In Finland, Israeli folk dance has largely established itself in church groups. These groups express their connection to God and the State of Israel through dancing, particularly through Hebrew texts and Israeli step combinations. Finland dances, no doubt! However, surprisingly or not, it is heavily intermingled with certain spiritual elements one can hardly find nowadays in Israel in connection with the dance scene there.

In Part 1 of this article, and here, in Part 2, the most important names and groups are presented individually and in no particular order. Some names may appear more than once; this is partly because some dance instructors move from one city to another and then start a new group there, if one had not already existed. A few others teach nationwide and have thus left their mark in several locations. As mentioned in Part 1, there must be many more groups in Finland either just doing Israeli folk dances for the pure fun of it or using them for Christian worship purposes, which I have not covered simply because I was not aware of them in time.

Hämeenkyrö (Tarja Vasarainen) vtarja@gmail.com

Tarja Vasarainen, is the main teacher of a group of about ten participants in Hämeenkyrö (with roughly 11,000 inhabitants), about thirty-five kilometers northwest of Tampere (Finland’s third most populous municipality). They have “a beautiful small Israeli dance group at the Lutheran church”. From the year 2019, beginner and intermediate dances are practiced twice a month. In addition, they often perform at their church or together with Pentecostal church dancers.

Recently, the group has also been dancing a lot at the Finnish Carmelite order “Karmel-koti”, whose motto is “for the Bible and Israel”. One of the association’s goals is to provide a deeper understanding of the Bible and Israel by organizing various events and courses, including, for example, Shabbat meals according to the Jewish tradition.

Vantaa (Kristina & Osmo Tapani Rämö) tapani.ramo@helsinki.fi

This group is active in the city of Vantaa (population about 250,000) near Helsinki’s international airport. It was founded in 2009 by the Vantaa branch of the Finland-Israel Association, engaging both beginners and advanced dancers every second Saturday during September through the winter months until May. Under the leadership of Kristiina and Tapani Rämö, the first hour is generally reserved for beginners, and even complete beginners are welcome, followed by dances up to a well-advanced level. The participation fee is € 5 per session for association members, € 10 for others. The couple’s interest in Israeli Folk Dancing stems from having been exposed to those dances while in voluntary work at the DVI clinic in Jerusalem since 2006. DVI stands for “Dental Volunteers for Israel” and provides “free, high-quality dental care and oral health education to underserved populations in Jerusalem, including at-risk youth, elderly individuals, Holocaust survivors, lone soldiers, and displaced families, fostering dignity and health equity across diverse communities”.

Since the late 2000’s, the couple has been looking for ways to invite markidim to Finland in cooperation with the Vantaa branch of the Finland-Israel Association as a supporting administrative partner. This led to several workshops with choreographers and/or dance instructors like Boaz Cohen, Marcelo Marianoff, Dudu Barzilay, and, in particular, Yuval Tabashi. Sometimes both travelled as far as to Munich to attend various workshops organized by the Israelisches Tanzhaus, such as with Rafi Ziv (2011), Sagi Azran and Dudu Barzilay (the latter two in 2012).

Seinäjoki (Minna Herttua) minna.herttua@netikka.fi

Basically, since 2017, this performance group led by Minna Herttua under the name of “Besorah” (áשׂåÝøä = literally “message”, here: the first four books of the New Testament) is active in the city of Seinäjoki (population: 67,000) in Western Finland, about 360 kilometers north of Helsinki. It usually practices weekly and performs once a month in various locations around Finland, sometimes even more often than that. Its repertoire includes Israeli folk dances as well as “worship dances”. Some of their choreographies have been created through prayers.

“Besorah” also performs together with the Betsal’el music group, which specializes in Hebrew music. In 2023, the group visited Israel and performed at different places in Rishon LeZion and Jerusalem.

While this dance group is involved in the congregation’s work for Israel, it organizes monthly Israel-related events as well as larger “Israel seminars”, for instance, Feast of Tabernacles celebrations or Shabbat and seder meals. Particular emphasis is placed on working with holocaust survivors, both in Finland and in Israel, such as organizing recreational holiday weeks in Israel. Under the motto “Let them praise his name with dancing” (Psalm 149:3), Besorah aims to honor the Jewish people, the land of Israel and above all the “God of Israel” through dance.

