My husband and I were in Europe in the first days of October. It was grey, the trees nearly naked other than a few red leaves hanging on.

As I usually do when travelling abroad, I had CDs with Israeli music and in the middle of this breathtaking view Yizhar Cohen's voice burst out of the speakers singing "Leaves are falling and loneliness continues"...

 Watching these leaves, falling one after the other, I could only picture in my mind the girl turning first and the boy following, as in a canon, as leaves fall from a tree. I knew then that I have to create a dance to this song despite the difficult challenges I was still to face, the complexity of the music and the changing rhythm.

Most elements are taken from the lyrics -
"Leaves falling" - girl and boy take turns to turn;
"Loneliness continues" - despite holding hands, each dancer has their own part;
"The sun in amber colours" - big "sun" created with the hands;
"Is something that already past" - partners separating and moving away;
"Your memory is a view so dear" - face to face, like watching a mirror;
And finally the heart-breaking line - "Above my head sadness floats" - boy kneels in humble acceptance as girl passes over his head.
The lyrics are very loaded.

The dance was an entrant in Karmiel's Folk Dance Competition 2010 but it wasn't very "folk"-like - I felt I cannot compromise my creation in its first exposure to the audience. I will now make minor changes so the dance is more approachable for dancers everywhere.

Despite the falling leaves, may we have a blossoming year!

Regards to all Israeli dances.com readers from Nourit Grinfeld - August 2010