Author: JoAnne Tucker

Remembering Rabbi Dr. Walter Jacob (March 13, 1930 – October 20, 2024)

JoAnne Tucker / / Avodah's Early History, Personal Life

On October 22, I streamed the funeral service of Dr. Walter Jacob. My cousin Maxine, who knows what an important person Rabbi Jacob was to me and my family, shared a notice that had gone out to congregants with a zoom link.  Tears often steamed down my face as I heard rabbis he had mentored, and his family members, share the important role he had played in their lives.  They pointed out that Dr. Jacob was a unique rabbi, combining outstanding scholarship with compassionate pastoral care.  He encouraged others in simple, direct ways.  As I write this, I am filled with many memories of how he helped me to find my path as choreographer/director of The Avodah Dance Ensemble.  He also was very much our family rabbi.

Photo provided by Rodef Shalom

“It’s OK if the new piece doesn’t work.  Sometimes we fail.”  Dr. Walter Jacob shared these words with me many years ago as we walked through the beautiful garden at his house a few days before we were due to premiere a new piece at Rodef Shalom as part of the service. It would be the third time The Avodah Dance Ensemble performed at Rodef Shalom. I expressed concern that I thought we were trying to do too much in the new piece.  I don’t remember exactly what he said next, but it was something about how we learn from all of our experiences.  Wise words that helped to guide me through the years.

I attended Rodef Shalom from the time I entered kindergarten until confirmation at age 16. Dr. Jacob was named Assistant Rabbi following his graduation from Hebrew Union College in 1955, and he remained at the congregation, except for the two years when he served as a US Airforce Chaplain in the Philippines.  He became Senior Rabbi in 1966 and served in that position until his retirement in 1996 when he was named Rabbi Emeritus and Senior Scholar.  My first contact with Rabbi Jacob was probably shortly after he returned from the Philippines.  I was 14 and participating in the youth group. As he was guiding us in planning a Havdalah Service I must have mentioned my interest in dance, because he encouraged me, along with another member of the youth group (Suzan Fischer), to create a dance for this sweet service which marks the ending of Shabbat.

I don’t remember what the dance was like, but I do know that experience planted the seed that would later lead me to create and direct the Avodah Dance Ensemble.  For the next 35 years, Dr. Jacob (Walter, as I grew to call him as an adult) would play important roles in my family’s life and in my professional dance life.

In a blog published on October 12, 2018, I described the  performance of In Praise at Rodef Shalom in 1974.  Its first performance had been as part of the dedication service of Temple Israel in Tallahassee, where we lived at the time. On a family visit to Pittsburgh shortly after the Tallahassee performance, my husband and I visited Walter.  When I shared information about In Praise, Walter suggested doing it at Rodef Shalom.   The performance on Sunday morning, January 27, 1974, stands out as a peak experience and turning point in my life and in the development of The Avodah Dance Ensemble.  It became clear to me how I would use my dance talent.  Walter helped to reinforce that, not only by inviting us to perform In Praise as part of the service, but by welcoming Irving  Fleet (the composer) and me to stand with the clergy in a receiving line.  The feedback, while overwhelming, was inspiring.  I don’t know how many people came through the line, but it was a lot.  (The synagogue seats 900 people on the main floor with a balcony for 300 more, and the downstairs was particularly full due to some excellent publicity in the days before the performance.) Then an amazing column by Milton Susman in The Jewish Chronicle closed by expressing gratitude to Dr. Walter Jacob, “for surrendering his pulpit to a happening that was couched in velvet.”

Lynne Wimmer and JoAnne Tucker on the bema, in front of the ark at Rodef Shalom.
Photo by Morris Berman for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1974).

A letter from Walter, after the event, reinforced the impact the piece had, and soon Irving Fleet and I were working on a new piece.  As the repertory grew over the next two years, it became clear to me that running a Jewish liturgical dance company from Tallahassee, FL was not ideal, and I began thinking of a New York City-based company.  When I shared that idea with Walter, he offered to reach out to Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City to see what relationship we might have with the college.  The result of his opening the door in 1976 was a long-running relationship for me with HUC-JIR, through 2004. The company performed in the chapel, first on 68th street and then quite regularly at 1 West 4th Street where HUC-JIR is now.  The company was often invited to perform or teach a workshop in a rabbinic class.  Later I taught in the Doctor of Divinity Program.  All of this was made possible by Walter’s initial contact with Dr. Paul Steinberg, the Dean of the New York campus in 1976.

Walter was a board member of Avodah from the very beginning.  He wonderfully encouraged Vigdor Kavalier, Executive Director of Rodef Shalom at the time, to also become a Board Member. Vigdor had a passion for dance and regularly attended New York City Ballet performances at Lincoln Center, flying in from Pittsburgh for a dance-filled weekend.

On a personal note, Walter married my husband and me.  As a couple we kept in contact with Walter whenever we traveled to Pittsburgh and loved visiting first the garden in his home and then later the Biblical Garden.  When I lost a sister to suicide and none of my immediate family was in Pittsburgh that particular day, my Mom’s secretary called Rodef Shalom and Walter simply came and sat with my Mom until a family member could be with her.  My Mom worked in special education and had worked with Walter and Irene with their daughter Claire. Our daughter Rachel’s Bat Mitzvah was at Rodef Shalom.  Although she studied with our rabbi in Tallahassee, due to family illness we moved the actual ceremony to Pittsburgh at Rodef Shalom with Walter officiating, so an important family member who lived in Pittsburgh could be part of the event.  The depth of Walter’s quiet compassion and presence was indeed a gift to our family and to those of us at Rodef Shalom. For that I am deeply grateful.

This recent post in the CCAR newsletter remembers Walter’s role as a leader of the rabbinic community, a scholar, and a compassionate family rabbi.

