Do you believe that Taiwan is the biggest Israeli folk dance country in the world?

Israeli folk dances were introduced to Taiwan from December 1957, the US government sent Mr. Rickey Holden to Taiwan to introduce 10 international folk dances in Taipei, and "Mayim Mayim" was the first Israeli folk dance introduced.

It was a big hit in Taiwan that year, because no any foreign folk songs or dances were ever introduced before that. He came again in June 1958, was again a big hit and Taiwan's international folk dance era began.

More than 1000 Israeli folk dances were introduced to Taiwan during the past 48 years, so it is unsurprising that Taiwanese are very familiar with Israeli tunes. Even the writer of this article can easily show more than 200.

The problem is that the Hebrew language is very difficult to read and to speak, so we only remember their English names, and then give them a suitable Chinese name.

Israeli folk song and dance records (CDs) are easy to find in the market, though most people can not read and speak Hebrew.

The first Taiwanese folk dance teacher to California was the late Mr. Chang-Ching San.

He and his wife visited the U.S. folk dance camps many times.

Mr. Yang Chang Hsiung is also one of the Israeli folk dance pioneers in Taiwan. He introduced hundreds of Israeli folk dances to us during the past years. He is also a ballroom dance specialist.

Taiwan not only introduced Israeli folk dance, we introduced all kinds of folk dances from the world. East European folk dances were largely introduced from about 1978 after Mr.Chang and Mr.Yang come back from California's Stockton camp.

You can enjoy more than 10000 folk dances from the world in Taiwan, that's why I say Taiwan is the biggest folk dance market in the world.

It's hardly believable but it's true. I did not teach people dancing in any folk dance camp, but I do a lot of culture research and collect many different folk dance editions.

Many tunes still can not find their original resources, but now it's is much better due to the internet's effect help. 

In Taiwan, we do not only introduce folk dance, many kinds of historic dances are include. They are all folk dances here.