Joensuu (Mirjami and Veli-Pekka Ikonen) mirjami.ikonen@gmail.com; vpikonen@gmail.com

The name of the Israeli dance group in Joensuu is “Shofar Shalom” (shofar: a traditional Jewish musical instrument made from a ram’s horn). The group was founded fifteen years ago when Merja Meir was invited to teach dances by the local Finland-Israel Friendship Association. The group rehearses twice to three times a month. Over the years, the group has attracted more than forty dancers, including theology students from the University of Eastern Finland. At times, the average age of the group was quite high, but recently several younger members have joined. Mirjami Ikonen has been the group’s instructor since the beginning, first alone and later joined by her husband. Her daughter has also taught some dances already.

At the defense of Miriam’s doctoral thesis in economics at the University of Eastern Finland in 2013, “Shofar Shalom” performed at the evening party and in the end, the whole party danced together. The group has also performed at events organized by the Finland-Israel Association at Jewish celebrations. In the 2010’s the group visited the Jewish communities of several cities on trips to Russia, including St. Petersburg, Kondopoga (Kontupohja), Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi) and Sortavala; while another destination was Tallinn (Reval, Rääveli), the capital of Estonia. “Shofar Shalom” has also danced at the Joensuu market square and at some international cultural events.

Saarijärvi (Tuula Bågman) tuulabagman@gmail.com

In the spring of 2013, Merja Meir came to the small town of Saarijärvi (population: 9,000, 310 kilometers north of Helsinki), to lead a weekend course in Israeli folk dance. The participants were immediately inspired, and so the same summer they attended a large dance camp and began in the autumn with regular practicing. There are about ten dancers: except for one man, all are women. From autumn to spring, the courses are held every Tuesday at the local adult education center. During the summer months, they normally dance outdoors almost every week. Their clear favorites are dances connected to the Bible. The repertoire also includes dances with other topics they simply like. The dance group’s name is “Miriam”, referring to Moses’ sister who, after crossing the Red Sea, led all the women of Israel to praise God through dance. “Miriam” performs by invitation at church events and fairs, in nursing homes and wherever they are asked. The aim of performing is praising God and showing support for the State of Israel.

Tampere (Pirita Nieminen) macholfinland@gmail.com; ptnieminen@suomi24.fi

Since the autumn of 2008, Israeli folk dancing has been a regular activity in Tampere. A few enthusiastic dancers living in the greater Tampere area participated in a dance camp held in Karkku, less than fifty kilometers west of Tampere, on August 22–24, 2008. The teacher at this camp was Boaz Cohen. Over the weekend, the camp participants not only learned about the dances but also got to know each other. Soon, a decision was made to start regular Israeli dance classes in Tampere as well. At first, they met only once a month. With a few more participants over the months, they had to move to a larger place and increased the frequency of meetings first to fortnightly and then quickly to every week. Gradually, there was a need to split the group into two. A separate class for beginners was added to the more advanced dance class. Currently, they have three skill-level groups that meet weekly.

In their beginners and intermediate groups on Mondays, normally around twenty-five dancers show up per evening. On Tuesdays, about eight dancers come for the advanced dances. Just a year after having started, they organized a weekend camp which attracted dancers from all over Finland. Since then, numerous weekend camps have been organized with dance instructors and choreographers from Finland, Israel, and Argentina. Nowadays, the camps are called “Machol Finland”. In addition to the weekend camps, the group leaders regularly organize single day workshops one to three times a year, sometimes for beginners and sometimes for advanced dancers. At the workshops, normally forty to sixty enthusiastic dancers participate. Inspired by the dancing, some members of the group started studying Hebrew and developed a growing interest in Israeli culture and history. After only a couple of years, a performing group under the name “Kanfe’i Ru’ach” (literally “Wings of Wind”) was founded, which performs occasionally at various events upon request.

After having been asked why they have danced and organized for seventeen years, the answer was unpretentious and straightforward: “We simply loved the at first, easy, and later more demanding yet expressive movements in combination with the mostly catchy music. In addition, taking on a shared responsibility in organizing the workshop also strengthened our sense of togetherness”. Currently, the team consists of four teachers, namely Hilla Karaksela, Auli Mäki, Pirita Nieminen, and Riitta Salunen, which, as is emphasized with a certain pride, means a combined teaching experience of fifty-six years. While the team composition has changed slightly over the years, its shared passion for Israeli folk dance remains. Their greatest reward is seeing the joy on new dancers’ faces and the sparks that keep long-time participants coming back year after year. As they emphasize, they are always looking for ways to improve. As a team of younger dancers, it is no surprise that they are also highly active on social media. For those who are interested in seeing what kind of events they organize and what dancing is like in Tampere, you may follow them on several social media channels at YouTube (“Israelilainen tanssi Tampereella” or @piritan1693), Instagram, and Facebook (both under “Machol Finland”).

