Yeraz Dance Ensemble
YERAZ: “Not only a dream, but a reality…”
The YERAZ Dance Ensemble is an Armenian dance group, that has been amazing and astounding all varieties of audiences and that has recently been receiving an overwhelming amount of praise. Now, in its 10th year, YERAZ is travelling all over the East Coast of the United States and making a huge impact on the Armenian dancing world. But where did the YERAZ phenomenon start? How did over 90 dancers come together to form this incredibly entertaining dance group?
It all started with a yeraz (dream), thought of by Srpazan Anoushavan Tanielian who wished for the St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church of Douglaston, New York to have its own dance group, and to have a place for young Armenian youth to come together and indulge in aspects of their culture along with making lifelong friends. He approached Antranig Dance Ensemble dancer, KarnigNercessian about this idea and within a short period of time Karnig accepted the challenge to form a traditional Armenian dance group and thus founded YERAZ. Together teaming up with fellow Antranig Dancer and friend, choreographer, Lena Orangian, they created a new unstoppable dancing force that opened its doors and started practices in September 1999.
Every dance group, every story has humble beginnings, as did YERAZ. In the beginning when it was formed in 1999, there were a total of 8 dancers (who are still members of the dance group today, after 10 years). Friday night practices were slow but still productive, and it seemed that with each week, more and more new members were joining the group. Soon we had grown, and with a few new dances learned, YERAZ began performing at small church functions, picnics around the community and other small gatherings. YERAZ was a breath of fresh air to the community; they loved watching these young kids, who enjoyed their heritage and were so proud of it.
Fast forward the years to June 2002, when YERAZ had its first full length dance performance at the Louis Pasteur Middle School in Little Neck, New York. At this time, the dancers are a little older, a little more refined and incredibly anxious and excited for this performance, to show of what they’ve been working so hard on for 4 years! This full length show was a turning point for YERAZ, and resulted in a positive impact both for the dance group and the community. The numbers of the dance group increased dramatically, as more young Armenians who watched the performance became engaged and wished to dance on stage along with YERAZ. For the community, it brought people closer together, as everyone had a common bond of enjoying watching our Armenian youth, and appreciated all the efforts these dancers put into their group.
From 2002 to 2005, YERAZ increased its numbers as well as its repertoire; adding more difficult dances and solos, along with expecting more out of the dancers. Practices were getting a little tougher and more advanced, but everyone was putting in more and more effort, just because they all loved being there so much. The numbers of YERAZ grew so much that we had to separate our group into a younger group, ranging from ages 6-13 and an older group for dancers who were 13 and older. This gave YERAZ a whole new dynamic as there were different kinds of dancing to watch; more intricate steps and harder dances from the older group, as well as the adorable dancing and entertainment of our youngest members.
In March 2005, YERAZ had the incredible honor of having Vanoush Khanamirian, former Director of the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia, come and work with us for an entire month before we put on our next full length show. In the period of a month from March to April, YERAZ worked harder than ever, and learned a total of 10 new dances that were unveiled at our performance. These dances were different and traditional, and were taught by the legendary Mr. Khanamirian. It was such a privilege to have had the opportunity to learn and dance with Mr. Khanamirian, and YERAZ is forever grateful to have had that time. After the full, new show danced in April 2005, the YERAZ world was eternally different as the level of dancing, of credibility, and praise of the group all sky-rocketed. The Armenian community was astounded at the incredible talent that these Armenian youth had, and that they were still pushing themselves to do more, to do better.
Once again, after our huge performance, the numbers of the group grew exponentially; more and more members of the Armenian youth community came to YERAZ to be a part of the spectacular phenomenon, and YERAZ welcomes each and everyone one with open arms.
Throughout the years, YERAZ has performed at a number of events, and locations, all over the New York/New Jersey region. From 2005 on, any full length premier show that has been performed was presented at the Queensborough Community College Humanities Theater, an auditorium that seats close to 1000 people, and has been sold out for each performance that was in 2005, 2008 and most recently December 2009. Since the turning point for YERAZ in 2005, the group has performed at Queens College, at Armenian-American night at Eisenhower Park in Long Island, at the Persian Day Parade in NYC in March of 2009, at St. Vartanantz Cathedral for the April 24th Genocide Commemoration events, and recently at Felician College in November 2009 for a large scale Hamazkayin event that took place.
Now we look to the future, and to all the up and coming events that are taking place for YERAZ now that it is in its 10th year. This year alone, YERAZ plans to perform once again at the Armenian American night at Eisenhower Park this summer. In October, YERAZ is taking its first trip out of the tri-state area to Washington DC to perform a full length show for the Armenian community in that area. The most exciting news is that the YERAZ dance ensemble has been invited to perform on the Armenian Heritage Cruise in January 2011. There are many big things in store for YERAZ, and we are so thrilled and honored to be sharing our journey with everyone! As Eleanor Roosevelt has said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”… To everyone that has been supportive of YERAZ, we graciously thank you, because we would not exist without the support and encouragement from our community. We always want to make our church, our community and our people proud, and we will continue working hard to achieve all of the goals and dreams we have set for ourselves!