As the years passed, I began to be aware of Walter’s outstanding scholarship and his vision to develop a rabbinic school in Germany.  An article in Wikipedia is a resource to learn more about Walter, as is his obituary in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Thank you, Maxine, for letting me know of Walter’s death.  That it happened during Succot, the harvest holiday, provided a meaningful background so fitting for Walter, who loved nature and gardening.  His memory is indeed a blessing, and will continue to be a blessing, for many of us whose lives he touched.

Art and Ballet: A Special Sunday in Costa Rica – Part 2

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

The Teatro Melico Salazar was a quick ride from the museum, and we planned our schedule so we would get there in time to have a late afternoon lunch before the Ballet Nacional de Cuba performance started at 5.  The theatre has a wonderful café called Café Raventos (https://www.facebook.com/raventoscr).   They have a delightful lite menu, and the description on their Facebook page – that they are a place “filled with history and art” – fits perfectly.  We were all very happy with our selections, both in food and special coffees – or in my case, hot chocolate.  Since I will occasionally have fish when I am out, I had a wonderful trout salad.  (If you are a regular reader to this blog, you may remember that my diet is plant based except for occasional fish when I am out.)

Waiting with Artists in Residence for our late lunch.

By the time we finished our meal, the café had gotten quite full and noisy, so we were glad we had gotten there at 3 and enjoyed a leisurely meal.  The café literally leads right into the lobby, and we found our way to orchestra seats.  When I saw the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in April of 2023, I had seats in the mezzanine.  I don’t recommend that, as there are poles spaced regularly and so it’s hard to tell which seats have obstructed views.  In the orchestra, there is no problem, so that is where I plan to sit from now on.

The performance opened with Dionaea, the most abstract piece of the program.  In googling the word “Dionaea,” I discovered it refers to the Venus flytrap plant.  It’s a carnivorous plant with tiny “trigger hairs” lining its edge at the end of the plant leaves.  It snaps shut when an unsuspecting bug or spider trips one of the hairs.  A large chorus of female dancers in red unitards portrayed the plant, with their arms creating patterns to represent the triggering hair.  I was impressed by the very tight ensemble quality of the large group of dancers.  Program notes indicate that a female soloist “represents a living petal” who separates herself from the other female dancers and dances the power of attraction to three male soloists.  The tall female dancer, Sadaise Arencibia, was elegant and enticing.  The piece was choreographed by Gustavo Herrera with music by Villa-Lubos and premiered in 1984.  The costumes and set complemented the movement.

Curtain call of Dionaea (Photo by JoAnne)

The next piece, Muto, was a short solo for a male dancer. It was a haunting and technically challenging contemporary-style piece spectacularly performed by Roque Salvador.  The choreographer Alberto Mendez is well known and respected, having created many pieces for Ballet Nacional de Cuba. The music was by Edward Grieg.

A classical duet from El Corsario  (Le Corsaire) concluded the first half of the program.    It was choreographed by the company’s famous prima ballerina Alicia Alonso (1920-2019), based on the original choreography by Marius Petipa created in 1899.  It was brilliantly performed by Grettel Morejon and Yankiel Vazquez, with both duets and solo sections.

Curtain call of El Corsario (Photo by JoAnne)

The second half of the program was the ballet Carmen. The piece was created in 1967, and Alicia Alonso was well known for the role of Carmen.  Detailed program notes reminded us of the story and how the company interprets it:

The staging of the National Ballet of Cuba concentrates its intention on revealing the essential contradictions between Carmen’s rebellious personality and the forces of her time, represented by the characters that surround her. Carmen faces a society that, according to its canons, denies and judges her. The dilemma that is presented to her is to adapt or perish; and she, free, willful, individual, prefers to die.

The plot is summarized as follows: the gypsy Carmen, a beautiful and sensual woman, is terrible in her passions. She works as a cigarette maker in the factory where she has quarreled with one of her colleagues, for which she is arrested by Captain Zúñiga. Carmen seduces Sergeant José so that he forgets his duty and helps her escape, turning him into a smuggler and thief. Later, the gypsy falls in love with the young bullfighter Escamillo. José, seeing himself betrayed by Carmen, stabs her to death.

Carmen plays with the feelings of three men: Don José, the bullfighter Escamillo and Zúñiga. The famous protagonists of Merimée’s novel are located in a bullring, which symbolizes life. The fighting bull and Carmen’s destiny come together in a sinister character.

 

What an amazing event.  The Ballet Nacional de Cuba has an outstanding reputation, and it didn’t disappoint at all.  I felt the company was even stronger than when I saw it in April 2023.  In particular, the ensemble work was much tighter and the soloists both technically and emotionally outstanding.

There are so many plusses to living in Atenas, Costa Rica.  I love that it is a small town. That I live on a beautiful, spacious property filled with fruit trees and tropical flowers, overlooking mountains and farming land.  I do miss going regularly to the ballet, modern dance concerts and musical theatre.  What a wonderful treat it is when a company like  Ballet Nacional de Cuba comes to Costa Rica and I am able to attend.

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Art and Ballet: A special Sunday in Costa Rica – Part 1

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Costa Rica, Personal Life

I was excited to see recently that Ballet Nacional de Cuba was returning to Costa Rica.  I loved the performance I saw in the spring of 2023 (Link blog May 5, 2023), so I immediately made plans to attend this time.  Three artists in residence were going to be at my home at the time of the performance, so I quickly sent off emails to them to see if they wanted to attend.  All three answered with an enthusiastic response, realizing what a treat it would be to see this outstanding company.

As we got close to the day, one of the residents asked if we could combine the performance trip with a visit to a museum in San Jose. The performance didn’t begin until 5 PM, so maybe we could visit an art museum first and then have very early dinner in the café attached to the theater.  A few google searches, and we found that while some museums were closed on Sunday, Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC) was open.  I had been there before (Blog: March 23, 2024), but I didn’t mind going back, especially because I loved some of the sculpture in the garden and thought it would be fun to sketch.  

