Author: JoAnne Tucker

Putting Together the Right Team in Selling and Buying a House – Part I

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

It should not come as a surprise, yet it still does amaze me, that the many experiences I had directing the Avodah Dance Ensemble (and then being part of a team producing and directing short films for Healing Voices-Personal Stories) are so relevant in other aspects of my life.  This was especially true recently when we sold our Santa Fe house and bought a new one in Costa Rica.

I’ll begin with selling the home in Santa Fe.  I thought it would be a breeze to find a listing agent, and wow was I wrong.  We asked around, looked at reviews online and then finally decided to interview two or three agents.  The first person we arranged to see had very high reviews online and so we called and she came over.  She had a lovely personality and gave us a listing figure that surprised us at how high it was.  She also said we didn’t need to do anything to put the house in order.  Hum…. That didn’t seem too realistic.  She was overpricing, and when I went to explore her website I saw quite a few homes that had reduced their price. 

Our neighbors across the street raved about their realtor so the next appointment was with her.  Exactly the opposite of the first person.  As we walked through the house together she pointed out all the things that were wrong.  When we sat down to discuss it further we could see she was undervaluing the house and was really acting like a buyer’s representative, not a listing agent.

We were somewhat frustrated and not sure where to turn next.  Then I decided to call a realtor friend that I knew from being on the Board of New Mexico Women in Film.  I hadn’t called her before because she was new to real estate.  She asked if she could bring a friend who was mentoring her. They came together but the mentor totally took over and my friend never had an opportunity to say much.  The mentor nailed the price as to what we hunched it was worth and had a nice positive attitude.  Unfortunately, she started pressing us to immediately sign the listing agreement which she had brought.  Three times we told her that we wanted to think it over first!! She continued to press us. There were follow-up calls from my friend, who was clearly being directed to press us, too.  Well… that wouldn’t work for us.  The thought of her bringing us an offer that we might be hesitant about and having to deal with pressure from her was just not to our liking.

We were now getting more discouraged.  We had never imagined that it would be hard to find a listing agent.  A day or two went by with both of us wondering what to do.  Then I remembered that our Healing Voices intern had worked part-time for a realtor at Sotheby’s.  I texted our former intern, and she highly recommended the realtor, Emily Garcia, so we put in a call.  Emily set up a time to visit our home. When she arrived she set a relaxed and friendly mood and said this visit was just to get to know our house.  She wouldn’t even quote a listing price until she had a good sense of the house, and then she would go back to her office and research it.  It was a lovely experience walking her through the house.  She was very positive and said she would help me stage it so it would have the most impact for showing.  At the end we shared the price that we thought was right.  That evening we got a call back from her saying we had nailed the exact price!! Yeah!  She then asked us to come down to her office to go through things.  We did.  There was absolutely no pressure to sign and we liked that.  She introduced us to other members of her team that would be working with her.  It was clear she was very well organized and had put together a good team to handle all the details of selling and closing!

Whew… we had found our right listing agent.  The next step was to stage our house.  One of our daughters clearly told me to listen to whatever Emily said — she knew best and it would work to our advantage to just follow her instructions.

Emily Garcia our listing agent
http://emilygarcia.com

Emily returned and I walked with her through the house, pencil and paper in hand, making notes of all the things that she said needed to go, and of the different places for pictures to be hung to enhance the Southwest look of a Santa Fe home.  Those things that were easy to do, we did right away.  I had a pretty long list of things I would be needing to do.  For example, reducing the bookshelves by at least one-third.  Some of the things on the list involved moving furniture that was too heavy for Murray and me.  Emily gave us names of several people who could help us. I called one on the list and set up a time to meet with him. Emily joined us that day, continuing to tweak her instructions on how to make our home look its absolute best.

OK…..  how did it feel to have someone staging our home? Well I think it was a little hard for my husband but again my theatre/film experience came in handy.  Our home was now a set for a performance that needed to look just right.  Emily was my set designer and my job was simply to follow her instructions.  I could tell she had a real sense of design and what would work, so it made it particularly easy to just do it. 

The day photos were going to be taken Emily again joined us and tweaked a few things to get everything just right.  I also immediately connected to the photography. 

I was impressed how Emily approached the write up. She had us fill out a questionnaire and write down the things we really loved about our house.  Murray and I each did it separately and some of our phrases became part of the description.

Once the house was ready for the photos to be taken I knew it was time to immediately put it on the market.  We had considered waiting until we moved out, but some quick research showed there was very little for sale in our price range and no home as lovely.  So pictures were taken on Monday. They were available on Thursday. Thursday night our house was MLS listed. Friday and Saturday we had to be out of the house most of the afternoon as we were getting quite a few showing appointments each day.  By Sunday morning we had an offer that we later in the day learned was slightly over the asking price.  WOW…. It had worked.  We had found a good listing agent and had followed her instructions. It was worth interviewing four different people and taking our time to find just the right person. 