Järvenpää (Jouni Pajunen) jouni.pajunen@suomi24.fi

The first teacher of Israeli folk dance in Finland was Wim van der Kooij, a Dutchman who moved to Finland in the mid-1970s to work as a gardener at the Viittakivi International Centre. There, he was asked to teach “international folk dances”, simply because a previous Dutch gardener had already done so. Among Wim’s first students in 1977 were Jouni Pajunen (1964-), then 13 years old, and his father, Alpo K. Pajunen. While after a few years Jouni focused on Finnish folk dances and other hobbies, Alpo continued to attend Wim’s classes, even though he was physically limited after a back surgery, which forced him to use a corset and a walking stick.

In 1984, some of Wim’s students joined a special project: dancing to Israeli folk music at a Christian mass. Since Alpo was the only one who could remember the steps of these Israeli folk dances he had learned in the last years, he soon took on the role of a dance instructor. And so, starting in the spring of 1985, he began teaching Israeli and Balkan dances in the crypt of Helsinki’s Agricola Church – at that time twice a week, sometimes with fifty to one hundred participants! The undeniable fact is, forty years later, dancing still takes place in the Agricola Church.

Around this time, Jouni was discharged from military service and joined Alpo’s dance group. He quickly began assisting his father and eventually teaching alongside him. Many members of this Christian congregation at the time still considered dancing in a church “too revolutionary”. However, the large number of friends of Israel prevailed: ultimately, the Israeli dances struck an emotional chord, and in many Christian communities, the entire attitude toward dance changed. As a concrete result, father and son, Alpo and Jouni, received countless invitations throughout Finland in just a couple of years, including invitations to train church youth workers. Magazine interviews and television appearances followed.

In 1986, Alpo moved to Turku and founded a new group there. The group at the Agricola Church continued its work with Silja Hentunen, Leena Jäppilä, Jouni, and a few other teachers. In the following years, the Helsinki branch of the Finland-Israeli Association and the Helsinki International Folkdance Club (HIFC) began inviting international teachers to Finland. Haim Zemach was the first Israeli teacher to visit Finland. Wim, Alpo, and Jouni subsequently organized workshops throughout Finland, supported local groups, and mentored teachers. They also visited schools, churches, community festivals, youth camps, and other venues, successfully attracting new people interested in trying Israeli folk dance. From this point on, the number of Israeli folk dance groups in Finland began to grow significantly.

In 1991 and 1994, Alpo and Jouni organized the first dance trips to Israel, including exclusive workshops for the Finnish group and visits to local dance events, known as “Harkadot”, featuring session leaders such as Haim Zemach, Sefi Aviv, and Avner Naim. During this period, they also founded their first performance groups: “Rakefet” (in Israel a well-known native wildflower) in Turku, led by Alpo, and “Shir Hashirim” (the Song of Songs) in Helsinki, led by Jouni. “Rakefet” remained active for approximately twenty years. “Shir Hashirim” participated in events such as the Helsinki Travel Fair, where the Israeli Tourism Office, with its branch in Stockholm, had a stand. They performed primarily on the main stage, with live and recorded music – six thirty-minute performances in four days, alongside renowned musicians like Andre Zweig (1947-), who was born in Romania and lived in Finland, the Finnish-Jewish musician Hillel Tokazier (1946-), and the Tehila Klezmer Band. The same Israeli Tourism Office also organized other events in Finland. For example, the very first performance of “Shir Hashirim” was at a cocktail party for media and travel agencies, launching the new direct connection from Helsinki to Eilat by Finnair. During this period, Jouni also created his first original choreographed Israeli folk dances, as well as several stage choreographies for the “Shir Hashirim” group he supervised.

In 1999, Jouni moved away from Helsinki and took a short break from regular teaching. His students continued to lead the Agricola group. A few years later, in Järvenpää (population: 47,000), a town forty kilometers north of Helsinki, Jouni began teaching again. He also continued to lead workshops nationwide from the southern coast of Finland up to Lapland, where he not only counsels teachers, but also assists other interested individuals wherever needed in establishing new groups (e.g., in the cities of Oulu, Lieto, Imatra, Keuruu, Heinola, and others), and supports existing dance and performing groups (e.g., in Turku, Kokkola, Tampere, Rovaniemi, and others).

