Month: January 2021

Reaction to the Inauguration as a U.S. Citizen in Costa Rica

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

As I write this blog it is with a lighter heart and a sense of joy, filled with so many poignant memories of Wednesday’s inauguration. With COVID and security concerns the day was beautifully choreographed and the inaugural committee is to be commended. As a United States citizen now living abroad in Costa Rica, my connection to the democratic ideals of the United States remains deep, as do my concerns and hope that healing of long-time wounds will be addressed.  I am also very interested in how other countries react to what is happening in the United States.

On Thursday morning I read with delight an article in the Tico Times which I want to share with you, as it gives insight into how Costa Rica views the U.S. inauguration.   The headline itself says a lot:  “‘Multilateralism is back!’ How Costa Rica’s leaders celebrated U.S. inauguration.”  The article mentions that in a Tweet President Carlos Alvarado thanked President Biden for rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement, and that he also assured cooperation with the U.S. in “pursuit of ‘shared principles.’”  

What was most meaningful in the Tico Times article was what I learned about the Vice President of Costa Rica.  Her name is Epsy Campbell and she was elected in 2018.  An article by Brendan O’Boyle in Americas Quarterly (Oct. 19, 2020) notes:

Epsy Campbell Barr became the first Black woman in Latin America to be elected vice president – despite the fact that Afro-descendant women comprise up to 17% of the region’s populations. . . . [She] began her career as a human rights and environmental activist and an economist researching women’s inclusion.  As vice president, she has led a working group to try to close the gender pay gap, and also launched a program offering credit to rural women working in conservation.  

The Tico Times article reported that Campbell “shared a letter she had sent to Vice President Kamala Harris”:

In the communication, Campbell referenced her Afro-descendant grandmother, who “did not live to see her dream made reality,” but who worked to ensure “her daughters and her granddaughters could enjoy the rights she always wanted but never had.” 

“As Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica, and as a Black woman, I have joined the celebration of Afro-descendent towns and communities across the world that appropriate this accomplishment as an example to advance on the path to equality,” Vice President Campbell wrote.

Photo by Stefano Martin of Epsy Campbell from the Americas Quarterly

Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry is also quoted as saying: 

Costa Rica celebrates the solid ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, which have cemented its 170 years of diplomatic relations. In this sense, we will work actively and constructively together with the Government of President Biden and Vice President Harris and their teams, to strengthen the recovery process in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and energize the bilateral, regional and multilateral agendas, promoting political dialogue, cooperative actions, and the promotion of commerce and attraction of investments.

So today I not only celebrate the inauguration but I have learned more about the country I am living in and its relationship with the U.S.  Murray and I were always aware of the good relationship that existed between the two countries when we decided to move here although we knew that Trump was damaging and isolating the U.S. relationships with many places.  So it is with delight I read the Tico Times article and learned about Vice President Epsy Campbell.

For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in traveling both in the United States and internationallybecause not only is it about sightseeing but it is about what we learn about ourselves and our relationship to others. Sometimes I’ve traveled alone, sometimes with the dance company and sometimes with Murray.  In our international travel we were both fascinated with how citizens of other countries viewed the United States both positively and negatively.  I remember seeing negative things written on walls on a trip to a university town in Germany back in 1987. Traveling during the George Bush administration between 2005-2008 we heard and saw negative things.  (Now, of course, the Bush administration is looking amazingly good, after what we have just experienced with Trump.)  Living now for nearly a year in Costa Rica I was well aware of the negative attitude toward Trump and the disappointment that Ticos felt for what was happening in the U.S. 

I was particularly made aware of that on January 7th when the young man from a restaurant/bakery that I regularly order from made a delivery to the house.  The young man asked me how I was doing.  I told him that I felt very sad and upset about what had happened at the Capitol in the U.S. the day before. He shared that he was upset too and that it was very troubling what had been happening in the U.S. since Trump had been elected, as he and most Costa Ricans looked to the U.S. as a model and since Trump that wasn’t possible.  He hoped it would be possible again.  Luckily the young man spoke English very well because while I am progressing in learning Spanish a detailed conversation like this would not have been possible.  