Leaving the house at noon, we arrived at the museum in plenty of time.  The exhibit that I had seen before, Valle Oscuro by Adrian Arguedas Ruano, was still the featured first-floor exhibit.  I decided to go upstairs, as I had heard there was a uniquely decorated room.  A sign outside the room provided information:

The Golden Room used to be La Sabana International Airport’s Diplomatic Lounge. Its walls are covered by a mural constructed from 1939 to 1940 by Louis Feron, a French Sculptor and goldsmith who lived in Costa Rica for more than 10 years.

This mural is made of stucco carved in bas relief and presents fragments of Costa Rican history from the pre-Columbian era to 1940 when the building was inaugurated. 

The room was spectacular and made one wonder what international guests were entertained there.  An informative guide asked me what country I was from, and when I said the United States, he immediately told me that among the guests was President John F. Kennedy.  Kennedy visited Costa Rica in March of 1963 to attend a summit with the presidents of six countries.

A small section of the mural by Louis Feron in The Golden Room. Photo by JoAnne

There was also a new exhibit that I hadn’t seen before by Carlos Cruz-Diez, a Venezuelan artist (1923-2019).  Wow… it reminded me a lot of Yaacov Agam’s art. Agam’s “12 Tribes of Israel” stain-glass windows are installed in the Petrie Synagogue, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.  I am quite familiar with the windows, as the Petrie Synagogue (which according to a description on HUC-JIR’s website  “expresses the institution’s commitment to enlightenment and modernity”) was the main New York City performing space for the Avodah Dance Ensemble, which I founded and directed for over 30 years.  We also held workshops in this wonderfully flexible, light and airy room.  The HUC-JIR website goes on to describe the

windows:

The metaphor of light finds its expression in Yaacov Agam’s kinetic “12 Tribes of Israel” stained glass windows, which are the first three-dimensional stained and leaded glass installations in the world. Vivid shapes of color define the diverse identities of each of the twelve sons of Joseph, who are united by a shared color palette and geometry in the four windows measuring between 26’ and 29’ in height. Agam’s images are in a “state of becoming” – they cannot be seen in their totality at any one time or from any one position. They can only be discerned, as a revelation, through the viewer’s physical movement through the space.

It was an inspiration to be able to regularly rehearse, teach and perform in this unique space at HUC-JIR.  As I walked through the exhibition of Carlos Cruz-Diez’s work, I was fascinated with how, in a two-dimensional manner, he had created the sense of movement and color changes that I remembered from Agam’s work in the Petrie Synagogue as well as other work by Agam that I recently saw during my spring trip to Paris.

In doing research for this blog I googled Agam’s name with Carlos Cruz-Diez and found that actually Carlos Cruz-Diez began doing explorations in kinetic art prior to Agam.  In 1955 they were both in a seminal show in Paris called “Le Mouvemente” along with several other artists. 

I was curious why this artist’s work from a Paris show in 2014 was being shown in a museum that mainly focuses on Costa Rican artists.  A statement by Esteban Calvo, director of the museum, answered me:

This exhibition is a very significant event for the Costa Rican scene that brings the population closer to the works of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, as well as inspiring new generations to explore the infinite possibilities of color.

A description on the Cruz-Diez website described the uniqueness of it:

On the occasion centenary of the artist’s birth, the exhibition RGB: The Colors of the century started its worldwide tour, in partnership with the Centre Pompidou and the Musée national d’art moderne. In 2024, the tour continues.

This exhibition was conceived and curated by the artist in 2014 and consists of sixteen artworks and a computer program implemented on tactile supports. It has been conceived in such a way that it doesn’t require any physical transport of works, the data allowing the realization of these works being transmitted electronically.

One of the exhibited pieces of Carlos Cruz-Diez. Photo by JoAnne

Having some time before we needed to leave the museum, I headed toward a balcony with benches that overlook a garden with sculpture and had fun drawing.

I highly recommend this delightful museum, which has free parking and free admission although you need to sign in and show ID. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 AM to 4 PM.  Here’s a link to learn more.

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Oscar

JoAnne Tucker / / Childhood, Costa Rica, Personal Life

Oscar, a miniature poodle, is an important part of my life. He is also building a fan club of my guests, so that almost all emails from friends and artists who have been guests at Casa Uno Artist Residency include a greeting to Oscar!  He is also the first dog that I have had as an adult.

When I was growing up, we always had a dog in the house.  My mom loved dogs and said dogs followed her home from school when she was a child.  I didn’t take much interest in the pets we had in the house except when they had puppies, and then it was fun to watch the little Dalmatians grow or the strange mix that a German shepherd and a large French poodle produced.

Cats, and especially a black cat we called Midnight, were a part of my children’s life growing up.  My husband and I were cat people, although sometimes I thought it might be fun to have a dog.  When I made that suggestion to my husband, I got a look from him that clearly said that wasn’t going to happen.

Things changed after my husband passed and I had a robbery in the house where I live in Costa Rica.  While the two young robbers didn’t get much, it was enough for me to decide we needed to take steps to make the house more secure.  I did, making sure the alarm system worked and that the property was completely fenced in with grill work on vulnerable windows.  I also thought it would be a good idea to get a dog.  At first, I was looking at a German shepherd, knowing that they are good watch dogs, but then I got realistic, also knowing that a large dog would be too much for me to handle.  While a rescue dog was appealing, I was concerned, as a new dog owner, that I didn’t want to handle problems that a rescue dog might bring.  Since some family members were allergic to some breeds of dogs, and as I was anticipating guests, I wanted a dog that would not be a problem for people with allergies.

Photo by Manrique

Next came the fun of naming him.  Since he would be a part of the Artist Residencies I was planning I wanted to give him a name that had an artsy ring to it.  I first wanted to call him Shakespeare, but I immediately got a resounding “no” from my house manager Manrique, who firmly said, “He is a Costa Rican dog.  He needs a Costa Rican name.”

I asked for suggestions of famous Costa Ricans, particularly if they were in the arts.

