Shelly Sheer (lft) and Nira Paz at Suzanne Dellal

EILAT has been blessed with having a dance teacher of the highest calibre – Shelly Sheer.

Shelly’s background is one of fame. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of fifteen and a half, her first main role was Swanhilda in the ballet Copelia (her teacher was Rayna Burman, the well-known South African teacher.) Shelly performed for three years as soloist for the South African dance companies PACT and NAPAC. She was in the first group to do ballet for matriculation in South Africa – only 12 students were chosen out of 600.

Shelly made came to live in Israel in 1971. She was prima ballerina for the first company of the Israeli Opera and later joined Bat Dor as their principal dancer.

Subsequently, she worked with the Bat Sheva Dance Company where she was principal dancer for 15 years, also serving there as rehearsal director and artistic director and co-directing the company with Ohad Naharin. In the New York Times, December 1983, Shelly received rave reviews for her performance in the ballet Turmoil, in addition to her performances in Common Prayer and Ebony Concerto.

Shelly was the principal dancer for a year in Vienna at the An-der-Wien Theater and then in South Africa for NAPAC. Returning to Israel, she joined Kol Demama, a hearing and deaf dance company founded by Moshe Efrati.

Shelly’s first ballet studio was in Savyon. Subsequently she opened a studio in Raanana as a teacher representing the Royal Academy of Dance.

She has also designed dance costumes at Nachlat Binyamin, using her talents as a seamstress as well.

Shelly has received many awards in Israel, the most prestigious being the Kinor David, “the Israeli dance Oscar”. She is a ballet examiner in Israel and judges dance competitions.

Whenever Shelly visits South Africa, she is invited to conduct master dance classes for PACT.

Twelve years ago Shelly decided to make a change, leaving the stage as a performer and moving to Eilat. Dancing being in her veins, she started to teach at the Collier Community Center, and what an organization she has! She has eight teachers working under her teaching tap dancing, Flamenco, ballet, jazz, creative and modern dance. Her tap dance teacher is South African born Sharon Woolf, and she has mainly Russian teachers teaching ballet.

She introduced ballet for matriculation in Eilat high schools 10 years ago – an important contribution to the arts. She also takes her students three times a year to perform at the Suzanne Delal Dance Center in Tel Aviv and other dance companies. The Bat Sheva Dance Group has included Shelly’s pupils in performances at events at Timna.

Shelly’s choreography and the high standard of dance she maintains in her studio are a constant reminder of how fortunate we in Eilat are to have her talents. The end of the year show with her pupils has imaginative choreography and a high standard of technique. Last year the pupils’ dance performance was entitled “Seal” meaning a stamp - a legacy of the culture that she has brought to Eilat.

Shelly Sheer should be known and acknowledged more widely in Israel. She deserves many accolades. She has definitely put her “stamp” on Eilat!