I was glad I watched the inauguration with my Costa Rican friend and helper.  First of all, I missed sharing this with Murray as he would have been thrilled to witness Biden and Harris sworn in and so I was glad not to be alone.  And second it was wonderful to know how a Tico was experiencing the transfer of power.  We both had tears in our eyes when Vice President Harris was sworn in, as I did later during the beautiful poem written and read elegantly by 22-year-old American Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. 

I loved the images of both Biden and Harris immediately going to work.  Maybe eliminating Inauguration Balls is even a good option for the future. 

Here’s a link to the article in the Tico Times: https://ticotimes.net/2021/01/20/multilateralism-is-back-how-costa-ricas-leaders-celebrated-u-s-inauguration

Here’s a link to the article in Americas Quarterly https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/aq-top-5-champions-of-gender-equality-epsy-campbell-barr/

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Touring in the United States – Part II

JoAnne Tucker / / Avodah's Early History, New York Company, Touring

While days on tour were demanding, with long hours spent in the performing space whether it was a synagogue or theatre, we occasionally had time to sightsee or just have a day off to relax!  Most of those times were wonderfully refreshing, and right now I only remember one tour in which I was so exhausted I barely communicated with the dancers and was just glad to have time alone.  This stood in strong contrast to most of the time when we had fun planning what we would do and enjoying each other’s company.  With a small company and only one car, having a congenial group was important.  

As this blog continues I’ll be sharing my experiences. I enthusiastically invite others to send their favorite memories of days off while on tour with a dance, theatre company, or music group You can just send a sentence or two or have fun writing a fuller “but brief” description. Pictures are always welcome. I’ll put some memories together for a community guest blog. You can share either anonymously or with your name.

One of our most frequent day-off decisions was whether it was best to stock up on food from a grocery store or plan to enjoy a restaurant meal (or a combination of both).  (Kezia’s favorite description was from Ida Rae Cahana — that touring was “all about packing, unpacking and foraging for food.”)  I can remember lots of meals where afterwards we would pass the one check around the table (‘cause many places would not do separate checks) and each person would calculate what they owed and also put in an amount for a tip.  I learned to be a better tipper from those trips,  as some of the dancers had been or were waitpersons and understood how important a good tip is!!

Quite often to keep costs low we did home hospitality.  Some of these were wonderful experiences where we met people who became friends and contributors of the company through the years.  Occasionally, hosted experiences were unpleasant but most of those times a dancer was not alone at a house, so the dancers could support each other and keep a sense of humor about the experience.  On one such occasion,  Kezia and I were in a house where a five-year-old child kept intruding into our space and asking repeatedly if he could see me naked because he wanted to see a fat person without clothes on!  Yes I was heavy and the first time it was kinda funny but soon it became annoying.  Kezia (though appalled) helped me keep my sense of humor on this occasion.

Our housing could be all extremes — from mansions to dorm rooms with a mattress on the floor and limited sheets/blankets. Luckily the mattress on the floor only happened for one night at a college booking.  One time I spent a few nights in the home of the CEO of a cruise ship line in a beautiful separate guest house overlooking the water in a gated community in the Miami area. I remember a time when two company members stayed in a home that had actual Picasso works.

In the early days of the company one of my favorite trips was to Savannah, GA with Irving Fleet. We were there to stage In Praise as part of the service at Temple Mickve Israel and there had been wonderful publicity.  We had the morning off and were wandering on a tour on Riverwalk which runs along the southern edge of the Savannah River, and we entered a touristy jewelry store mainly consisting of beads where you made your own necklace or bracelet.  The person behind the counter got very excited and said something like “Oh I recognize you… you were in today’s newspaper!” 

The California tours always provided a few fun days off.  Once when we were in the Santa Rosa area several of us drove up to Calistoga and I did my one and only mud bath.  Calistoga was an interesting small town at the end of the well known Napa Valley, home to hot springs, mud baths and wineries. I remember it as quaint and fun just to walk/drive around.  I didn’t like the mud bath too much but was glad I had tried it!  

Sometimes we went for gentle hikes or had a beach day or hung around a pool.  On a Colorado tour we did a circle drive west of Denver that took us up to a snow-filled pass that had only recently been opened.  