After a short pause Manrique suggested the name Oscar for Oscar Arias Sanchez, who served two terms as President and was also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.  That worked for me since it immediately also reminded me of Oscars in the world of arts, such as Oscar Wilde and Oscar Hammerstein. So now I had a name for my new puppy.

Oscar has been with me for over three years now and is an important part of life here.  It has been fun to watch how he adapts to all the different guests.  When he hears a car coming up the driveway, he immediately rushes to the door to see who’s here.  I find it interesting that when he recognizes someone he doesn’t bark, but if he is unsure, he will bark, letting me know that it may be someone we are not familiar with.  Once someone is acknowledged by me as a friend, Oscar is the first to warmly welcome them, and he needs to be acknowledged before I can greet the person.  He will often curl up beside someone, expecting to be gently petted.  Since his fur is so soft and silky, he gets lots of petting.  Sometimes he will sit beside someone and lift his paw, meaning, “please scratch my belly.”

As a choreographer who doesn’t have any dancers to work with, I have had lots of fun teaching Oscar some moves.  Here is a video of Oscar and me going through his regular routine.

An example of one of Oscar’s tricks. Photo by Nancy Abraham

Slowly I add new tricks to Oscar’s repertory.  I used to wonder how people could become so attached to their dogs.  Now I know!

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Thoughts After Seeing Sweet Mambo: An Informal Review

JoAnne Tucker / / Current Dance Events, Personal Life

During dinner with Ernesta and Andra in Paris, I asked them for suggestions to help me watch that evening’s performance of Pina Bausch’s Sweet Mambo. Years ago, I had seen the Pina Bausch company at Brooklyn Academy of Music, and while I had found the piece interesting and some of the movement exciting to watch, overall I was puzzled by it.  I welcomed some guidance on how to view the night’s performance.

They suggested I view it as a series of vignettes where the performer is sharing a moment of importance to him/her/them.  The piece premiered in 2008, and six of the original cast members would be among the nine current performers.  It was also pointed out to me that the six original cast members had been working with Pina for a number of years.  Some quick math and I realized I would be seeing mature performers, some possibly in their 50’s or 60’s.  They also had helped in the creation of the piece by improvising, with Pina drawing the choreography from their improvisations.

Having some of this background information was very helpful.  When Ernesta picked up our tickets for the evening, we were all very pleased to be third row center.  As I sank into the chair, I felt an excitement that I had often had in New York City when going to a dance event or Broadway show.  With great seats (I wouldn’t have to shift around to see), and knowing that I would be seeing accomplished performers, I was ready!

The piece opened with an elegant performer, Naomi Brito, holding a Tibetan singing bowl and gently circling the rim with a mallet, making a rich singing song that called us to attention.  As someone who likes to meditate and responds well to such sounds, it immediately brought my full concentration to the stage and the moment.  When Naomi began to move, I was in awe of her beautiful lines and the way she filled the stage with grace and strength at the same time. Watching the power of her movement sent chills down my body!  While Naomi was not a member of the original cast, Andra shared that she very much captured the quality of the dancer who had created the part.

As the piece progressed, I was impressed with how technically strong the six original cast members were.  Their years of seasoned performing captured the audience and immediately brought us into the vignette they were dancing.  Sometimes the women spoke and sang, and while it was in French and I do not have any experience speaking French, it didn’t matter as their intent and focus were so strong I stayed intrigued with the action.

The first half introduced the characters; the mood was light, teasing and playful between the men and women, with the women clearly having the upper hand.  Toward the end of the first half the feeling changed.  One of the original cast members, Julie Shanahan, threw herself over and over to be caught by two men, while lightning was projected onto the white fabric background!  It was intense and powerful and a good example of the strength of the diagonal line.  It was followed by another dancer, Julie Anne Stanzak, being led by different men in a repeated circle.

Following the intermission, the second half showed a darker side of each of the women characters, and in this section each of the men had a solo.  For me the piece was a powerful statement of relationships, with the women ultimately being in charge – truly a feminist piece.

The set and lighting were elegant and simple.  Fabric was used in different ways.  Film and images were often projected on back panels, which were also used for entrances and exits.  At one point, a cloud-like, billowing fabric served as a backdrop and then also provided a poignant moment for Naomi to dance inside it, creating an eerie solo. At another time, panels were flown in at different places on the stage and used in different ways.  Among the most striking such use was when the three men were behind the panels, and the three women sat on them like couches and were rocked.

As I walked back to my hotel room, I felt very grateful to have had the opportunity to see a powerful concert performed by a very gifted company.  Thank you Ernesta for making it possible, and Andra for your insight, and bravo to Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Photo of the program cover

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The Corvino Family, Pina Bausch and a Special Evening

JoAnne Tucker / / Current Dance Events, Dance Education, Dance History, Personal Life

Sometimes when I check Facebook each day, I scold myself for wasting time as I look at pictures, read posts and even post myself.  Occasionally I discover something important, and that is what happened about 10 days before I was to leave for Paris on April 29.  Ernesta Corvino posted that she and her sister were in Paris with the Pina Bausch Dance Company. Ernesta was there teaching company classes and warming the company up before performances.  I was filled with wonderful Corvino memories and thought how special it would be to connect with Ernesta and Andra and maybe, just maybe they could help me get a ticket to see the Pina Bausch Company, as its online tickets were sold out.

I messengered and we agreed to be in touch once I was in Paris.  Ernesta thought it might be possible to get me a ticket, and we could certainly meet up.  Before I get to the specifics of our evening together, I want to share some history of my relationship with the Corvinos and some background about Alfredo Corvino, his daughters and Pina Bausch.

Alfredo Corvino (1916 – 2005) was my favorite ballet teacher at Juilliard.  As a “modern dancer,” I found his classes challenging, and I always felt a wisdom from him as he taught us how to align our bodies.  Elizabeth McPherson, a dancer who performed with both Ernesta’s company and mine, wrote a beautiful article that expressed Mr. Corvino’s important role and that of his daughters in training dancers.  I quote from the article, which appeared in Attitude Magazine in Fall 2009:

He started class in the same way each day: “First position, finger tips to the shoulders.” We would stand feeling our centers, and the music would begin. . .

