This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that include or refers to the term in question. It also indicates whether musical notation or sound recordings are included in the source. By clicking on the bibliographic hyperlink at the end of each citation, you get the full reference.
“Tants (alter yidisher).” Beregovski/Goldin 1987, #90, 223. (Musical notation included).
“‘Shemonah-esreh’ Dance”.“Tzvi Fridhaber, scholar of Jewish dance, Haifa, writes to us:... I was approached by Ms. Chava Verbah and she told me of two wedding dances that she recalled from her childhood in the area of Brisk of Lithuania. Verbah even told me about the second dance that she heard from an old woman, Toybe the Painter. This woman was then over 100 years old. The dance came a period of most likely 150 years ago. The dance came at the close of the wedding, at dawn, and was accompanied by a special song for it. The form of the dance was not further recalled. And here are the contents of the song: tants, tants, tants!...
Regarding the ‘dance dance’: A transformation of this song is found in Y. L. Perets’s: ‘Tants tants,...’ According to Y. Stutschewsky (in his book ha-klezmorim, p. 155, note 49), the author of this charming melody is the composer Moshe-Michael Milner. Fridhaber 1960, p. 30.