What follows next are some of my favorite day-off pictures.  A few of them have been in earlier posts!!  Some are new. 

From an Avodah scrapbook. On the left is Kezia relaxing under a tree and Beth Millstein on the beach, both taken on a Florida tour.
Colorado tour when we took a circle trip into the mountains west of Denver. From l to r Loretta Abbott, Newman, JoAnne, Deborah and Cantor Ida Rae Cahana. 
On a California Tour from l to r. Deborah Hannah, Beth Bardin, Kezia, Susan Freeman
Rick Jacobs and Bea Bogorad volunteer to be part of a demonstration on our day off tour of Universal City on an early California tour.

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January 6th – the New Date for History Books

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

While I was in the midst of writing a blog related to dance company touring, I had my iPad tuned to news programs mainly to hear about the results of the Georgia runoff elections for the Senate.  I was feeling pretty excited hearing that Ossoff was pulling ahead in the GA race and Vice President Mike Pence had made an opening statement indicating that he would be following his appropriate role in receiving and registering the electoral votes.  Then the mob breached the Capitol and my energy changed.  I could no longer concentrate on writing the dance company blog.  The rest of the day and into the late evening I was focused on the news, mainly listening to MSNBC.  I found myself deeply sad and at times tearful.  

My interests and background are in the arts and I am not usually a news junky.  That was what my life partner/husband Murray did and he passed away just over two months ago.  Perhaps because I knew I couldn’t turn to ask him for an update, I needed to watch for myself.  I did that and now I am left with a strange and uncomfortable feeling of how to react and what to do.   I paint, I write and I used to direct a dance company, and so when I find myself having strong emotional reactions I know that I am also looking for a way to express them.  So here I am writing.

Among the many senators’ speeches, one of them used two phrases which I could relate to.  9/11 was a time when the action came from outside the country while today the action was from within the country.  Outside and inside forces.  And the inside force came from the strong encouragement of the President.  Images of the people inside the building, especially one person sitting at a desk in the House Speaker’s office had almost a clown feeling to it.  Almost someone doing mischief.  Efforts were to be disruptive and that they were. It could have been a lot worse. What it did show was how fragile the country is, how poor security was at the Capitol and how democracy is something we cannot take for granted!!

It felt good to see the proceeding resume after the building was secure, and while there were four deaths it could have been many more.  By the time I got up this morning, Biden and Harris were formally elected and there was a message from the President there would be an orderly transfer of power.  Yet I still have this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, and while my unrest is not at the level I felt after 9/11, it is here.  On 9/11, living in Jersey City, I saw the second tower collapse, with my own eyes, walking the few blocks from our house to the river.  I was with a neighbor and I knew that all of my family was already safe. Yet that day changed me. It took a few months before the direction was clear to me, and how I ran my dance company and what I decided to choreograph evolved in a different direction.  I have written about that before and so I will just summarize by saying that the Forgiveness Project happened shortly after that, and my focus on work shifted from emphasis on Jewish themes and performances in synagogues to work relevant for working with women in prison.

So I know I have a need to be patient with myself, not discount my feelings and give myself time to see what evolves.  My circumstances are different as I now am far from DC where the action happened.  I live alone in Costa Rica in a beautiful setting.  Yet I am hearing a voice inside me saying that this threat to democracy in the United States is very real and not over and that it does affect me and those close to me. This fight of the white men to keep control is not over.  Racism is a key part of it. And I can’t be silent about it! 

In 2003, the teacher I had for life drawing at the Art Students League in New York City (I am embarrassed not to remember her name) talked about how important it is to use your art for political statements, particularly related to feminism.  So maybe thinking about how to bring these feelings into my art will be important to me. 

We have so many outstanding examples of visual artists, musicians, and performing artists responding to the politics and challenges of their time.  I ask myself and I ask you how are we going to respond to what we saw yesterday and the reminder of how fragile our democracy is, and how racism, anti-Semitism and feminism fit into this picture!  For a brief moment yesterday we got to celebrate two new senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff elected from a Southern state.  Ossoff is only 33 and Jewish. Reverend Warnock is African American.  The fact that the Southern state of Georgia elected them and is giving the Senate back to the Democrats is a major tribute to Stacey Abrams who,  along with other women of color, dedicated herself to changing the state. That gives me hope.  

