Ruth Goodman

Teaches at 92nd Street Y

Ruth Goodman, Director of the Israeli Dance Institute, succeeded Fred Berk as Director of 92Y’s Jewish/Israeli Dance Division and Director of the Israel Folk Dance Festival. For more than 40 years, together with Danny Uziel, she has led 92Y’s internationally recognized Wednesday night Israeli Folk Dance Session.

She is the founder and director of the Parparim Ensemble of Israeli Dance and Song, is an editor of Rokdim-Nirkoda magazine, a bilingual Hebrew/English publication and an author of the article, “Israeli Folk Dance Pioneers in North America,” published in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

Ms. Goodman has served as consultant to Broadway choreographers Danny Daniels, Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Patricia Birch and is on the faculty of the American Academy of Ballet Summer School. For the video “Night on the Sea of Galilee” filmed in Israel, she wrote the narration and presents the background and development of Israeli folk dance.

Ms. Goodman conducts dance programs and workshops for teachers, children and adults throughout the Americas and has participated in numerous tours to Israel where she has performed and directed Israeli music and dance. Ruth Goodman holds a Master of Arts degree in Dance Education from Columbia University Teachers College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from City College of New York.