Hearing Mr. Corvino’s corrections and directions through the voices of his daughters, I began to understand even more clearly what Mr. Corvino was teaching. As I came to understand it, the Corvino approach was about simplicity, using gravity as a helper, finding the most economical ways muscularly to perform certain movements. It was also about building a body through the use of a system of exercises Mr. Corvino had developed. . . .

Mr. Corvino was a fundamental force in the global world of dance for more than sixty years. His tradition lives on through the grand legacy of his students.

Here’s a link to the article.  On the same website page are several other excellent articles that explain Corvino’s approach to teaching.

In McPherson’s same article she summarizes the key events in Corvino’s life:

Alfredo Corvino was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on February 2, 1916. He studied ballet there, eventually joining the Uruguay National Ballet. He later danced with The Jooss Ballet, The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet of which he became ballet master. He taught at The Juilliard School for more than forty years and at The Metropolitan Opera Ballet School for almost twenty. Corvino also traveled the world teaching, in his later years as ballet master for Pina Bausch/Tanztheatre Wuppertal.

To learn more about Mr. Corvino’s life I strongly encourage you to go to a beautiful tribute that Ernesta put together for his induction into The National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame in 2018.  I loved watching it, learning so many new things about a teacher that I so strongly respected.  Here’s a link to watch the 53-minute film.

During the years 1976 – 2004 when I directed the Avodah Dance Ensemble in New York City, many of the company dancers were Juilliard graduates who had studied with either Alfredo (who taught at Juilliard until 1994) or his daughter Andra (who taught after he retired).  Some also studied with him at The Dance Circle.  The Dance Circle was known for providing excellent training in a kind, safe, sane environment.

In 1981 when Ernesta formed her own company, we shared some dancers.  In the summer of 1976, I attended some classes at The Dance Circle and posted an audition notice for my company’s very first New York performance.  One of the dancers responding to the notice was Lynn Elliot.  Lynn joined the company and was an important part of the early history of the Avodah Dance Ensemble.  When Ernesta formed her company, Lynn danced with her.  Later, Elizabeth McPherson played an important role in both of our companies.  Dina McDermott also performed with both of our companies, although not at the same time and only briefly for Ernesta’s company.

I have always had a deep respect for the Corvinos and was thrilled to be able to link up with Ernesta and Andra in Paris.  Before describing our evening together I want to convey the history between the Corvinos and Pina Bausch.  Alfredo first met Pina when he was teaching in Germany for Kurt Jooss in the late 1950’s. Pina had been dancing with Jooss since she was 14, and perhaps Corvino encouraged her to come to NYC.

In 1958 or 1959 Pina became a special student at Juilliard where she studied with Anthony Tudor, Alfredo Corvino, Jose Limon, and Martha Graham.  During the next two years she worked with choreographers such as Paul Sanasardo and Paul Taylor.  According to an article that Wendy Perron wrote, she feels that Pina’s time at Juilliard and in New York City from 1959 – 1961 “contributed more to her development than most Bausch scholars have acknowledged.”  In particular, Perron points out that Pina was exposed to a ‘wide diversity of styles, ethnicities and music genres that populated New York at the time.”  Here’s a link to Wendy Perron’s article to learn more about Pina’s time in New York.  For Pina’s full biography visit her page on the company’s website.

When Mr. Corvino retired from Juilliard in 1994, Pina asked him to become the Ballet Master for her company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, and he continued in this role until he passed in August of 2005.

Ernesta took over his role in 2007 and now she was in Paris teaching morning classes for the company and leading the warmup before performances.  Andra, Ernesta and I met for an early dinner so Ernesta would be free to teach the evening’s warmup.  What a joy and delight it was for me to catch up with these two beautiful women.  Ernie and I had last seen each other when she was teaching at Perry-Mansfield, maybe 13 or 14 years ago, and Andra and I had only met on occasion when I attended a Juilliard concert with my good friend Linda Kent, again well over 15 years ago.  Nevertheless, our connection felt strong as we caught up on recent happenings in each other’s lives and commented on the current dance scene.

Our waiter kindly took our picture.  From left: me, Ernesta and Andra.

In the next blog I will write about the outstanding performance of “Sweet Mambo.”

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An Artist’s Week in Paris

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Personal Life

My daughter Julie introduced me to Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way.   I think she took a course from Cameron at The Open Center in NYC around 1992 when the book first came out.  I’ve been a fan of The Artist’s Way and Cameron’s recommended steps since then.  While I love living in Costa Rica, sometimes I miss the regular, ongoing stimulation that I experienced when I lived in New York City and in Santa Fe, NM.  About two months ago, as I was waiting for a passenger to arrive at the San Jose, Costa Rica airport, I was looking at where different flights originated and saw that there was a direct flight from Paris. I had never been to Paris. Later that evening I began researching and thinking of how to make the trip possible.

Now that I have returned from a wonderful week in Paris, I realize that the gift I gave myself was Julia Cameron’s recommended “Artist Date,” in an extended version.  In case you are not familiar:

Hailed by the New York Times as “The Queen of Change,” Julia Cameron is credited with starting a movement in 1992 that has brought creativity into the mainstream conversation—in the arts, in business and in everyday life. She is the best-selling author of more than forty books, fiction and nonfiction; a poet, songwriter, filmmaker and playwright. Commonly referred to as “The Godmother” or “High Priestess” of creativity, her tools are based in practice, not theory and she considers herself “the floor sample of her own toolkit.” The Artist’s Way has been translated into forty languages and sold over five million copies to date.  https://www.opencenter.org/julia-cameron/

In The Artist’s Way, the two main practices are (1) Morning Pages, daily three pages of free-form writing, and (2) Artist Dates, weekly fun and inspirational solo outings.  In Julia Cameron’s own words, “The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you.” https://juliacameronlive.com/tag/artist-date/

For me, the key element is that the Artist Date is “a dedicated block to nurture your inner artist.”  A quick google of the phrase “artist dates” comes up with lots of suggestions.  Here’s a page that lists  101 artist date ideas.

