Anna Ullmann Hip-Hop Program

WE WILL DANCE AGAIN!

Following the October 7th Nova Music Festival, a concert for peace that was cut short by a horrific terrorist attack on that fateful day, there was a need for all of Israel to dance again. The Jewish people love to dance, foster and build community, and come together for spiritual, social, and cultural celebrations. They dance to express unity and individuality, their peoplehood and creativity. Simply put, the Jewish people dance to celebrate life.

At Neve Hanna, the new Youth Council is involved in the decision-making for the educational and cultural programs brought to the children. And so this year, the children have chosen Hip-Hop!

Hip-hop (formerly known as disco rap) is a genre of popular music that emerged in the early 1970s. The genre is characterized by stylized rhythmic sounds—often built around disco grooves, electronic drum beats, and rapping, a percussive vocal delivery of rhymed poetic speech as consciousness-raising expression. A musical element in hip-hop music is emceeing (also called MCing or rapping). Hip-hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. Emceeing is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, delivered at first without accompaniment and later done over a beat.

American Friends of Neve Hanna is excited to announce that Jonathan Ullmann, Gilit Ullmann Stein, Lee Ullmann, and Michael Ullmann, board members, son and grandchildren of Neve Hanna founder, Hanni Ullmann, z”l are sponsoring the Hip-Hop program honoring the memory of their beloved mother and Jonathan’s beloved wife, Anna Ullmann, z”l.

In the aftermath of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and these challenging times, the children can heal by turning to music, and dance to work through their emotions and channel their experiences through movement and sound, especially when words might not be readily available.

The new Hip-Hop program will be for all of the children at Neve Hanna! It will be educational, therapeutic, and creative and involve a variety of activities such as rapping, dance, and beatboxing.

Health benefits: great for dance, and exercise, helps relieve stress, reduce depression and anxiety, and builds a sense of community.
Self-expression: allows the children to express emotions, connect, feel empowered, and resilient.
Creative outlet: Dance allows for creative exploration, enabling children to interpret their experiences uniquely.
A “voice”: will provide a platform for underrepresented voices to express and share their experiences, and promote social change.
Self-awareness: Through dance, our children can become more mindful of their emotions and learn to identify how their bodies respond to different feelings.

Neve Hanna interviewed several instructors, and in the end, they selected Mor, a wonderful dance instructor to teach Hip-Hop. Following the army, she graduated from the Ran Cohen School for Dance in Kiryat Gat.

Mor comes in once a week and teaches from 4 to 7 pm.

The first hour is for children from the Daycare Centers, a total of 20 kids, ages 7 to 12 years old.
In the second hour, Mor teaches the younger children of Neve Hanna, which accounts for 15 participants.
In the third hour, the children involved in our performance group will participate. They perform throughout the year on different occasions, like Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, the final part of the school year, and much more. A total of 6 children participate in specialized lessons with the dance instructor.

“Throughout her life, Anna Ullmann cherished celebrations as pivotal moments of joy and connection. During her time in Israel, Anna took up Israeli Folk Dancing. Additionally, in keeping with the Greek traditions, Anna loved Bouzouki music and would partake in Greek line dancing with party guests and break plates for good luck. Anna was always eager to take to the dance floor, whether at her children’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, their weddings, or any other celebration. Anna’s radiant presence made every celebration memorable. Dance was always a big part of the Ullmann family so when the Neve Hanna Children’s Counsel voted to have Hip-Hop classes as part of the therapeutic services offered at the Children’s Home, it seemed like the perfect program to honor Anna’s memory.“

Read Anna Ullmann’s bio and learn about this incredible woman.