I  wanted to  share some nice news about a local Israeli dance group called Beyachad with readers of the Winnipeg Jewish Review, which I think is  a great  online news paper.

Beyachad's founder, Robyn Braha, started out teaching at the Beth Israel Synagogue over 13 years ago, and has expanded over the years now running classes at the Etz Chayim and Shaarey Zedek twice a week.

Robyn Braha is an incredible young woman who works full time at her real job and still give 100% of her energy to the children when it's class time. Many of  the students started dancing with Robyn when they were 5 and 6 years old and are now in University.

Robyn was a core  dancer in the movie "Shall We Dance" starring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. She has been dancing for 31 years and teaching dance for 18 years. She  was with the Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble for eight years and then started as a dancer then became the dance director. Robyn has  travelled to perform throughout Mexico, Israel, Venuezuela, Disney Land, Eastern United States and Canada.  

 Beyachad offers the children- both girls and boys- a chance to experience culture through dance and music in an encouraging warm  environment.

Our daughter Tiffany has been dancing with Beyachad for 8 years, I can honestly say that in all the years she has never said "I don't want to go to dance." That's the kind of excitement and sense of commitment that the children get from being part of Beyachad. Many of our dancers have danced with both Beyachad and Chai over the years.

Beyachad has just just returned from Edmonton where they were the guest performers for the Rikud Academy, Aviv Israeli Folk Dance Association, founded by Sari Uretsky Leung.

This is the second trip that the Beyachad dancers have taken, as last year they traveled to Vancouver to take part in Festival Ha'Rikud 2010 with dancers from across Canada, United States, Brazil, and  Israel. I personally have had the opportunity to travel with dancers to both Vancouver and Edmonton, and can honestly say it was a wonderful experience. These dancers make wonderful ambassadors for Winnipeg.

Beyachad does not receive any funding from local or Jewish organizations--such that travelling ot other cities is a huge acomplishments for the dancers. When Beyachad takes a trip or gets new costumes, it is's because they worked hard for it,  by selling cheese, and handmade serving pieces, baby sitting, or selling tickets to our annual 'Zumbathon."  Zumba  instructor Sharon Delbridge generously donates her time to Beyachad for the "Zumbathon" event .

If  anyone is interested in hearing more about Beyachad and the Robyn Braha School of Dance, please contact Robyn Braha at [email protected]