Fred Berk was born in Vienna. At the age of 15 he became an apprentice to a goldsmith at which he worked until the age of 20, in 1931. Around 1929 he started studying dancing with Gertrud Kraus and also performed in her company from 1930-1934. He also studied at the Vienna State Academy of Dance. In 1936 Berk established his own dance school and gave solo performances throughout Europe. In 1938, after the Anschluss, his studio was closed and all his contracts cancelled.
In May 1938 Berk fled to Switzerland, where he gave performances in cabarets. After a short while he moved on to the Netherlands. In January 1939, he moved to the UK, but stayed there for just three months. He then went to Cuba, where he was dance teacher and performer.
In 1941 Berk finally settled in the USA.
Fred Berk, together with Katya Delakova established a Jewish Dance Guild, and was also founder of Palestinian folk dance performers. In 1945 Berk was admitted as teacher at the Jewish Theological Seminar, New York. He came on his first visit to Israel in 1949 and upon his return to New York brought back new dances. Berk actually became a liaison between Israeli and American folk dance. He taught and popularized Israeli folk dance in the USA, Canada and Israel. From 1950 to 1953 he was head of Stage for Dancing at the Brooklyn Museum, New York. Following some health restrictions Berk stopped performing but continued teaching, research and choreography. From 1952 to 1978 he established and directed the Jewish Dance Division at the 92nd street Y.M.H.A. (Young Men’s Hebrew Association). He established in the 1952 and remained until 1978, director of the annual Israeli Folk Dance Festival, New York. In 1954 he formed the Ariel Dance company to present works on modern and folk themes. Berk became director of the Hebraica Dancers in 1958. At the same time Berk was also co-founder of the Merry-go–Round dance company. In 1968 he became director of the Israeli folk dance department at the American Zionist Youth Foundation. From 1968 to 1981 he was founder and editor of Hora magazine. Berk was faculty member at Brooklyn College, New York.
Berk received a grant from 92nd Street Y.M.H.A. to travel and study international folk dance (1959); Citation for the development of Jewish dance (1960).
His choreographic works include Holiday in Israel; Wedding in Austria (for the Merry-Go–Round dancers). He was co-author of several publications about Israeli and Jewish dances, among them Dances of Palestine (1947), Jewish Folk Dance Book (1948) and more.