Join the Israel Dance Forces

Ido Tadmor and David Dvir, two popular Israeli choreographers, are to form a modern dance troupe as a unit in the army, in order to prevent young talents from pursuing their professional education abroad and avoiding military service by various semi-legitimate means. An IDF spokesman confirmed that Brigadier General Eli Shermeister, chief education officer, has met with Ido ­Tadmor and discussed the idea of opening a channel for young dancers to enlist and do the full service term while also continuing with their training and advancing their performance skills.

Media reported growing disdain as  many of their new “cultural heroes” used creative ways to avoid compulsory military service. This may explain the timing of the plan, but the motivation behind it remains obscure. There are several well-known loop­holes for getting out of military service: declare yourself part of the growing ultra-religious sector or fulfil the mental dysfunction clause, which is the easiest. The army is surely not concerned with the education of young dancers, nor wishes to warm soldiers to the art of fine dance. Yair Vardi, director of Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, says: “A military company cannot ...