When I returned from Paris I realized how stimulated and inspired my creative voice was.  Now it will be important for me to continue to give myself Artist Dates on a regular basis.  Of course, they will be simpler, local, and much less expensive.  The elements remain the same.

It is something you do alone. That is the underlying factor of why the Paris trip was indeed an Artist Date.  From the beginning I knew it was something I wanted to do alone.  I have loved trips I took in the past with my husband Murray. They were extremely memorable and lots of fun.  Since Murray passed in October of 2020, I had not thought of doing a trip on my own until this spring when I knew it was time.  I asked lots of questions particularly of my daughters and grandchildren who had been to Paris.  They were super helpful and encouraging. I researched and found the key places that were extremely important to me and figured out the best way to visit them.  Paris has tons to offer but six things stood out as essential for me:

             A visit to Monet’s Garden

             Drawing at the Louvre Museum

            A dance event

            A boat ride on the Seine

            A stay in a neighborhood where I could enjoy walking the streets

            Meals at some plant-based restaurants

I knew that taking a tour where I had to keep up with a group would not work for me.  I am a slow walker, only recently getting used to walking two miles a day, and I did not want to be rushed at all.

For Monet’s Garden I found lots of options and settled for one that provided: transportation from Paris to the Garden and back; admission paid for the garden and the impressionist museum in Giverny; a self-guiding app for your phone; and a full day’s visit. The day exceeded my expectations.  The garden was wonderful, and even though it was crowded, people respected each other by not blocking each other’s pictures.  The gardens are beautifully cared for and it doesn’t take much imagination to see Claude Monet painting in different places.  While the famous water lilies were not yet in bloom, there were plenty of other flowers, and what struck me most was the huge variety and blend of wildflowers and cultivated flowers.  The irises were spectacular.

I’m grateful to a stranger who offered to take my picture
when she saw I was there alone.

The website for the Louvre provides a place to buy tickets in advance and gives information for artists/art students on their policy of drawing while visiting.  They are specific about the maximum size of a sketch pad, only allow work to be done in pencil, and provide lightweight portable stools upon request.  I decided to go on a Friday because the museum stays open late until 9:45 P.M. I bought a 9:30 A.M. ticket.  It is important to buy a ticket in advance.  The line was several hours long for those who did not.  By 10 A.M. I had my stool and had found my way into one of numerous sculpture rooms.  I found a corner out of the way and got busy sketching. Occasionally someone would pass by or stop to look, and usually we just exchanged smiles. Sometimes I was aware that people took pictures of me sketching.  I didn’t care; I just stayed focused on drawing.  Twice during the day people asked if they could take my picture, and then I asked if they could use my phone and take a picture of me sketching.  In both cases they happily agreed.  In all I did 4 different drawings, taking breaks for food when I was hungry.  Each drawing took about 2 hours.  I saw several other artists drawing, and we smiled and nodded at each other.

Happily drawing at the Louvre

My sketch of a marble statue dated 1710-1714 and titled “A Companion of Diana”

The boat ride, walking around my neighborhood, and finding some great vegan restaurants were all positive experiences but not as extraordinary as my day at the Louvre and Giverny.  Both of those days were target Artist Dates.  Now, back in Costa Rica, I am figuring out Artist Dates to do here.

Dear readers… stay tuned!  The dance event was amazing, and I will be writing about it in the next two blogs.

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The Pioneers of Modern Dance: My Firsthand Experience

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance History, Personal Life

Recently I was talking about the different teachers I had studied with as a young dancer between the ages of 15 and 21.  I hadn’t thought of it before in quite these terms, but I am old enough to have had firsthand experience with most of the shapers of modern dance.  These were amazing pioneers forging new traditions in dance from the 1920’s into the 1960’s and some beyond.  Here is a list of these pioneers and a few sentences describing my experience with them, in the order I met them.

Ted Shawn  (1891-1972) of Denishawn – He and Ruth St. Denis founded a company where a number of the pioneers got their first experience and opportunity to build long-term collaborations.  I heard Ted Shawn speak at Jacob’s Pillow when he introduced the program that I went to see when I was a camper at a nearby camp.  Jacob’s Pillow’s history goes back to 1933 when Shawn and his group of men did their first performance in a barn that still exists and is used for classes and performances today.  Here’s a link to learn more about the founding of Jacob’s Pillow.  The camp I attended was called Belgian Village and was located in Cummington, MA .  I was there on a scholarship teaching dance to the younger campers.  I can remember sitting in the Jacob’s Pillow theatre and being awed by both Ted Shawn’s inspiring words and an amazing performance that included modern dance, ballet and ethnic dance.

Martha Graham  (1894 -1991) – I first met her at the age of 15 when she came to Pittsburgh for the premiere of her movie  A Dancer’s World, which you can watch on YouTube.  It is a wonderful introduction to her and her technique.  Jeanne Beaman, my modern dance teacher in Pittsburgh, hosted a reception for Martha following a private showing of the film.  I have a clear memory of being introduced to her and her encouraging me to come to NYC and take the Xmas course even though I was very young. I did go a year later, and from that time on, Graham technique was my favorite way to train. That was not the only time I had classes directly with her.  She taught a week of classes at the six-week summer program at the American Dance Festival which I attended twice. There were also occasions when she taught at the New York studio.  She, the technique she developed, and how she choreographed her pieces were a major influence on me!

