The Yiddish Folklife Festival of the Finger Lakes (YFFFL) is a new three-day arts and cultural festival in town taking place April 25-27, 2025 at the Lifelong Community Center downtown and other venues.
Featuring live klezmer music, folk dancing, a community potluck, cooking and cultural workshops, a nature talk, an academic lecture, an open mic, and other community events, this intergenerational, all-ages festival is open to the public, including those new to Yiddish music and culture.
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, APRIL 25
04:30 PM - Not Written on Water: The Movement to Recover Women Who Wrote in Yiddish - A Lecture (Cornell U.)
07:00 PM - Community Potluck, Instrumental Klezmer Jam, Shabes Songs (Lifelong)
SATURDAY, APRIL 26
10:30 AM - Yiddish Nature Walk (Stewart Park; leaves from Lifelong at 10am)
02:00 PM - Dough: Sweet & Savory - A Jewish Cooking Workshop (Lifelong)
04:30 PM - Zingeray - A Yiddish Song Workshop (Lifelong)
07:00 PM - Community Open Mic (Lifelong)
SUNDAY, APRIL 27
11:00 AM - Jewish Paper-cutting Crafts Workshop (Lifelong)
02:00 PM - Yiddish Folk Dance Workshop & Klezmer Dance Party (Library Place Community Room)
Join us for the culminating event of the festival, a Yiddish folk dance party! Starting at 2PM, Yiddish dance leader Avia Moore will teach a Yiddish folk dance workshop, backed by the Klezmer Ensemble at Cornell University. Then, take your newly-learned dance steps into party mode as the Klezmer Ensemble at Cornell University play a raucous set of klezmer and Yiddish dance tunes.
Yiddish folk dance is a form social dance that is easy to pick up, no previous dance experience necessary. You may bring handkerchiefs if you prefer to dance without direct contact. You can learn seated versions of the dances if that is more accessible for you. Fun for all ages!
FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS
We thank our partners: Klezmer Ensemble at Cornell University and Jewish Studies at Cornell University for supporting Yiddish Folklife Festival of the Finger Lakes!
We thank our funder: This festival is made possible in part with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts,
administered by the Community Arts Partnership.
