Photographers :
Top Picture: Zvi Roger
Bottom Picture: Liora Tzur
About the Crew
Ruth Eshel - Artistic Director
Dr. Ruth Eshel, formerly a professional dancer and choreographer, has appeared with various dance companies, including the well-known Batsheva Dance Company. She has performed recitals of experimental dance and chamber dance programs (1977-1986), for which she also was choreographer. The author of "To Dance with the Dream - The Development of Artistic Dance in Israel, 1920-1964", she is the editor of the quarterly "Dancetoday - The Dance Magazine of Israel" and a dance critic for the Hebrew daily "Haaretz". In 1996 she established the Eskesta Dance Group at the University of Haifa. She received an Honor of Excellence from the Ethiopian Ambassador to Israel, for creating contemporary dance inspired by the Ethiopian eskesta.
Photographer: Liora Zur
Noga Weiss
Noga is the trouper's costume designer. A sabra, born in 1973, she studied painting and fashion design at Shenkar College. She went to Tel Aviv University, where she gained her B.A. degree in Art History, and her M.A at the University of Haifa in the Department of Literature.
Oded Zehavi
Prof. Zehavi was born in Jerusalem. He lectures in the Department of Music at the University of Haifa, and is one of the most eminent Israeli composers on the scene, today. His works are played and recorded regularly in Israel and abroad by, Inter Alia, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Kirov Opera and Orchestra, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The Israeli Broadcasting Authority Orchestra, as well as many other Israeli orchestras. He was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Composition, Golden Feather Prizes of the Association of Composers and Publishers of Israeli Music, and the Tel Aviv Angel Prize, as well as other awards and grants in the U.S.A. and Europe.
Kevin Shawn McAlister
Kevin studied at Regent Street Polytechnic Photography and Film School, in London. After serving as Chief electrician at the Shaftsbury Theater, he joined the Royal Shakespeare company as Assistant chief until he immigrated to Israel in 1970. He has designed light for fifty dances for Bat-Dor and Batsheva dance companies
About the Dancers
Photographer: Zvi Roger
Beta dancers reached Israel as children. Many have personal recollections of the desperate flight of their families across the Sudan desert during the times of persecution and famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s (Operation Moses). Others came to Israel from Addis Ababa with Operation Solomon (1991). All of the dancers are graduates of the University of Haifa where they participated in the Eskesta Dance Theater.
While dancing with the theater they performed at the Musica Sacra International Festival in Marktoberdorf, Germany, 2000; at the Gelder Rose International Folklore Festival, Ukraine, 2002; and on a six week tour of the USA, 2002 (Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Boston, New Haven, New England, Greater Hartford, Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio).
In South Africa (2004) they performed throughout the country and were warmly welcomed by the Jewish community, and especially by dance students in township communities such as Gugulethu and Soweto, who were thrilled to discover and experience an alternate form of African traditional dance. They also performed in France (2005). The Beta dancers all now live in the Haifa area and teach at the Beta School for Ethiopian Dance.
Aman Chole
Born in Addis Ababa in 1977, he arrived in Israel in 1995. Aman graduated from the Departments of Geography and Multidisciplinary Studies. He lives in Kibbutz Ramat -Yohanan. Chole is also a singer and musician.
Din Daga Hanoch
Din Daga was born in Ethiopia in 1976. She was 7 years old when she walked through the Sudan desert to immigrate to Israel with Operation Moses in 1985. Her family joined her two years later and today lives in Tiberias. She has four sisters and five brothers. Din Daga graduated from the University of Haifa, Departments of Education and Art. She is also a musician and singer.
Gilat Bayene
Born in 1978, she emigrated to Israel with her mother and younger sister in Operation Moses after a journey on foot through the desert in Sudan. They arrived in Israel in 1984. Her family lives in Rehovot. Gilat studied in the Department of Social Science and Education at the University of Haifa.
Avi Gola
Avi was born in 1979. His father and part of the family immigrated to Israel through the Sudan desert. When he was ten, he came to Israel by himself via Addis Ababa. The family now lives in Kiryat Gat. Avi graduated from the Departments of Education and Sociology/Anthropology. He served in the army as an officer in his profession.
Gila Betualin
Gila was born in 1979 in an Ethiopian village to a family of farmers. When she was four years old her family fled to the Sudan where they stayed for eight months in a refugee camp before immigrating to Israel. The family resides in Carmiel. Her father is a factory worker. She has six siblings. She is a graduate of the University of Haifa.
Sissay Meniwab
Born in Asmara (today Eriteryia) in 1979, his father served in the Ethiopian army. He came to Israel with his family in Operation Solomon. The family now lives in Rehovot. Sissay has eight siblings. He graduated from the Departments of Education and Sociology and served in the army as an officer in his profession.