Helen Tamiris  (1902-1966) – I auditioned for her in 1958 at Perry-Mansfield Camp and was accepted into a piece she choreographed during the three weeks she was there. Martha Clarke and I were the only two younger-than-college-age dancers who were part of her piece Dance for Walt Whitman. (I’ve written before about Tamiris and Dance for Walt Whitman; here is a link to that blog. The fact that Tamiris recognized my abilities reaffirmed my commitment to be a dancer. She also influenced significantly my understanding of choreographic elements.  Currently Elizabeth McPherson, a member of Avodah Dance Ensemble during seven of the years I directed the company, is working on a book about Tamiris.  When Elizabeth spent three weeks at the artist residency program  I hold at my home, we spent many hours talking about Tamiris, and it was great fun for me to learn new things about her life.  I was so glad that we were able to stage some of Tamiris’s choreography when Elizabeth set Tamiris’s piece Negro Spirituals for the Avodah Dance Ensemble.

Charles Weidman (1901-1975) – I was part of a class he taught in kinetic pantomime at the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College in 1960.  He staged a demonstration that we performed in a Festival program.  It was during one of his rehearsals that Martha Hill, the chairman of the dance department of Juilliard, saw me rehearsing and remembered me from an audition I had taken for Juilliard about six weeks before. She found me after class and asked me to reaudition.  I hadn’t made that first audition, but she felt I now would get into the school.

Photo from Connecticut College, 1960, of the Charles Weidman piece I was in. I am the dancer on the left. I do not know who the other two dancers are.

Martha Hill  (1900- 1995) – I mentioned in the last paragraph that she encouraged me to reaudition for Juilliard, which I did about a year later.  While I didn’t have a lot of direct contact with her while I was at Juilliard, the program that she developed at Juilliard and my two years as a student there shaped me as an artist.  The tools and ability to focus on my “art” carried over from dance to painting and filmmaking. I have tremendous respect for the role she played in the development of dance education in colleges.  Elizabeth McPherson has written an excellent book about her, and here is a link to a blog I wrote about the book.

 Louis Horst (1884 – 1964) – I took my first of three composition classes from him in the summer of 1961, at Connecticut College.  In Pre-Classic Dance Forms, he encouraged me to continue with him, even though I wasn’t yet a student at Juilliard. I did so (as a special student), continuing to take his second-year course, Modern Forms.  By mid-semester I had become a full-time student at Juilliard.  The following year I took his third and final formal course, Group Forms.  I loved his classes.  His demanding insistence that we follow the clear form of different musical dances instilled a discipline and focus on how I used movement in dance pieces. His second-year course began a long appreciation of art and how much we can learn from different periods of art history.  A good example of how this later influenced me can be found in how I used a painting as a basis for I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Here’s a link to a blog where I go into detail about this.  Last fall, Nancy Bannon was here on an artist residency working on a play about Louis Horst and Martha Graham, and I learned lots of interesting things about Louis’s life.  She shared with me a wonderful book by Janet Soares about Louis that I look forward to reviewing in an upcoming blog.

There are two pioneers from the period that I didn’t get to study with directly although I did study with their disciples.

Doris Humphrey (1895 -1958)  – Her name is associated with Charles Weidman (they formed together The Humphrey-Weidman Company) and with Jose Limon (she mentored him when he was her student, and when she retired from her own company, she became Artistic Director of his Limon Company).  I took classes in Limon technique at Juilliard and sometimes had a class directly from Limon.  Although I wasn’t fond of the technique, I loved Limon’s choreography as well as pieces that I saw of Humphrey’s.  In particular, Humphrey’s Water Study (1928), The Shakers (1931), and Passacaglia (to Bach’s Music) are among my favorites.  Passacaglia was revived at Juilliard during the time I was there.  I am so glad that I got to see Jose dance in The Moor’s Pavane along with Betty Jones, Lucas Hoving and Pauline Koner.  Some of his other pieces that have created a lasting memory are There Is a Time and Missa Brevis.

While I did not study directly with Humphrey, her philosophy and writing did have an influence on me, such as her movement exercises of fall and recovery.  “She called this the arc between two deaths.  At one extreme an individual surrenders to the nature of gravity; at the other, one attempts to achieve balance.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Humphrey).  Her book The Art of Making Dance (1958), which I read several years after it was published, was also helpful to me, and it was a regular reference book in my library.  I keep in mind to this very day her statement that the last seconds of a piece of choreography are most important.  For me, that reminder carries over to all art forms.

Hanya Holm (1893 – 1999) One of the dancers that she strongly influenced, Don Redlich, choreographed a piece that I was in while a teenager in Pittsburgh.  It was interesting working with him, but I don’t remember anything unique about the experience that I can trace back to Holm.  I do remember loving her choreography in My Fair Lady which I saw shortly after it opened with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in 1956.

Writing this blog has felt like a journey down memory lane.  I am grateful to have experienced firsthand so many of the modern dance pioneers.  I welcome readers who may have worked with some of them to share their experiences in the comment section.

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A Visit to a Costa Rican Art Museum Triggers a Fascination with Mascaradas

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Costa Rica, Personal Life

On February 17th Art House Atenas owners Anna Matteucci and Felipe Keta lead a small group of Expats to San Jose to visit two museums: The Jade Museum and the Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC).  It was a delightful, interesting day.  My favorite exhibit was called Valle Oscuro (dark valley) by painter Adrian Arguedas Ruano at the MAC .

As one enters the museum, Arguedas’s bold colorful paintings greet you.  A few of his sculptures catch your immediate attention too.  The works fill a large gallery room and three smaller adjoining rooms, mostly picturing masked community members along with unmasked figures.  While some young children are painted wearing small masks of animals, others are wearing distorted, grotesque, large masks, and still others are depicted wearing large heads mounted on torsos making them look larger than life.

Felipe Keta talking about the artist in front of one of Arguedas’s paintings!

One of my favorite Arguedas paintings. I love the grandma in the center being surrounded by community participants, which captures the intergenerational life that is very important in Costa Rica.

