Rad Yiddish and Marching Disorder Present:

KLEZMER JAM & YIDDISH DANCE with Martin van de Ven, Cassie Norton & Emily Glass!

📅 Saturday, August 8 @ 2:00-4:30PM

📍HIGH PARK NATURE CENTRE - SIDE PORCH

375 Colborne Lodge Dr, Toronto, ON M6P 3K7

2:00PM - Set up your instruments

2:30PM - Learn a new klezmer tune from Martin

2:45-4:30PM - Jamming & Dancing

🎻MUSICIANS:

Grab your instrument and join us in HIGH PARK for Rad Yiddish & Marching Disorder's inaugural OUTDOOR Klezmer Jam & Yiddish Dance!

--We'll start with Martin teaching a tune, then play through the rest of the tunes on the set list for the rest of the jam (with a midway break), starting with easier tunes

--Every month we'll share the charts & set list ahead of time: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/195vQD7xh81MOpDmkMx6uvM-6LTNsJyy6?usp=sharing

--We'll play through all or some of these tunes, and change up the order depending on jam attendee requests

--Bring your own stand & sheet music!

💃DANCERS / AUDIENCE:

Not a musician? Emily Glass will lead Yiddish dance. NO experience necessary!

--Come learn the dance steps that go with klezmer music! Yiddish dance is a social folk dance danced in circles, squares, and lines.

--Emily will lead us in various dances such as freylekhs, zhoks, bulgars, and turkishers.

--Yiddish dance can be modified for those using mobility devices or need to dance seated, by learning the arm movements.

ACCESS

--There are accessible paved sidewalks from Bloor into the location entrance along Colborne Lodge Dr. that are flat and have ramps onto the sidewalk from the street.

--The location has a front ramp onto the porch

Please let us know in your registration if you have any access needs you'd like us to address.

BATHROOMS

--Closest accessible washrooms are on West Rd near the north gate entrance, including accessible stalls that are gendered.

DIRECTIONS

VIA WALKING:

--The shortest and most convenient way is walk in to High Park is from the High Park North Gates. Just a bit south along Colborne Lodge Drive and the Nature Centre will be on your left.

---Want to avoid getting lost? Stick to paved sidewalks and paved paths, especially if it’s your first time visiting High Park or the Nature Centre’s facilities.

VIA TTC BUS/SUBWAY

--Nearest TTC station is High Park Station (wheelchair accessible)

--It is conveniently just a 5-minute walk from the High Park Nature Centre.

--Listed here are some of the bus lines to help you get to the High Park TTC Station.

30 High Park North

149 Etobicoke-Bloor

189 Stockyards

203 High Park (summer seasonal bus through High Park)

VIA CAR

--High Park is currently closed to motorized vehicles on weekends.

--Closest paid parking to entrance - 1830 Bloor Street Parking

BY DONATION / PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN

This jam is by-donation / pay-what-you-can, suggested $20.

Funds are split evenly between the people leading this event, including the two band leaders Martin and Cassie, the dance leader Emily, and Rad Yiddish.

WORKSHOP LEADER BIOS

A mainstay of the Canadian klezmer scene, Martin van de Ven (he/him) performs with Canada’s hottest klezmer band, Beyond the Pale. A unique stylist, he brings fire, elegance, and humour to his performances with the award-winning group. He has composed, arranged, and directed performances for Toronto production companies including Jumblies Theatre, Theatre Columbus, Queen of Pudding Theatre, and the Ashkenaz Foundation.

Over the past decade, he has written a number of choral works in collaboration with Jumblies Theatre director Ruth Howard. He has also collaborated as composer and arranger with Beth Anne Cole on her recent album, Perhaps the Gods of Love. Martin recently retired from his work as a music teacher with the Toronto District School Board and is now an active freelance musician.

Emily Glass (she/her) is a professional language teacher and community dancer who grew up near Vancouver. Since falling in love with Yiddish at her first beginner class at the University of Ottawa in 2015, she has been active in the Yiddish cultural world, participating in the Steiner Summer Program at the Yiddish Book Centre, KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Paris, and Yiddish New York.

In 2024, Emily took a break from teaching high school to do a masters in Yiddish Studies at the University of Toronto. During her graduate studies, and under the mentorship of KlezKanada's Avia Moore, she researched how Ashkenazi ways of being have been expressed in dance cultures. Subsequently, she has led Yiddish dance workshops and events in Toronto and Vancouver.

Cassie Norton (she/her) is a Toronto-based violinist/singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and improvisor.

Currently she is hosting the Song Experiment Series at the Tranzac (a performance based song lab for collaboration and creative exploration in a variety of styles), playing in the Feel Good Family Band (jazz, experimental, folk), Marching Disorder (New Orleans, Klezmer, resistance music), and Life To Liberation.

Cassie brings her passion for music to her climate/social justice activism through performance, musical workshops and song leading.

Cassie has been a musician and dancer with social folk dance communities for the past 10 years. She is currently on the Balfolk Toronto board, and plays regularly for Toronto English Country Dance. She is newer to klezmer music and excited to be supporting the Rad Yiddish x Marching Disorder monthly dance jam series.

On top of her performance experience, Cassie teaches violin, string ensemble, ukulele, and songwriting with Community Music Schools of Toronto.