Keeping the simcha moving: the art of hora coordination

The hora is one of the most memorable parts of a Jewish wedding. It’s energetic, emotional, and often chaotic in the best possible way. Circles form, music swells, and family and friends dance around the bride and groom in celebration. 

Behind the excitement is often a surprising amount of planning and coordination. While guests may see spontaneous dancing, many weddings rely on experienced people to guide the dancing, encourage participation, and keep the energy flowing. 

For Cape Town-based entrepreneur Cassandra Sarembock, helping to coordinate horas began unexpectedly. She first entered the industry after her own wedding. 

“When I got married in 2017, there was no one-stop shop for everything,” she says. She began building an inventory of wedding items, including maypoles with ribbons, arches, donut sheets, and other props used during Jewish wedding celebrations. 

The coordination side of the business came later. “People said, ‘Can’t you help run the horas?’ and I thought, ‘I don’t see why not’,” she says. What began as occasional assistance evolved into a dedicated service helping guests join in the dancing. 

Sarembock says one of the main reasons couples seek hora coordinators is that guests want to enjoy the wedding without feeling responsible for creating the atmosphere themselves. “If people already knew the dance moves and what to do to bring the vibe, the onus is on them.” 

Another reason is guests who may be unfamiliar with Jewish wedding traditions. “You have a lot of marriages where the bride has converted, or where the bride is Jewish and the groom isn’t,” she says. “There are a lot of people who are going to be at the wedding who have never been to a Jewish wedding in their life.” 

In these situations, she helps explain the dances, demonstrate the steps, and encourage participation. Sarembock says she often notices a difference between guests who are close to the bride and those who are less familiar with the customs. 

“The inner circle of the bride and the bridesmaids are doing their thing,” she says. Guests in the outer circles are frequently eager to participate but need encouragement. “They are very willing and wanting to be part of the dancing, they just feel a little out of place.” 

Her role is to help those guests feel comfortable enough to join in. 

At Orthodox weddings, men and women often dance separately. This can create two very different dance floors that each require their own energy and organisation. 

Sarembock says men’s dancing tends to be more straightforward. “The men basically just have three different moves that they rotate and they’re happy with that.” Women’s dancing, by contrast, involves a greater variety of movements and formations. “The ladies are the ones that come with all the little finicky different moves,” she says. 

Johannesburg-based event coordinator Robyn Kahanovitz has observed similar patterns. Kahanovitz specialises in organising the props and activities, often known as “schtick”, that accompany Jewish wedding dancing. These can include maypoles, handheld fans, and other visual elements designed to add excitement to the celebration. 

She believes music remains central to the success of the hora. “The band is instrumental in getting the vibe going and maintaining the energy through each set of horas during a Jewish wedding.” According to Kahanovitz, the opening dances are particularly important. “The first set of horas are the most crucial and are always high-energy.” 

Although many people assume the men’s side is livelier, “the reality is that the women are having just as much fun, if not more”, she says. 

“The women in the bride’s retinue tend to take the lead in the women’s horas and judge timing themselves,” she says, adding that they generally prefer deciding which moves to perform and when. “The truth is that they don’t like to be told what to do.” 

Her involvement varies from wedding to wedding. When she notices uncertainty among guests in the outer circles, she steps in to help. “Otherwise, I’m mostly handling the schtick, such as handing over the donut sheet or the maypole,” she says. 

Sarembock acknowledges that some couples choose a more restrained celebration. Certain weddings favour a lower-key approach, while others embrace the full spectacle of energetic dancing and elaborate props. 

Whatever form it takes, she believes the underlying goal is the same. “For me, just making the day as happy and as joyous as you can for the bride and groom is the best thing.” 

That focus on communal celebration may explain why the hora continues to remain so central to Jewish weddings around the world. Long after the ceremony ends, it is often the images of crowded dance floors, raised chairs, and joyful circles that remain in guests’ memories. 

And increasingly, behind those moments are women whose role is to ensure that everyone, from lifelong community members to first-time guests, feels part of the simcha.