Jouni has also produced several stage productions. In 2024, he celebrated not only his sixtieth birthday but also nearly fifty years of dancing, including forty years of teaching. To mark the occasion, he choreographed the musical “Fiddler” based on his own ideas, which was performed on the roof of the Kivinokka open-air theatre in Helsinki. One of his roles was Reb Mordechai, the innkeeper. With 6,700 spectators in thirty-six performances, it was undoubtedly a significant and resounding personal success. Unfortunately, his father, Alpo, who taught until the age of seventy, was not able to watch this performance since he had passed away.

Rovaniemi (Taina Saarijärvi) taina_saarijarvi@hotmail.com

Rovaniemi is a town in Lapland, over 800 kilometers north of Helsinki. Taina Saarijärvi started with a group about ten years ago, and seven years later, was joined by her two daughters, Kaisa and Kerrtu. They have no regular dance class, but are always happy to invite other dancers from Finland to join their circle or even have a marathon session. All three of them love dancing so much that they often travel abroad to visit Israeli folk dance workshops or just meet dancing friends. Meanwhile, their organized “Machol Lapland” at the Arctic Circle became a well-known international dance camp. In March 2026, “Machol Lapland” took place with Yaron Elfasy, Hila Mukdasi, and Keren Oren.

 

Kempele (Ritva-Leena Järvinen) ritvaleenajarvinen@gmail.com

The beginners’ group for Israeli folk dances normally meets in Kempele, just about fifteen kilometers south of Oulu, on Thursdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Hall of the Ylikylä Daycare Centre (Pekurintie 9). The courses run every year from September to December in the fall semester and from January 15 to April 16 in the spring semester. The dance instructor is Ritva-Leena Järvinen.

Helsinki (Mirra Lempinen) lempimarina@gmail.com

This Russian-speaking dance group meets under the name “Halel” especially for church services in Helsinki’s Russian-speaking Orthodox congregation. The dance instructor is Mirra Lempinen.

Espoo (Joel Yliluoma, Tuulikki Tepora, Arja Heiskanen) joel.yliluoma@iki.fi; ttepora@gmail.com; arja.i.heiskanen@gmail.com

Different churches are and were used for Israeli folk dancing in Espoo, Finland’s second most populous municipality, just west of Helsinki and directly adjacent to the capital. The group started with Susanna Rannikko teaching, usually in the Perkkaa Chapel before it burned down, while Arja Heiskanen is the organizer and contact person of this group. Regrettably, she had to leave after only a year for work-related reasons. Since then, Joel Yliluoma succeeded her, sometimes replaced or supplemented by Tuulikki Tepora. When Joel began, they danced ninety minutes every fortnight; later on, this was extended to two hours. Since the beginning, they used different venues like the Karakappeli or KilonRisti churches and, less frequently, the fireplace room of the Leppävaara church. Normally, sessions would not have a fixed division between beginners and advanced dances; rather, the challenge level and its classification varies depending on who is present. Joel tries to keep a focus on dances with biblical themes, especially those relating to upcoming feasts and Jewish holidays. Every session begins and ends with a short prayer.

Helsinki (Joel Yliluoma) joel.yliluoma@iki.fi; bisqwit@iki.fi

Since 1985, Israeli dances have been danced in the premises of the Mikael Agricola church continuously under many instructors. The first instructor was Alpo Pajunen, who was taught initially by Wim van der Kooij. In the beginning, there were two weekly dance sessions with an average of fifty participants per session. After Alpo moved to Turku, instructors varied until five years later Alpo’s son Jouni took over and Monday became the regular dance day. At the turn of the millennium, Jouni had to step aside because of family reasons, and different instructors emerged from the group, including Riikka Ranta, Heini Syrjä, and Viveca Unnérus, often working in teams. Dances in the Agricola church began as a student activity inspired by the local “Kansanmessu” (lit. people’s mass) with the purpose to make the (Lutheran) mass feel closer to everyday people and local culture: For several decades, worship services in the Agricola congregation have been characterized as reformed services with music from Israel and occasional dance performances or simply the well-known basic Israeli folk dances.