All the paintings of Valle Oscuro were done between 2020 and 2022.  On the artist’s website I learned about his fascination with masks:

Arguedas is a native of Barva de Heredia, a small town known for keeping the traditions of making popular mask parades. In his childhood, he found artistic inspiration through the figure of his great-uncle, named Carlos Salas, who worked sculpting the clay to prepare the base that would later serve as a mold to create the original traditional masks, made with paper.  Salas had a powerful influence on the artist inspiration and artwork. https://www.adrianarguedas.com/bio.html

Doing more research, I learned that the mask tradition dates to pre-Hispanic time, when the aboriginal people made and used masks for various purposes. They were first used at funerals in two different ways: first, they were used by whoever led the mortuary procession so they appeared to have a higher power to lead the deceased to the other world, and second, they were given to the deceased to identify his role in the tribe.   Shamans and chiefs also made special use of the masks as part of their rituals.  These special masks are known as Mascaradas.

Today, in Costa Rica they are still part of community celebrations, and much to my delight I had an event in our town of Atenas where mascaradas were a highlight.

A friend on Facebook posted about a fundraising event on the full moon for a local church that included  food, music, dance and mascaradas. The evening was called “Lunada Bailable,” and I loved the poster.

 

I went with some cousins who were visiting from Pittsburgh, and we had a wonderful evening.  Music piped through a large sound system contributed to the festive quality of the event.  I was surprised to hear a Spanish version of “If I Were A Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof. When it got dark and the moon was shining bright, six local dancers began the formal entertainment. While not professional, they put all their energy into their routines.  They waved their skirts and used scarfs as props.  It was fun to watch one youngster, about age 4, who pretended she had on a long skirt and delighted in following their movement.

This was my favorite dancer to watch. She always had a smile on her face, dancing with lots of enthusiasm.

The closing event was the Mascaradas, with children from ages toddler to maybe 5 or 6 years old, wearing masks and dancing, joined by older boys and teenagers with full body masks!  The older kids liked to come over to the tables of the audience that surrounded the performing space, and pretend to scare us.

It was a special evening for my cousins and me to be a part of this community event.  I think we were the only ExPats attending.

Three photos showing the Mascaradas in action.

 

 

All photos in this blog are by JoAnne!

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Thoughts after Streaming a Memorial for Dance Critic Jack Anderson

JoAnne Tucker / / Avodah's Early History, Current Dance Events, Dance History

Whenever The Avodah Dance Ensemble held a performance in New York City, we sent out a press release to the dance critics.  We were always hopeful that one of the three critics from The New York Times – Anna Kisselgoff, Jennifer Dunning, or Jack Anderson – would cover our event.  While we were not always covered, we often were, several times by Jennifer Dunning and once by Jack Anderson.

In early January I received an email inviting me to a memorial service for Jack Anderson. He had died in October at the age of 88. I am not sure what list I was on that resulted in my receiving the invitation, but I was fascinated by some of the information in the notice, particularly that he was a poet besides being a dance historian and critic. On January 27th at 4 in the afternoon I streamed the memorial held at St. Peter’s Church, Lexington Avenue, New York City.  His poetry was read by different people throughout the service. Among the speakers was Anna Kisselgoff, who in a feisty voice shared what he didn’t like and that he had often been asked to go on the staff of The New York Times but preferred to freelance.  Three dance pieces were woven into the service: a solo from Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies performed by a soloist from the New York Dance Theatre; a piece by Baroque Dance; and a lyrical trio of liturgical dances by Dance @ Saint Peter’s.

After the memorial I wanted to learn more about Jack Anderson, so I turned to the obituary in The New York Times which opens with, “He brought an all-embracing enthusiasm to about 4,000 articles for The New York Times on modern dance, tap, ballet and practically every other genre.”  His first article was written in 1978, and his last published piece was an obituary of Anna Halprin in 2021.  Here’s the link to the New York Times obituary if you want to know more about Jack Anderson.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/arts/dance/jack-anderson-dead.html

Next, I found myself going through my digital files to find the review he had written about the Avodah Dance Ensemble.  He reviewed a concert we gave at Hebrew Union College on May 31, 1997, which included pieces inspired by two poets: Primo Levi and Yehuda Amichai. Now that I know Anderson was a poet, I understand why he might have been assigned our concert to review. While it was a short review, it was a solid one, beginning with acknowledging the space we were performing in:

“The sanctuary of the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, a high, wide hall with walls of light wood that help make it look radiant, is used for concerts as well as for religious services.  It was a fine setting for Avodah.”

A few other passages I liked and was able to use in publicity:

“Ms. Tucker choreographed clear patterns that could be adapted to performance spaces of many kinds.”

“ ‘Shema’ effectively contrasted relentless pacing, representing concentration camp regimentation with  outbursts, symbolizing the prisoners’ turbulent personal feelings.”

I was glad to get the coverage, although I wish he had commented on the dancers, as they gave an excellent performance.

In December of 2023 I had read a reference to the fact that there were no longer any full-time dance critics on the staff of major newspapers.  In fact, in 2015 an article appeared in The Atlantic entitled “The Death of the American Dance Critic.” At that time there were two full-time critics: Alastair Macaulay at The New York Times and Sarah Kaufman at The Washington Post. Neither of them is now on staff at either paper; now all reviewing is being done by freelance writers.

As I continued to explore options for reading dance reviews, I came across a Facebook page named “Dance Critics Association.”  It has 647 members with regular posts.  There used to be an active Dance Critics Association that was founded in 1973, but the last time it showed any life was around 2007-2008.  Perhaps the FB page is now their only outlet.  The good news is that it is very active, filled with lots of daily posts.

When I was director of The Avodah Dance Ensemble, getting good press and publicity was important for us.  To be able to have a good quote to use in a press release or on our website was important to build our audience and to get bookings. I am glad I could honor Jack Anderson by streaming his memorial and by writing this blog.  I want to honor and express gratitude for all the dance critics and writers who continue to review performances and write about dance.

Screenshot of scrapbook page.  Fun to see our review was directly under another review of the New York City Ballet by Jennifer Dunning.  Much easier to read the review by clipping on this link:

 

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