“In Praise” – Integrating Dance into a Sabbath Service

It is 1972.  I am sitting in a hospital room in Tallahassee, Florida visiting Irving who has recently been hit in the eye with a tennis ball.  His eyes are covered but he is alert and expected to be fine.  His wife Anita has called and suggested I visit him as she is off to some kind of meeting and thought he might enjoy company.  It is several weeks after Tradition and we haven’t gotten very far in any thoughts of what kind of musical we might collaborate on.

Irving asks me, “What do you think about God?”  I make a face and am glad his eyes are covered.  “I don’t think much about God,” I reply and then continue, explaining I don’t find much meaning in going to temple or sitting through most services.  It just doesn’t connect for me.  He suggests something like well… it is maybe the music that resonates for him.  Before the visit is over we have decided to explore parts of the service in music and dance.  Well that is a bit of a surprise for me… but I’m not opposed.

Over the next few weeks we begin to study the parts of the service, and we think the “Barchu”might be a good starting place.  We discuss the moments in our own lives where we feel close to “God.”  I find it is hard for me to write this 45 years later because my feminist nature no longer includes the word “God” in it.  Even the words “Goddess” or the Jewish word for the feminine side of God – the Shekhina – don’t really reflect my current thinking. Most likely I would express the idea that it is in dance, and in being an artist, that I connect to a deeper place in myself and to others.  That said… let me get back to sharing where I was at in 1972.

It soon became apparent that the ideal premiere of our dance/music “cantata” based on key parts of the traditional Jewish service would be for the dedication of a new sanctuary for Temple Israel planned for the following spring.  That would give us plenty of time to develop the piece and to rehearse with members of the congregation and community.  Together we developed a libretto and then Irving got busy writing the music and I got busy choreographing.

It had been quite a while since I had performed so I soon began taking classes again. Florida State University’s Dance Department proved to be an ideal place to get back in shape. Unfortunately I thought I was in better shape then I was and leaped a bit too high and in the landing severed my Achilles tendon.  It proved to be just a few months’ setback and luckily I had driven myself to the hospital in time so that surgery was avoided and I was able to have the repair done by a foot-to-thigh cast.  During this time I remember working with two young community members, Brian Berkowitz and Terri McOuat, in the family room of our house, choreographing for them, from my place on the sofa, a duet that became part of the “Barchu” section expressing the love between two people.  Once the cast was removed, I had excellent physical therapy and got back to class… being more realistic about my technical dance ability.

Brian Berkowitz and Terri McOuat rehearsing duet from In Praise. Photo by Tallahassee Democrat, 1973

The program notes shared our thoughts:

In Praise is our statement in music, dance, and words of some of our feelings about God and the spirit of Judaism.  We have selected essential parts of the traditional synagogue service as our framework.  In the “Barchu” we see God in man and nature. The “Shema” depicts the strong historical roots of Judaism. “May the Words of Our Mouth” is a moment of personal prayer.  The “Adoration” expresses mankind’s search for self-understanding and fulfillment.

Eight members of the Temple community sang in the piece, including Irving’s wife Anita and my husband Murray.  Reuben Capelouto, Tevye from the production of Tradition, along with Irving’s brother Edwin also were part of the chorus. Some 40 years later, one of the singers, Alicia Novey (now Alicia Smith), sent me an email that she was living in Santa Fe where I now live.  We are now good friends, each having changed in our individual ways from the time of In Praise yet feeling a very strong connection to each other.

Four dancers joined me.  All four had limited dance training but total enthusiasm and willingness to participate.

There were many things I learned from this experience that served me well as I continued with Avodah.  The first thing was how hard it was for a rabbi to change the furniture on the bema.  And for dance to work we need space to move. After much discussion it ended up that we did two performances of In Praise.  The first performance – for the actual dedication ceremony – limited furniture was moved.  However, a week later we had a clear bema so that the dance was larger and could be fully seen.  Over the years of integrating dance into the Friday night Reform  service this became a regular challenge.  I got better and better at finding ways to reassure the various rabbis that rearranging the bema would be OK (and that it would be best if temple officers were not sitting directly behind kicking dancers in a tight space) and that the congregation would accept the temporary changes.  I even learned to quote Biblical text about sacred space to make my point.

Ten months later an article appeared in Reform Judaism (which went to all congregation members of Reform temples throughout the United States) describing the performance:

Tallahassee Congregation Dedicates

 New Sanctuary with Creative Dance Cantata

 The dedication of a new sanctuary is a joyous and precious event requiring a ceremony to fit the occasion.

Temple Israel of Tallahassee, Florida, dedicated its new house of worship with a magnificent dance cantata entitled “In Praise.” The work, conceived and written by Dr. Irving Fleet and Dr. JoAnne Tucker, dramatically proclaimed its authors’ feelings about God and Judaism. “Who is God?” asks one character. “God is some precious moments,” comes the reply.

The cantata was part of a regular worship service at the temple, enhancing the service through song, dance, and narrative.  Beginning with the Barchu, the call to worship, the sights and sounds of a singing chorus, piano and organ, four dancers, and musical soloists lifted the congregation above the everyday into the spiritual realm:

          From God comes all of life.

          He is everywhere and everything

          He is some very precious moments—

          The sound of the woods,

          The sun and the rain,

          The sounds of a voice,

          To feel and to touch.

          Praised be the Lord forever and ever.

 Dance segments of “In Praise” portrayed such themes as love for nature, the love of a man and a woman, and the tenderness of the mother-child relationship.  Other highlights included an affirmation of the oneness of the Jewish people:

          Through all ages

          A scattered people.

          These words bind us together,

          These words carry us through the years.

          And a hope for real concern among people:

          May the time not be distant

          When we see ourselves,

          When we know each other.

Anyone interested in recreating this work may write to Temple Israel….

And write they did.  Over the next year we received about 50 letters.  I think we were both stunned by the strong interest.  In the next blog I will write about our first performance out of town, in my hometown, Pittsburgh.

JoAnne in the “May the Words” solo from In Praise. Photo by Evelyn Walborsky

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