Through the next few weeks other members of Emily’s team stepped up and proved how valuable they were.  Lesson learned and reminder to myself… just as I carefully auditioned to find a dancer to join the company, it pays to take my time to build the right team in all aspects of my life. Thank you, Emily Garcia for the great job you and your team did!


Picture taken right after we signed the papers to close on the house.  From l. to r. Murray, JoAnne, Diane Woods from the Title Company and Emily Garcia

Pictures from the brochure show how beautifully Emily helped us stage our house.

What to do with 10 scrapbooks, a box filled with videos of performances and a pile of files?

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

As Murray and I have decided to move with just suitcases to our new home in Costa Rica, we have been going through drawers and bookcases and finding new homes for so many things. From 1972 to 2004 I diligently kept Avodah scrapbooks filled with flyers of performances, reviews, photographs of fun times on tour, shots of workshops/performances and professional photographs of different pieces.  Suddenly I was faced with what to do with them.  As they also are providing an important resource for this blog, I immediately decided that the most important thing to do was to scan each page so I would have the information but could then let go of the actual heavy and bulky scrapbooks.

And so several weeks ago I began scanning each page, sometimes even opening up a program or an article to scan that part which wasn’t visible on the page. One night when I went to bed I noticed that I had a queasy knot in my stomach.  I wasn’t sure what that was from. 

Kezia had encouraged me to find a place to donate the scrapbooks.  I wasn’t sure where.  I did drop an email to two people asking for suggestions, but didn’t get a response.  Kezia suggested the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, but I didn’t think that was realistic since I wasn’t a mainstream dance figure. And then I thought maybe the Dance Library of Israel, but I didn’t pursue that.

Then, as I was scanning yet another volume it dawned on me that one of the most consistent things in the history of The Avodah Dance Ensemble was that from the company’s beginning, it had been a part of the reform Jewish movement, and in New York our home base was Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion.  We had collaborated with many professors there, and both rabbinic students and cantorial students had played important roles in the company,  so HUC-JIR seemed the most likely place for an archive.  Kezia had already suggested that possibility, but the problem was that most of the people I had worked with had retired or were no longer there.  But now I went to their website in search of some ideas.

At the website I found the American Jewish Archives which are housed at the Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR.  They have their own website and of course I went there.  It mentioned that they have a collection of papers, scrapbooks and music related to reform Judaism and Jews in America.  They list their collection on one of the pages in two ways.  One is alphabetical and the other is by collection number. This sounded like a match.  I jotted down their phone number and first thing the next morning I called.  I was put through to a delightful woman, Dr. Dana Herman, who, as soon as I explained the different people at HUC-JIR that Avodah and I had worked with, said they would be thrilled to have the collection.

Much to my surprise, the weird pit in my stomach eased.  I hadn’t realized that I was very concerned about where the materials would be housed. As I was scanning the pages I was reminded of the many outstanding scholars, musicians, writers, dancers and fellow choreographers who are a part of Avodah’s and my history.  The number of reform congregations in the US where we participated in Shabbat services, performed concerts, or led workshops was surprising, in addition to the Hillels, JCC’s, conservative and even occasional orthodox communities. (We also performed and taught in interfaith programs, correctional facilities, universities, public and private schools, and arts venues, among other settings.) 

And each year we presented several programs at HUC-JIR in New York. There were at least two occasions when we presented at the LA campus. The Cincinnati campus had its own special leader of dance, Franchon Shur, and I was lucky to meet her and interact with her on several occasions.  

It was at the HUC-JIR campus that we held classes for children living in temporary housing. The college generously allowed us the use of classrooms, the kitchen and sanctuary for the 5-week program which met twice a week.  It was one of our favorite teaching situations and we were fortunate to receive the grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for a few years.

In the late 90’s when (at Kezia’s urging) we began doing an annual week-long adult  summer workshop on dance as part of a synagogue or church program, it too was held at HUC-JIR, in June when the regular college wasn’t in session.  

There were even several years when I taught “liturgy” as part of the Doctor of Ministry program. Indeed the relationship with HUC-JIR was a very deep one and so I am thrilled that the collection will be housed there and available for anyone who wants to do research related to The Avodah Dance Ensemble and my role as founder and artistic director.

Pictures representing many different dancers and pieces. 
I organized them into different piles for the archives.    

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Thanksgiving 2019!