I am privileged to live in a beautiful home in Costa Rica. Part of the reason Murray and I moved here was because of our fear of how the election of 2016 pointed toward increased anti-Semitism, racism, and loss of democracy.  Yesterday was a major test.  Even though I don’t live in the United States right now I am still a citizen and care.  So I am asking myself, “What can I do as an artist from right where I am????”

Today I decided I want to do original sketches of women I really admire for my
wall of Sheroes.  This is a very rough sketch of a portrait that
I will be working on for the next several days. 

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Touring in the United States – Part 1

JoAnne Tucker / / Avodah's Early History, dance liturgy, New York Company, Touring

I had planned to write this week about Avodah’s international tours, and workshops I led outside of the U.S.  But as I was thinking about that I became curious about how many U.S. states Avodah had performed in, and what I remember about touring in the U.S.  So for this blog and the next I am going to write about our domestic touring, in general terms, and include a few fun pictures, before turning my attention to international trips.

First of all, the Avodah Dance Ensemble visited 29 of the 50 United States, either performing or giving workshops — usually doing both. Some states we visited on just one tour and others with multiple tours. For me touring was one of the fun parts of directing the company and I kept in mind several things related to touring as I directed the company.  

I made sure we continued always as a small company that could fit into one car or at least a minivan.  I owned a minivan and we often rented one when we flew on tour.  I purposely kept it that way for two main reasons: economic in that we would only need to rent one vehicle when necessary, and my own personal minivan would work when possible; and personal/professional in that having only 5 to 7 personalities to work with (that included me) made sense to me.  I also made sure we were never gone more than about 10 to 12 days.  Even when we toured to the West Coast we left, for example, on a Thursday, had two weekends away and returned on a  Monday!  On our long tours to places like California and Florida we often had several full days off when we could sightsee and relax.

So what was it like.  When it was a one-day tour and I was using my own car we had a meeting place.  That place depended on where we were off to. If I had to drive through NYC (from New Jersey) then the meeting place was often in the West Village by the Washington Square Subway stop so that it was easy for the dancers to get to.  If I wasn’t going through the city and we were heading west or into South Jersey then we most often met close to where I lived, particularly when I lived in Jersey City.  I don’t remember any incidents where anyone was more than a little late. That is in sharp contrast to some times when we were taking an airplane.

Two particular times stand out when we boarded a plane and not all the dancers had arrived in a timely fashion at the airport.  For one flight to Sarasota, Florida one of the dancers simply wasn’t there when they started boarding the flight. So I left her ticket with an airline agent!  We boarded and clearly other passengers became aware that we were missing someone because when the dancer arrived at the last moment just before they were getting ready to close the doors, most of the plane applauded her. I don’t remember why she was late.

Then there was another trip when the percussionist (not our regular Newman who was always very prompt) did not make the plane at all.  Again I left his ticket and he did arrive on a later flight.  There was also a time when there was a blackout in NYC and there was an element of suspense about whether everyone would get to the airport on time, but if my memory serves me correctly we all did.  

Need I say these situations cause a certain level of anxiety, and I am so glad to report that over a nearly thirty-year period of touring those are the only incidents I have to share.  

Now, once on tour,  what is it like!  Well for short day trips we generally spent the day in the facility rehearsing, with one food trip out unless we had requested food be provided for us.  Grocery stories were a favorite for those day trips because we could each find something there to our liking to take back.  The rest of the day was spent adjusting the dance pieces to the performance space.  Often it was easy for spacing when we were performing in a theatre because the surface was flat and it was just determining which wings to go in and out.  The challenge there was often setting lighting.  Since Avodah didn’t have a stage manager, it was up to me to work with the lighting technician or crew in the theatre both determining what lighting was available and setting it for each piece.  My guideline was to keep it as simple as possible yet have it be effective for setting the moods of the pieces.  The most memorable lighting situation I ever had was in an outdoor festival in Long Island when it rained fairly hard and I was sitting under an umbrella in the rain in a lighting booth out in a field,  calling the cues for the performance.  Maybe we had one or two people in the audience and the dancers luckily were on a protected stage.  (Kezia says it was one man, there were puddles on stage, and the dancers were terrified I would be electrocuted.)

