Shlomo Maman was born in Tiberias on October 10, 1953. He currently resides in Tel Aviv, is a father to his daughter and a grandfather to his granddaughter.

Shlomo: I started my journey in the world of dance when I was still a young boy. Every Shabbat, my father, all my brothers, and I would walk to synagogue together. One Shabbat, after we returned home from synagogue, my father asked me if I wanted to go with him to watch a soccer game at our neighborhood stadium in Tiberias. I happily agreed.

As we made our way back home from the stadium, we passed through the “Histadrut Hapoalim” building, and heard beautiful music emanating from the background. We went inside the building, where I beheld a sight I will never forget. There was a hall with a large stage at the end, on which a pair of professional dancers danced. Two men were dancing a traditional Yemenite dance. The sinuous movements of the dancers and the way they moved their bodies captured my heart. I tried to understand how they move like that. The music was Yemenite in style, and the dancing pair moved to the music, in perfect coordination, as if they were born with it. At the end of the show, the audience cheered with loud applause, and that’s when I knew; I knew this was what I wanted to do. I, too, wanted to dance.

When I was a high school student in Tiberias, we had a neighbor who served in the paratroopers. Every time I saw him coming back from the army dressed in his green uniform, red shoes and red beret, I saw him as a man doing holy work for the Land of Israel. The way he walked to his home was full of glory and pride.

When it came time for me to enlist in the IDF for military service in February 1972, I volunteered to serve in the Paratroopers Corps, inspired by the soldier neighbor I saw returning home. I successfully passed the tests and was accepted into the Paratroopers Corps. This was a dream come true for me. I had become a fighter in the IDF.

During the fourteen months of my basic training I participated in a military operation in Lebanon. Afterwards, I served as a regular soldier during the Yom Kippur War in the southern sector of Egypt, at the Suez Canal, and later, with my unit in the Golan Heights.

The current war has brought back to me the difficult memories I had of the Yom Kippur War, and today we are experiencing a war with a much greater intensity, both as an army and as citizens.

Shlomo’s dances can be viewed on the “Rokdim” website: https://bit.ly/4fGuS34

Shlomo tells us about the dance “Ein Li Eretz Acheret (I Have No Other Country):

I choreographed the dance “Ein Li Eretz Acheret – I Have No Other Country” immediately after the song’s release in 1986. The song was written as a belated response to the death of Ehud Manor‘s younger brother in the War of Attrition (Milchemet HaHatasha). When I tried to choreograph the dance, it was very difficult for me to create a dance to the arrangement of the original song, because the rhythm and its verses, as originally performed, did not permit me to create a dance with a proper division of existing rhythms. In addition, the original song has a passage without lyrics, and I thought that passage should be played right after the chorus.

I decided therefore to re-record the song with a new arrangement by Kevin Assi D’Cruz that was more suitable for folk dancing. In the recording, I perform together with the singer Keren Porat. I made slight changes to the transitions, to the tempo of the song, and also added vocal doublings so that it sounded as if a choir was singing it. I taught the dance using this arrangement in all the harkadot (dance sessions) in Israel and around the world.

Unfortunately, even though I had put a lot of thought into how I felt the arrangement and dance movements expressed the spirit of the song, the dance was not received as I expected it to be. At that time, the dance was not successful and was not danced anywhere.

After October 7, 2023 the song took on a new meaning and became a kind of anthem that has been accompanying us all in the difficult period we are going through now. Therefore, I thought it was the right moment to rechoreograph the dance to this special and moving song with steps based on my original dance. My goal was to create a dance that would not be too complex and be accessible to everyone, both beginners and advanced dancers.

While I was considering this issue and contemplating making changes, my good friend, the instructor Chaim Milstein, called me and recommended that I choreograph a new dance for this song. That call gave me the strength, desire and confidence to go for it. Fortunately, this year the dance was received with great enthusiasm on all dance floors.

The song “Ein Li Eretz Acheret” touched my heart very much. The lyrics and melody evoke our beloved land and emphasize the fact that, for us, “we have no other country”, that it is ours and that we will do everything for it. We will always belong to it and will always be willing to sacrifice ourselves for it.

I see how excited the dancers are when they dance my dance in harkadot, and it makes me happy and excited every time. The goal of the people of Israel now is to move forward and believe that we really have no other country!