The current instructor since 2016 is Joel Yliluoma. Lately, the number of weekly participants has varied in the low two-digit numbers. The weekly session takes place on Mondays from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the church’s gym and is nominally divided into a beginner’s hour and two hours of advanced dances. The line between the two is rather vague, with many participants staying for the entire three hours. On the program are circle and line dances. (Partner dances are not danced in almost all of Finland.) The current admission fee per participant is € 10. The group leaders, as well as the participants, maintain good communication and cooperation between Israeli folk dancers throughout the whole country. Needless to say, due to an overall friendly atmosphere, new friendships develop. Every year, some new participants join in as absolute beginners, and the team is happy to welcome newcomers at any time.

Lieto (Leena Laihia) leena.laihia@kolumbus.fi

In Lieto, about 160 kilometers west of Helsinki and with a population of 21,000, Israeli folk dance classes under the leadership of Leena Laihia started in 2010. Their sessions take place on Mondays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the parish “Mestarintuva”. The group performs under the name “Tehila” (= praise). All dance enthusiasts are warmly invited to rehearsals, and certainly no one would be forced to perform. After all, the group sees in Israeli folk dancing a wonderful opportunity to pray and praise God through body movement.

Kokkola (Riitta Tuliniemi) riittamaija.tynkkynen@gmail.com

Riitta Tuliniemi started to teach Israeli folk dances in 2011 in the Kokkola adult education centre, when she was asked to lead a group of enthusiasts. For the first two years, she led both a beginners group and a group with more proficient dancers. They also had participants from other countries who brought their lively contributions to the circle. As almost everywhere in Finland, the dance group also did some public performances. By 2018, the class was reduced to a single group when Riitta was asked to do volunteer work in Israel for a few months at a time, so regular teaching was not possible anymore. After Covid19, Riitta received several requests to start teaching again. So, at the beginning of last year’s autumn, she began to teach once more: pure beginners and a second group for those who had already done some dancing before. At the moment, Riitta teaches voluntarily and for her “own delight”. “Everything starts small”, she pointed out, “but let’s see how it develops and grows!”

Perniö (Salo) (Jaana Kotavuopio) kotajaana@protonmail.com

Jaana Kotavuopio experienced Israeli folk dancing for the first time on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) while on a visit to Israel. An enormous fire began to burn in her heart, and it still burned when she returned home to Finland. In the village of Perniö, with a population of roughly 400 and about 160 kilometers west of Helsinki, where she lived, there were no dance classes (in 2009, this village became a part of the town of Salo with 51,000 inhabitants). Eventually, around 1995, she found a class with international folk dances not too far away from her village with Wim van der Kooij as the teacher. To her surprise, there she met Pirjo, another woman from Perniö who already knew a good number of the dances. Soon, Jaana’s two daughters joined Wim’s class, together with Pirjo’s daughter and Susanna, another friend. And yet in another village, she then found a regular weekend course with Alpo Pajounen as the teacher.

After three years dancing in Wim’s class, she moved to the Netherlands, dancing in Eindhoven with the dance group “De Ronde”. There, Israeli folk dancing was only a part of international folk dancing. Nevertheless, during her time in the Netherlands, she attended weekends with several Israeli dance instructors and choreographers.

Back in Perniö Jaana Kotavuopio continued to dance. The size of the group she joined varied a lot, and sometimes they were not even able to make a circle. Still, she has hope for the future: in Perniö, this little village, the group just found a young woman with the name Riina, who is willing to diligently learn new dances and teach them to the group with fresh energy.

Pori (Hannele Aaltonen) BhanneleA@proton.me

The starting point for Israeli folk dance in the city of Pori, about 240 km northwest of Helsinki with a population of 83,000 was a weekend-long workshop with Merja Meir of the “Kinneret” group. Hannele Aaltonen invited her to teach because this kind of dancing “seemed to be a joyful dance form” of entertainment. Later, she attended another weekend workshop with Merja and finally, with her encouragement, Hannele also started to teach. After all, she already had a long background of Middle Eastern Dances which certainly helped in trying to start a new group. For a few years, a bunch of women gathered at Hannele’s home studio. However, over the years, fewer and fewer dancers showed up, and the group eventually dissolved. After Covid19, in the fall of 2022, a new group of eight dancers started under the umbrella of the local Adult Education Centre. In the beginning, they could only meet once every three to four weeks. Right now, they meet fortnightly. They call themselves “Yarona” and perform at small events like birthdays, in nursing homes and even at a few various public gatherings.

