I'ee years afteI' its ן yeal' as the Israel Ballet, tl , pany Batsheva was established ןן ior cOI ןsel Two years later, in 1969, a thil'd modern dance porary ןן gl'oup was born, The Kibbutz Contel ,Y ן pal ןן Dance COI e IS I'ael Classical Ball et Company started ןTI out as The Holon Classical Ballet Company , polsky drove ןן Holon Mal'kman and Yal ןן FI'ol R u t h E s h e 1 established in ISI'ael as early as the 1920s, but daily to collect theil' two dancel's, who had left e 1950s only the Opera Ballet with them, to I'ehearse on a ן ced in tl ן classical ballet was dal al1 wooden stage in a community centre ןןstill widely I'egal'ded sl ןel ן e opera and was tl ן d Hi ll el at tl ן polsky al ןןWhen Bel'ta Yal , eal' Tel Aviv ןe I ן isfit, ln 1967 they decided to leave tl ןןMarkman named their company "The as a I pany ," Israel Opel'a Ballet and establish theil' own ןן ISI'ael Classical Ball et COI ieI'e in ןן ent of company , The Holon Ballet held its fil'st prel ןן aking a statel ןןthey wel'e I an ןןpolsky and Markl ןן ISl'ae li Janual'y 1967, Yal ןintent, They wanted al Romeo and Juliet" and " ןן was danced duets frol ן ce Theatel', whicl ן bal Dal ן company - based in Israel with ISl'aeli Bal'l'ing II the early 1950s, all Sel'ge Lifar's "Don Quixote" and the I'est of the ן existence il ן d one all'eady il ן cel'S and chol'eogl'aphel's, al ן dal ow consisted of Dolin's "Pas de Quatl'e" and ןed Isl'aeli dance gl'oups came sl ןat will be devoted to the classical othel' establi sl ן tl usic by Anton ןןan's "Intel'play" to I ןן e 1960s - Bat Dor the same Mal'kl ן fOl'm of ballet, Many al,tists name into being in tl , selv es, but Gold ןן el ן their companies aftel' tl polsky it was ןן with Mal'kman and Yal diffel'ent - they wanted to establish a Yampolsky gave aftel'noon classes - four ours each time - in ןational company of thefil'st ol'del ' aftel'noons a week, six I ןI ake a ןןat would show ballet to its best , gym I'ooms at local pl'imal'y schools to I ן tl g, She prepared with the pupils the ן li vil ce ("you cannOl ן school's end of tel'm pel't'ol'mal imagine how misreable it was to coach kids who couldn't cal'e less fOl' dancing"), The Holon Ballet Company was not easy to sell, Armed with reviews, Markman used to go to various cultural functionaries hoping to ances, and over the ןן tel'est them in pel'forl ן il eet and nurtLlre weekends both woul d go aboLlt looking for ןןI local demand fOl' classical stages on which to put up a show, However , d be nurtuI'ed by it when they did finall y get to pel'fol'm they got ן ballet al in I'eturn , good pI'ess coverage and the public liked ,ןןthel e article outlines the ן TI twenty eight year long The Tel Aviv pI'emiel'e took place on the eve history of the company in the of the 1967 war, befol'e a house full of women obili zed, Among the ןןcontext of the Israel i dance the men had all been I scene and analyzes the extent to audience was Gertrud KI'aus, the high priestess Israel in the ן ce il ןEUI'opean dal ןodel'I ןןwhich it has realized its aims , of I polsky ןן1930s and 40s, She encoul'aged Yal and Mal'kman, and unlike many of their Ot enqLlil'e why a successful dUI ןThe First Years - 1967-1975 coll eagues did I decided to return to ISI'ael, By her own request e the budding company's ןןshe becal ן polsky and Mal'kmal ןןThe duo Yal spent the 1950s outside Israel , confidenti al advisol' , dancing in such famous companies as the Ball ets Russes and the Fokine When it became cleal' that they would not Ballet, but always dreaming of be sponsoI'ed in any way by the Holon establishing a classical ballet municipality, the company moved company in ISI'ael, When they decided "e "GURRELJEDER ן to l'etuI'n they naturally appI'oached tl ISI'ael Opera Ballet, where they CHOR.: BERTA YAMPOLSKY subsequently danced as soloists for two DANCERS: ORNA KUGEL 71 yeal's, Modern dance was well AND BRUNO VERZJNO t was time to ן ". I·ecognition encouI·aged US d ר d Yampolsky aI ר e I·epeI·toiI·e aI רtl רwideI dance רoderI חe leading I רlike tl , ר aI חMaI·kI gI·OUpS of the day, had to I·eSOI·t to hiring . OI·eog I· apheI·S ר fOI·eign CI רinance of E UrOpeaI ח As a reaction to the dOI bal let in Israel in the yeaI·s 1920-1964, that tent and