Desert Ballet

The Israel Ballet returns to the United States for the first time in a quarter of a century. On the heels of its tour, I spoke with the ballet's founder and artistic director, Berta Yampolsky, for the Washington Jewish Week.

"'There are two miracles in Israel,' remarked Antony Tudor, one of the giants of 20th-century ballet as a choreographer, dancer and teacher, 'first, there is water and second, there is the Israel Ballet.'

In a nation where, for much of its first half century, survival, economic growth and independence took precedence, ballet, theater, opera, art and music may have seemed superfluous. And yet they thrived."

You may find the story here.