Porvoo (Hellevi Kalliorinne) hulda.hupeltaja@gmail.com

Hellevi Kalliorinne lives in Porvoo, about 52 kilometers northeast of Helsinki, with a population of 49,000, together with her five children, her mother and her husband. Currently she works at home as a housewife; however, before having started a family, she worked as a social worker and youth leader. Her first teacher for Israeli folk dance was Antero Ebervi. Her first dances were the regular basics like “Eretz Eretz” (Yankele Levy and Shlomo Bachar, 1974), but also some more advanced ones like “Erev Shabbat” (Avner Naim, 1991) and “Elohim Ta’aseh She’Nigdal” (Shmulik Gov-Ari, 2009). Practicing once a week in a group went on for some years until Hellevi decided to stop dancing for a while. However, “inspired by God” who told her to continue dancing, she started a new group, because, to her, dancing Israeli folk dances means especially praising God.

At first, Hellevi taught only dances from the repertoire she still remembered from the courses with Antero. However, for further updates, she turned to Yaron Meishar’s Rokdim videos, additional videos on YouTube, as well as “Messianic Dances” from a DVD. She believes that God also inspired her to create her own choreographies to music from Israel. In the spring of 2024, the Finnish Karmel association was looking for an Israeli Dance teacher. They invited her to teach Israeli folk dances at Oronmylly, a Christian holiday and retreat centre located at Särkisalmi, Parikkala, 330 kilometers northeast of Helsinki and close to the border with Russia. The motto of the 1949-founded Finnish Karmel Association is “For the Bible and for Israel”.

Currently, she teaches two adult groups in Porvoo, one open for everyone, the other one, under the name “Daughter of the Messiah”, is restricted. The open group meets bi-weekly, while “Daughter of the Messiah” rehearses every week. Unfortunately, no men dance in either group. The age of the participants varies from twenty to seventy, with up to seven people attending every session.

Heinola (Maria-Leena “Maikku“ Hakkarainen)  maikku.Hakkarainen@gmail.com

Since autumn 2018, there has been an Israeli dance group in Heinola, near Lahti, the eighth largest city of Finland, about 150 kilometers north of Helsinki and with a population of 18,000. Maria-Leena “Maikku” Hakkarainen has been the group leader since the beginning. The group meets once a week in the village hall for a couple of hours. There is a break in dancing for a couple of months in the summer, and there is also a break of a few weeks around Christmas and the New Year. The size of the dance group has varied over the years, from a few people to just under ten. In total, over twenty people have danced in the group, but for various reasons (e.g. health issues), many have ceased dancing. Some are still ready to join the performances. The group’s repertoire includes a few dozen Israeli dances. The dances were learned primarily from Israeli dance courses and camps where a couple of group members have participated. In addition, the internet is an important tool in studying dances. The Heinola dance group has been able to meet for free in the premises of a Lutheran congregation.

Besides its own gatherings, the group has had the pleasure of performing Israeli dances a few times a year at various events in the local Lutheran church or at market squares. The group’s dances are mostly beginner and advanced beginner dances. A couple of the group members have also danced in the Hollola Israeli dance group (which, unfortunately, is not covered in this article), which has strongly influenced the repertoire of the Heinola group. The Hollola group, about forty kilometers north of Lahti, normally meets a couple of times a month.

Iisalmi (Pirkko Haukka)  pirkko.haukka@gmail.com

Pirkko Haukka teaches once a week at the Community College in Iisalmi, a small town of 21,000 inhabitants, about 370 kilometers north of Helsinki. The first forty-five minutes are dedicated to dances for beginners, followed by forty-five minutes for advanced dancers. The combined course fee for the autumn and spring semesters is € 76. Depending on the situation and demand, the lessons take place either at the local education center (Edvin Laine School) or via distance learning.

Tampere (Helka Mäkelä)  h_makela@yahoo.com

In 2003, Helka Mäkelä began dancing Israeli folk dances in New Zealand. Back then, she used to work for the Ministry of Education in a special education unit. One of her colleagues was Gwen Mann, a Jewish woman, who introduced her to one of the dance sessions she attended. Since then, Helka has been doing Israeli folk dance. After she returned to Finland, she decided to book one of those weekend workshops, where she met a couple of ladies from Tampere. They decided to found their own dance class and teach together; as a matter of fact, Helka still remembers the first dance she ever taught in Tampere: “Tzadik Katamar” (Yonatan Gabay, 1969). Nowadays there are three groups in Tampere: beginners, intermediate and advanced. The age of the dancers in the beginners group varies from thirty-five to seventy-five, and in the advanced group from twenty to sixty-seven, so they “can declare proudly that there are some young dancers” in their sessions. To no one’s surprise, the vast majority of the dancers are women, as there are only five men at most coming regularly. There is one evening session per week from autumn to spring, with one group replacing the other. During the summer months, there are no regular classes. A couple of years ago, Helka dropped out of teaching; she just did not have enough time. Hilla Karaksela always finds the latest dances, and she is always eager to teach us as soon as possible. Auli Mäki, on the other hand, attends Marcelo Marianoff’s Zoom group and is thus another source for modern Israeli folk dances. Anyhow, Helka ends her story, despite not having much time, she can still dance once a week and thus get to know new dances.