For both theater performances and when we integrated dance into the Friday night service I usually ran the sound.  

Picture taken at CAJE conference (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education) where I am running the sound and the dancers are performing on a stage. 
 
Beth Millstein ironing a costume for a Friday night service while on tour. Avodah was an ensemble onstage and off; everyone ironed, mended, hauled and helped as needed.

A great deal of the time on a Friday afternoon we were preparing to integrate three pieces into the Friday night Shabbat service.  That meant spacing the three pieces on the bema (raised platform where the service is led). Now that could be a real challenge for several reasons: first of all, the bema usually was not just one level – often there were steps that led to different levels; second, its shape was not at all like the rehearsal studio we were used to; and third, it often took a lot of persuading to get most of the furniture off the bema so we would have maximum space for dancing.

Kezia (left) and Deborah Hanna on a break on tour.  We were rehearsing for a Friday night service and the preschool playground provided a perfect place for a break.

Each of these three reasons presented its own unique challenge and each had memorable moments for me.  First of all, levels.  I was always amazed at how the dancers could quickly adjust to so many different levels and manage literally to dance up and down the stairs.  One challenging bema was in South Orange, New Jersey and the dancers in the company in the early 80’s did a most amazing job with the many steps. While most of the company had gone back to the city after the Friday night service, Rick Jacobs (then in rabbinic school) and I stayed to lead a workshop with some teenagers.  We were no longer in the main sanctuary but rather in a smaller chapel.  As I was talking and demonstrating I managed to slip and fall down the maybe two steps.  The next thing I knew, Rick was falling down the steps, because he said as he fell, if the director falls then the dancer follows suit.  The kids laughed and I felt like a total idiot having watched the way the dancers negotiated the steps the night before!!

Irregular shapes were more common than not, and particularly challenging were long skinny bema’s where the dancers had to figure out how to negotiate in 6 feet what was designed to be done in 18 ft.  They did an amazing job.  Sometimes they made different adjustments in performance than were planned in rehearsal.  I never got upset because they consistently found clever ways to adjust to each other.  I was the only person aware and loved to see how they solved these last-minute, new, on-the-spot choreographic changes.

Ah… getting the rabbis to move the furniture for a Friday night service could be challenging. Sometimes, especially on return visits, it was easy but the first time could be difficult.  Unfortunately, I had lots of experience with that, starting with the very first performance of In Praise before there was even a formal dance company.  It took major negotiations to get most of the furniture moved and the Rabbi’s podium was never moved.  A few years later when a Rabbi announced that the podium was not moveable, Rick Jacobs (still in Rabbinic school)  and I simply showed the Rabbi how the podium could easily be moved over to the side and the wires adjusted so the mic worked from there.  The Rabbi wrote, in an evaluation to the Jewish Welfare Board that had arranged the booking, that the director, JoAnne Tucker, was quite professional but aggressive, in seeing that the company got what they needed.  I laughed when the evaluation was shared, knowing exactly what was being referred to.  The Rabbi and that congregation did become a regular booker of Avodah and we returned to participate in a Friday night service for nine years and never had a problem getting the furniture moved again.

Toward the end of the time I was touring, in around 2002, we had the most challenging Rabbi situation.  The Rabbi felt sure the best place for us to perform was in the back of the sanctuary, with the congregation looking over their shoulders to see us, because it was a level, large space.  Well that was totally ridiculous as it was clear no one would see any of the dancing.  I must have spent over an hour negotiating with him, and it was only when I quoted scripture to him and promised that we would not go up to the most sacred space where the Torahs were,  that he relented and I was able to stage the repertory on the other part of the bema so that the congregation could see us.  It amused me quite a bit that here it was thirty years after the earliest performance and I was still negotiating with Rabbis to be able to dance on the bema.  It’s no wonder that I began to feel it was easier to work in prisons!!

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