Ida's dance club
"Ida's dance club" is the title of an Israeli short documentary film made last year that we saw at the ESRA (English Speaking Residents' Association) movie club. It tells the story of a group of old people, many of them in their 80's and 90's, who congregate every week at a dance club in the Golden Palace senior home in South Tel Aviv. In 2008 they had a dance competition, and the movie deals with the preparations for the second dance competition in 2009.
The lady that keeps the group going is Ida, who used to be an opera singer. She provides support and encouragement to all and organizes the dance competition. The movie introduces us to several of the individuals who make up the group. One is a flamboyant woman who dresses up in colorful costumes that she makes herself. She lives to dance, and when at the end she is stricken with illness you see how that diminishes her. Another lady comes all the way from Haifa to participate in an activity that completely separates her from her normal life, in which she is dealing with a daughter who is slowly dying from anorexia. Another of the women dancing was 94 years old and quite a character herself.
One of the men confesses that he is gay, and that one of the ladies guessed because he assured her that he had no other interest in her other than dancing. Another man is a Holocaust survivor who was terribly abused by Dr. Mengele in Auschwitz. He was very reluctant to talk about it, but the Producer of the film Yael Shavit, who was present at the showing, told us that he completely broke down after he spoke on camera, but they decided not to include that in the movie.
Overall it was a charming and moving little gem, worth seeing if only for the cast of genuine colorful characters.
The lady that keeps the group going is Ida, who used to be an opera singer. She provides support and encouragement to all and organizes the dance competition. The movie introduces us to several of the individuals who make up the group. One is a flamboyant woman who dresses up in colorful costumes that she makes herself. She lives to dance, and when at the end she is stricken with illness you see how that diminishes her. Another lady comes all the way from Haifa to participate in an activity that completely separates her from her normal life, in which she is dealing with a daughter who is slowly dying from anorexia. Another of the women dancing was 94 years old and quite a character herself.
One of the men confesses that he is gay, and that one of the ladies guessed because he assured her that he had no other interest in her other than dancing. Another man is a Holocaust survivor who was terribly abused by Dr. Mengele in Auschwitz. He was very reluctant to talk about it, but the Producer of the film Yael Shavit, who was present at the showing, told us that he completely broke down after he spoke on camera, but they decided not to include that in the movie.
Overall it was a charming and moving little gem, worth seeing if only for the cast of genuine colorful characters.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:59 AM
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