Regarding the general meeting she led in 2017 in Ryttylä, there has been no second meeting so far. However, as a direct result of the meeting, organizers, local dance instructors and also the dancers maintain a significantly friendlier manner with on another. At least once a year, the Tampere group organizes a big dance session (“harkada”). Normally, almost all Israeli folk dance activities in Finland are not funded, except for the countrywide first meeting in Ryttylä. Also funded are the two camps the Tampere group organized until now in the Karkku kansanopisto, the Protestant elementary school, founded in 1918 and run by the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Association. High schools in Finland offer liberal adult education and a variety of study programs outside the traditional degree system.

Rovaniemi (Sirkka Juntunen) sirkka.juntunen@gmail.com

Sirrka first encountered with Israeli folk dancing in 2013 through the Israeli folk dance group in Kemijärvi, a city roughly nine hundred kilometers north of Helsinki, with a population of roughly 4,000. At that time, Merja Meir was teaching Israeli folk dances there. Some of the dancers wanted to introduce these dances in Rovaniemi (ninety kilometers west of Kemijärvi) as well. In Rovaniemi, there were three enthusiastic Christians who felt a deep love for Israel; she was one of them. Except for Sirrka, the other two ladies already had some experience with Israeli folk dance. Sirrka immediately fell in love with the dances.

She recalls that the first dances she learned were with lyrics direct from the Bible, like “Mayim Mayim” (Isaiah 12:3; Else Dublon, approximately 1949), which she believes strengthened her faith. Dancing together in a circle, holding each other’s hands, also creates a feeling of unity among the participants. In addition to having a good aerobic exercise, they also felt some inner joy after the dance sessions.

In 2015, Sirrka began voluntarily organizing Israeli folk dance sessions within the Rovaniemi congregation. Jouni Pajunen came from Järvenpää to teach beginner and intermediate level dances.

As a Christian, she wanted to teach dances that were based on the Bible, or that told stories about the beautiful land of Israel. They gathered every fortnight on Saturdays. Sirrka’s personal approach to Israeli folk dance was one of Christian prayer dancing, as she wanted to worship God with her whole being (Psalms 103:1-2). So far, she had learned about forty Israeli folk dances, a few of which seem to have a Messianic touch, such as Ilai Szpiezak’s “Halleluhu” (2017). Most of them, however, are older dances, some of them even from the days when “Zion-minded immigrants from Eastern Europe” danced in kibbutzim before Israel gained its independence.

Sirrka aims to have people from different congregations and municipalities gather to worship God together. From these gatherings, an Israeli folk dance worship group was formed, which was named “Yehuda”. The name was suggested by evangelist Pirkko Vesavaara, who “felt that our group needed a proper name”. Dancers have participated from Rovaniemi, Tervola, Kemijärvi, Taivalkoski, and Kittilä. We have also served in Norway at the Arctic Summer Conference in Tana. The number of dancers performing has varied between four and nine people at each event.

Together with Jouni Pajunen, Sirrka launched the Kansanmessu (a folk-style worship service) in the Rovaniemi parish in the autumn of 2018.

The Kansanmessu was introduced over thirty years ago as an experiment, first in Helsinki and then in various other locations in Finland, including Oulu, and follows the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran weekly mass structure. The hymns are replaced by melodies of Israeli folk music, with lyrics in Finnish. Rovaniemi Parish now holds the Kansanmessu twice a year in one of the Rovaniemi congregation chapels. The “Yehuda” Israeli folk dance worship group assists during these services by leading the dances.

