Nachum Shachar

To His Memory

	Born in Brooklyn, New York, Nachum realized his passion for dancing from an early age. He attended New York schools of dancing after the regular school hours, and was a youth leader in Hashomer Hatsair and summer camps while simultaneously learning Israeli folk dances. At the age of 18 he earned a special prize for modern dance choreography.
1928 – 2002

In 1950 he immigrated to Israel and joined a kibbutz together with his first wife Dina, a fellow dancer. They performed all over the country. Following a period of two years of dance studies in England they settled in Haifa where they opened a dance studio. After their separation, Nachum continued directing the studio and instructing there Afro-Cuban, Modern, Jazz and Tap dancing. At the same time, in 1960, he established in Beit Rothschild in Haifa a group of dancers that met weekly. With this group he realized his love for Balkan and other international folk dances until the day he died. Members of this group established the Haifa Balkan Dance group, now called Balkanitsa, in 1984.

Nachum was a pioneer in teaching a generation of Balkan folk dancers in Israel which carries on his legacy to this day with devotion and love.