About Us
Ma’agal
Ma’agal (the Hebrew word for “circle”, pronounced “Mah-ah-gahl”) delivers robust, joyful Israeli dance education to people of all ages, and enables Jewish educators and dance enthusiasts to implement enriching, educational, and emotionally-connecting Israeli dance programs by providing them with training, resources, and supportive community.
Meet Erica
Every year, Erica teaches Israeli dances at events and workshops for audiences young and old, both in the Jewish world and beyond. In addition to Israeli dance leader, Erica has been an engineering linguist, a high school English teacher, and a nonprofit Chief Program Officer. Erica was the Director of Dance at Camp Alonim, the Jewish sleepaway camp where Israeli dancing is a shared obsession, for twelve summers, and has been an Educator for the Cornerstone Fellowship, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, for over a decade.
In May 2015, she launched Ma'agal, an initiative to improve Israeli dance education at schools and camps across the nation. Erica earned her MBA and an MA in Jewish Professional Leadership from the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University. She is a Wexner Fellow/Davidson Scholar, and is a proud alumna of the Ruskay Institute for Jewish Professional Leadership, a program of UJA-Federation of New York that she now directs (when she’s not dancing). In 2023, she taught Israeli dancing on her fifth continent (so far!).
Meet Fran
Fran Amkraut has been dancing as long as she can remember. A native New Yorker, Fran earned her BA from Columbia University and later moved to Los Angeles where she earned her MBA. Multi-faceted and multi-talented, Fran is the President and CEO of Technion Contractors TCI, Inc, a board member at Kadima Day School in West Hills, CA, and recently choreographed the popular Israeli folkdance “Ein Maspik Zman” with Tamir Scherzer. She has delighted audiences as a dancer with Shalhevet, the Parparim Dance Ensemble, the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble, and most recently Gadalnu Yachad, a group that formed after October 7th to express their shared anguish about the hostages and their families through dance.