul, thirsty for combining spirituality and a high level of professional dance.
MIRIAM SHLAFMAN [dancer]
Miriam grew up in New Jersey and found an oasis in the dance studio. Baruch HaShem, she was able to study dance at Temple University and then completed a year at the Kibbutz Dance Journey. She also danced in KCDC 2 before completing a yoga course in Thailand. Miriam is so thankful to be dancing at Hallelu in the holy city of Jerusalem!
NOAM HAKOHEN URIA [dancer]
Noam grew up in Gush Ezion, and studied at the high school Bet Hannah in Midreshet Harova. She has a Bachelor of Education, Bible and Tushba, and social community education. She is currently the head of the HR department in the Bnei Akiva youth movement. Noam was trained as a classical Ballet teacher, Modern dance, and Choreography in the Halelu Dance School and Givaat Washington, and has studied and created in different places. Over the years, despite the high-demanding job she works in during the days, Noam did not give up on her dream to dance, and she participated and performed in many different projects and with different groups in the area of Jerusalem.
DANIELLE FRITCH [dancer]
Dannielle Fritch, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, enjoyed the experience of living, training and working in South Africa and Israel before she decided to further her dance career and moved to the U.K. Upon arrival in the U.K, Dannielle trained professionally at Laine Theatre Arts and later on completed a B.A. in Dance Studies at Middlesex University, focusing on
Contemporary Dance and Choreography. Professional credits include: Thriller Live - Original Cast (Lyric Theatre London, UK
Tour, European Tour) Dancing Queen (Monte Carlo, U.K Tour) C-12 Contemporary Dance Company (Soloist UK Tour).
Today Dannielle lives in Jerusalem with her family , works as a Dance teacher and Choreographer as well as teaching Jewish studies at Neve Yerushalayim and other seminaries.
SHAKED DAGAN [choreographer]
Born in the north of Israel, Shaked had been working as a dancer and creator since 2008. As a professional dancer, she worked for Dance Companies and freelance choreographers, such as Batsheva Dance Company, Muza Dance Company, Dana Ruttenberg Dance Group, and Independent international choreographers and projects.
Shaked had presented her works, investigating various constellations and performative mediums throughout the last decade. She created stage pieces, dance films, and improvisation based works. Shaked collaborated with artists of different disciplines, and Her works were performed internationally in dance Festivals and various stages, galleries, screenings, and alternative site-specific locations. Shaked is the recipient of the American-Israel scholarship (years 2002, 2004, 2005), the Yehoshua Rabinovitz foundation for arts grant winner (2009, 2015) in support of her creations, and was elected for artistic residencies in Israel and abroad.
Shaked had created two full-evening pieces for Halelu dance company ("the six days of deeds", and "seventh encirclement"), which are still performed nationwide.
DORIT LEVI [choreographer]
A graduate of BA in dance and MA in choreography from the Academy of Music and dance, Dorit has a dance pedagogy certificate and she teaches contemporary dance and prepares dance students for their final high school dance exams. Dorit teaches contemporary dance methods in branches of the Washington Hill college, and Wingate college. Dorit is an examiner of final exams in dance for high school and dance pedagogy students in the dance academy, she creates choreographic works for HALELU Dance Company, and is a choreographer and dancer.