New dance troupe proves very popular

Accompanied by two of Penn's established performing arts groups, Yofi! burst onto the scene this weekend before a packed house at the Annenberg Center. The Israeli dance troupe made its campus debut Saturday night at a sold-out Harold Prince Theatre with its first full-length performance, entitled "Ya'lah." In addition to the Israeli and Middle Eastern style dances in which Yofi! specializes, the show featured guest appearances by two other performing arts groups, improv comedy troupe Without a Net and a cappella group Dischord. The 15-member Yofi!, one of Penn's newest performance groups, is as diverse in membership as in expertise. "The people in Yofi! come from six countries, four continents and three religions," boasted the evening's emcee, College junior Josh Wilkenfeld, to the approximately 220 students, family members and Philadelphia residents who came to the show. The show opened with a number entitled, in Hebrew, "Pitom Kam Adam," which translates to "Suddenly, a Man Got Up." "Yofi! is still in its first year of existence, and suddenly they, too, can shoot up on the scene," Wilkenfeld said. The group's performance, which lasted for about two hours, included interpretations of traditional Jewish songs and contemporary Israeli and Turkish rock music. The group changed into different colorful costumes for each song. All of the dances Yofi! performed were choreographed by members of the group, primarily artistic directors Elana Leventhal and Rachel Bergstein, both College sophomores. After the show, Yofi! member and College freshman Micah Liben acknowledged their contributions to the group. "I can't get over the expertise with which they mold the whole group into an aesthetically beautiful sequence of steps and movements," he said. "We have traveled a long way from the old Israeli dance group to the new Yofi!," added Bergstein, also a member of Yofi's predecessor, Ayalah. "We are increasingly recognized and respected on campus." "The success of this show was in some ways very surprising considering how inexperienced we were with the whole thing," said College and Wharton sophomore Joseph Mazor, the group's treasurer. Just in case Without a Net had not provided the audience with enough laughs, Wilkenfeld experimented with a bit of improv comedy of his own to fill the time between dances. "I didn't write a script for this evening's show," Wilkenfeld told his audience. "But it doesn't really matter because I have the microphone and you don't." Between all of the applause, laughter and singing alone, it was clear the audience enjoyed the performance. "The show was really well done and the costumes definitely added a lot," College freshman Nini Ghosh said after the performance. "The emcee was also great and very entertaining." Engineering sophomore Tom Langen added, "Yofi! did a great job and it is exciting to see that they have come so far so soon. I room with one of the members, so I know how hard they've all worked."

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