The dance, “Ein Li Eretz Acheret: https://bit.ly/4eI62yD

Ein Li Eretz Acheret – Dance Notation

Meter: 4/4

Formation: Circle

Part A         Face Center, hands free

1-2              Touch rt. toes fwd across L while placing palm of rt. hand on left shoulder, hold.

3-4              Touch rt. toes diagonally rt. while placing palm of left hand on rt. shoulder, hold.

5-8              Cross R behind L, step L to left side, cross R over L to the left while rising on rt. toes and raising arms, hold.

9-10            Step L back in place behind R, step R to rt. side.

11-16          Mayim step to the rt. (CCW) beginning with L across R: Step L across R, R to rt. step L behind R, R to rt. side, step L across R, hold.

17-32          Repeat counts 1-16.

 

Part B         Face Center, hands free

1-2              Sway R-L.

3-4              Move fwd toward center turning into center with two steps: R,L.

5-8              Step R fwd, hold, step L fwd while raising left arm upward, hold.

9-12            Back Yem. R to end facing diagonally left with rt. arm raised.

13-16          Moving out of center toward the line of the circle: Turn left circling in an arc with three steps L,R,L to end facing center, hold.

17-24          Yem. R, Yem. L.

Repeat Part A

Repeat Part B counts 1-16

 

Part C         Face Center, hands free

1-4              Step R to rt. while extending both arms to side and upward, hold. While lowering the arms: step L behind R, step R in place.

5-8              Repeat counts 1-4 with opposite footwork starting with L to left.

9-12            Open mayim to the rt. (CCW): Step R to rt., L across R, R to rt., L behind R.

13-16          Sway R-L while circling arms up and out to the sides, close R next to L while bringing hands to chest, hold.

17-18          Step R fwd toward center while raising arms upward to the rt., hold.

19-20          Step L fwd toward center while raising arms upward to the left, hold.

21-24          Small leap fwd onto R, step L fwd while bending slightly fwd, step R bwd while straightening body and raising arms, hold.

25-28          Three steps bwd toward the line of the circle: L,R,L while lowering arms, hold.

29-32          Repeat counts 13-16 (Part C).

33-64          Repeat counts 1-32 (Part C).

 

Ending

1-32             Repeat Part A

33-36          Face CCW: Step and lean fwd onto R with bent knee, hands crossed at chest; hold.

Dance Notation by Ruth Goodman and Ruth Schoenberg

 

Ein Li Eretz Acheret – I Have No Other Country
Lyrics: Ehud Manor
Music: Corinne Allal

Transliteration

Ein li eretz acheret

Gam im admati bo’eret

Rak mila be’ivrit choderet

El orkai, el nishmati

Beguf ko’ev, belev ra’ev

Kan hu beiti

Lo eshtok, ki artzi

Shinta et paneha
Lo avater la,

Azkir la,

Ve’ashir kan be’ozneha

Ad shetifkach et eineha

 

Ein li eretz acheret

Gam im admati bo’eret

Rak mila be’ivrit choderet

El orkai, el nishmati

Beguf ko’ev, belev ra’ev

Kan hu beiti

Lo eshtok, ki artzi

Shinta et paneha
Lo avater la,

Azkir la,

Ad shetehadesh yameha

Ad shetifkach et eineha

Ein li eretz acheret

Gam im admati bo’eret

Kan hu beiti

Ein li…

 

Translation

I have no other country

Even if my land is aflame

Just a word in Hebrew

Penetrates my veins and my soul

With an aching body,
With a hungry heart,

Here is my home.

 

I will not be silent,

For my country has changed her face.

I will not give in to her,
I’ll remind her,

And sing into her ears

Until she opens her eyes

 

I have no other country

Even if my land is aflame

Just a word in Hebrew

Penetrates my veins and my soul

With an aching body,
With a hungry heart,

Here is my home.

 

I will not be silent,

For my country has changed her face.

I will not give in to her,
I’ll remind her,

Until she renews her days of yore

Until she opens her eyes

I have no other country

even if my land is aflame

Here is my home.

I have no…

Lyrics transliteration and translation by Ruth Goodman, Benny Levy and Allen King