Today, they have nineteen people in their WhatsApp group, but typical online rehearsals see about five active participants. During the current winter season, they are holding rehearsals only once a month. Ulpu Tasala serves as the assistant teacher whenever Sirrka is absent. Even though women tend to be more eager to join the dancing than men, they still have had some non-Finnish men participate as well: one originally from Sweden, one from Hungary, and one from Slovakia. Most dancers are Finnish, but nowadays, some participants from Ukraine show up. Sometimes they even have had a few young dancers, and often, some children have come to try the dances with their mothers.

Taina Saarijärvi, like Sirrka based in Rovaniemi, dances advanced-level modern Israeli dances and is eager to join Israeli dance weekend programs in different parts of the world. In January 2024, she organized “Machol Lapland”, an event featuring Hila Mukdasi, Danielle Shkop, and Ilai Szpiezak as instructors. The workshop welcomed sixty-five participants from various parts of Finland and internationally. Within Finland, Merja Meir is another key organizer who coordinates “Machol Finland” approximately once a year.

Sirrka runs a small business called “Rovaniemi Wellness Tours” (previously WellnesSHH), which focuses on holistic well-being. Because of her deep love for Israel, she tried to find a way to connect her business to this country. In her master’s thesis (2021), she researched how Israeli folk dance could be adapted for tourism services, with encouraging results. Accordingly, she now teaches beginner-level Israeli folk dance as part of her tourist services. Sirrka has also travelled to Israel in 2015, 2018, and 2023.

In the summer of 2026, Sirrka’s family will be moving to Kajaani, about 350 kilometers south of Rovaniemi and 550 kilometers north of Helsinki, with a population of 37,000. This means the name of her business will need to change, but she certainly plans to continue to dance and teach Israeli folk dance! In Rovaniemi, Ulpu Tasala will take over and continue organizing the Israeli folk dance rehearsals there.

Chaim Zemach

About Haim Zemach’s visit to Finland, Tuula Ruoppa-Salo of the Finland-Israel Association remembers the following:

In 1974, Tuula Ruoppa-Salo took her first trip as a tourist to Israel. The trip lasted only a week, and she visited (as part of a group) primarily Christian sites. Since she was particularly interested in modern Israel, she decided to volunteer at a kibbutz in the summer of 1976. She wanted to be as close to Jerusalem as possible and ended up at the closest kibbutz to Israel’s capital, Ramat Rachel. A single month seemed far too short, so she spent five more summers at Ramat Rachel. In 1979, she became a member of the Finnish-Israeli Association. Just a year later, she was elected to the board and, in 1981, appointed secretary. Her goal was to offer the association the most diverse program possible. Israeli folk dances were therefore immediately added to the program. Several dance evenings were held in 1981 and 1982. The instructor at that time was Laila Orvomaa, a member of the Jewish community. In 1982, Wim van der Kooij took over her dance classes and organized them every other Friday in spring and autumn for thirteen years. Soon, there were two levels: a beginner’s group and an advanced group.

In 1986, club member Riitta Puranen visited Israel. She met Haim Zemach in Jerusalem and obtained his contact information. The following year, Tuula contacted Haim and arranged a possible visit to Finland. He visited Finland for the first time from May 12 to 21 in 1987. He was actually supposed to come a month earlier, but had to cancel due to the death of a close relative. In addition to the courses of the Helsinki Association, he also visited associations in Vantaa, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Kouvola. He normally stayed with one of the participants’ families. The Helsinki Association paid for the plane tickets and a small daily allowance. The expenses were partly covered by selling folk dance cassettes and course participation fees.

Haim came to Helsinki again the following year to teach more dances, and a third time in May 1989, this time, as Tuula recalls, at the invitation of the Israeli ambassador, Asher Naim. The number of folk dances taught by Haim grew to several dozen. Of course, Wim could not continue teaching all the dances he had learned on his own. So, for several years, Leena Jäppilä taught some of those dances every other Friday. By 1996, however, the situation had deteriorated: The number of participants declined, making the courses unprofitable for the association. Wim continued teaching in other contexts, sometimes Israeli dances and sometimes Balkan dances. In general, given the development of Israeli folk dances in Finland, according to Tuulu, Wim van der Kooij deserves the greatest recognition. After arriving in Finland in 1974, he began teaching primarily international dances, though Israeli folk dances were part of his curriculum from the very beginning.

Tuula Ruoppa-Salo was the general secretary of the Finnish-Israeli Association, founded in 1984, from 1991 until 2008, and secretary of the Helsinki branch until 1993, serving as its chair from 1994 to 2008. She was also the editor-in-chief of the association’s periodical “Jedidut” from its founding in 1990 until 2008.