very li ttle on ר e COI רfocused on tl SI·aeli dance wOI·ld in the 1960s ן technique, the aI·d on the danceI·' s body רd 70s wOI·ked veI·y I ר aI . the way of aI·tistic creativity ר blIt did little iI ר odeI·I חg I ר eI·s weI·e pI·oduciI רFew choI·eograpI e classical ballet, and theI·e was ר dance and nOI SI·aeli ן ong חferioI·ity aI ר a geneI·al feel ing of iI , g and cI·eative a.rtists in the field ר peI·foI·m iI paI·ed themselves to colleagues חey cOI רtl ר eI ר wl abI·oad . polsky appI·oached Janine רר d YaI רan aI חMarkI ose work "Les Liens" had רChal·rat, wl ee נpressed them in BI·ussels. Within t ·h רר iI and cI·eated חe pI·oduced a duet for theI ר weeks sl . e" for the company רChaconI " polsky discoveI·ed חan and YaI ח When MaI·kI ceI·S they went looking ר OI·e daI חthey needed I for them in the USA and Canada. In 1967 Bat OSt of its graduates חto Tel Aviv, to become fi nally The Israel "BORN AGAIN", CHOR.: BERTA YAMPOLSKY Dor opened a studio, but I itself or with ·ו iI·ed a f)O OI· DANCERS: NA'AMA YADLIN AND KEVIN CUNNINGHAM pI·eferred to dance with Bat DO רClassical Ball et Company. They I in an apartment building, had a paI·q uet Batsheva, both of which enjoyed lavish De eight of fashion but then Rothschild support and could hire the best רsing. But the jumps that today is the I ·ו installed and started rehea , apheI·s in the field ·ו the middle of nowheI·e, Kikar teachers and cho I·eog ר ove was iI חו s and they had to ·ו disturbed the neighbou .join The ISI·ael Ballet רagain . ha'Medina. Again they built a parquet, opened rather thaI eds of·ו king. "Hund ·ו a school and staI·ted wO cy paid the fare and board of רom all oveI· the countI·Y" , says The Jewish AgeI ·ו In 1970 Yampolsky's father helped them pupils came f ed five the Jewish danceI·s they "impoI·ted" and their · ו be ח e company nUI רpolsky. "TI ח pUI·chase a place of theiI· own in a part of town YaI dancers. We received token assistance to the salaries for the first few months of t heI·e. During theiI· tour to I·ecruit ר ely employmeI ·וof two thousand pounds, which was ba ח GISELLE", ACT 11, CHOR.: PERROT SUI" polsky went to ח d YaI ר an aI ח cers MarkI ר for one pI·oduction, but the new daI רDANCERS: EREZ DROR AND MARCIA ZUSSMAN enougl the New York City Ballet pel'fol'lnance of The company that was cl'eated with no external Maturity, 1975-1985 George Balanchine's "Midsulnmel' Night's assistance was not only subsisting but Dream", with Edward Villela and Suzanne beginning to thrive, lt had its own studio and An invitation to participate in the 1975 1srael Farrell, They presented themselves as school and though it still depended on Festival marked a new stage in the at the imported dancel's and foreign choreography, it development of the 1srael Ballet, 1t meant ך managers of the ISl'ael Ballet, whicl g had hopes of changing that, In the meantime I'ecognition and gave them courage to ask for ך cludil ך time nUlnbel'ed five dancel's il themselves, They got excellent tickets but it began to be sought after, received good "Serenade" from Balanchine and "Electrobach" Ot Inuster enough notices and pel'fol'med before full houses, from Felix Blaska for the gl'and occasion, In ךaftel' the show they could I courage to addl'ess Balanchine and only wl'ote two weeks Balanchine sent word to the him a lettel', This lettel' was to stand the affirmative, only stipulating that Pat Neary company in good stead in yeal's to COlne, It appl'ove the production and the standard of the touched the gl'eat choregrapher's heal't and he company, Neary's account was complimentary let pel'forlnance I'ights and the production was on its way, In order to נ later gave the Israel Ba ets free of chal'ge, among pel'form "Serenade" the company needed ננof some of his ba certo additional dancers, Again they went looking ך them "Serenade", "Pas de Trois", "Col Bal'occo", "Agon Pas de Deux", "Foul ' for theln abroad, The importation of dancers, Tempel'aments" and "Symphony in C ," especially as most of them did not stay to live in ISI'ael, began to leave its mark on the image Markman and Yampolsky retul'ned fl'om the of the Israel Ballet, g theln ך cel's (amol ך USA with seven new dal and including themselves (ך Pamela Ossel'mal .