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

Wishing all of Mostly Dance readers who celebrate Thanksgiving a very meaningful day. I am particularly grateful for the amazing time Murray and I have had in the ten years we have lived in Santa Fe. We are now in the midst of organizing to move to lower elevation and no snow!  Once settled, I look forward to resuming weekly writing of this blog.   For now, it will be fairly irregular… maybe once every two weeks, or even just once a month. 

We have so enjoyed our time here, particularly exploring all the unique places in this “Land of Enchantment.”  This past weekend we visited one of our very favorite places, Bosque del Apache.  The sand hill cranes and snow geese were in full residency and what amazing “ballets” they presented.  I loved watching how the cranes land at sunset and here are two pictures I took this Sunday with my IPhone.  One is of the number of people with their various photography equipment lined up, mostly in silence, all enjoying the spectacle together.

A Half Parachute and a Large Living Room

JoAnne Tucker / / Childhood, Healing Voices - Personal Stories, Musical Theater, Personal Life

In an earlier blog I wrote about an intensive discussion I had at about the age of 8 with Regina, a very good friend who lived down the street from me, about who was the better ballerina, Moira Shearer or Margot Fonteyn.  In this blog I want to share the great fun I had dancing in Regina’s very large living room.

I am not sure where Regina got the half parachute that we played with, but what a joy it was to wave it, dance under it and use our imagination to turn it into whatever we wanted.

We lived on the same street about a half a block from each other. Regina is only about two months older than I am, but because her birthday is at the end of November and mine isn’t until January and the cut off date for kindergarten was December 31, we weren’t in the same grade.  She was a half year ahead, having started kindergarten in September while I began in February.  (The Pittsburgh School district had admissions to start in both September and February, and one could even graduate in February from High School.  I doubt this still exists.)

Anyway, back to the living room.  It was very large, reminding me of the living room in my grandmother’s house that I use to dance in as a toddler.  There was lots of open space for us to move in. I remember in one part of this magical space, close to where you entered, was a record player along with lots of musical theatre records.  During our grade school years and into the beginning of middle school I remember spending so many afternoons listening to musicals of that period such as The King and I,  Oklahoma, and Kiss Me Kate.  Regina had a lovely singing voice and she would sing along.  I did not, so I was strictly about dancing. We talked about a favorite actress, Gertrude Lawrence, who was the original Anna in The King and I and was on the recording we regularly listened to.  Her biography, Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A, became a favorite of mine. I saved that book for many years, occasionally returning to re-read it.  That book and Agnes de Mille’s Dance to the Piper were major sources of inspiration during my pre-teen and early teen years.

Another favorite actress that I remember liking during this time was Celeste Holm, who was the original Ado Annie in Oklahoma. With my awful, out of tune voice, I sometimes tried to sing I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No. Alas… even this kind of song did not work for me.  It was a good thing I liked to dance, ‘cause a triple threat (singer, dancer, actress) I would never be.

l. to r. JoAnne, JoAnne’s sister Peggy, Regina at Peggy’s birthday party.  The only photo I could find of us at the age when we were having fun in Regina’s living room.

Those early after-school/weekend times influenced me in several specific ways.

Many years later, when I built the Creative Dance Center in Tallahassee, Florida (See https://mostlydance.com/2018/11/09/feminism-meets-the-bank-building-a-dance-studio/) one of the first things that I made sure to have was a parachute as a prop to use both with children and adults. This time it was a full parachute that I was able to purchase from an Army Surplus Store.  It was an all-time favorite of all ages.  Sometimes we just made a large circle and watched the wonderful waves it made.  Other times we lifted it as high as we could, making the shape it would be in when it floated down from the sky and then brought it back to the ground. Sometimes I would invite a child to be in charge of how she wanted the rest of the class to hold the parachute so she could dance under or around or what she was imagining it to be, such as a roaring ocean waves.  

When I do a search for creative movement with a parachute, the results are usually focused on pre-schoolers or young school-age children, and there are lots of fun ways the parachute has been used. However, nothing comes up for use with adults, and I found that use equally  satisfying. Leading adult workshops, particularly in Tallahassee when I was doing “permission” workshops as part of Transactional Analysis Training (that’s another later blog), I used it with great success especially with encouraging adults to find or rediscover their inner child.

Clearly those afternoons fostered and reinforced my love for musical theatre, which led not only to attending theater but also choreographing and directing some musical theater.

Regina and I continue our friendship and creative journey to today.  Over the years we have led workshops together, and sometimes as we are dancing around a room with 20 or so participants, we pass each other and smile remembering those times so many years ago when we were doing something similar in her living room. 

Regina and JoAnne attending a film festival, September 2014.  JoAnne and Regina are Board Members and filmmakers with Healing Voices – Personal Stories. The organization was honored that its film “Jessica’s Story” was selected for the Festival and won best LGBT film in the Festival. Photography by Murray Tucker.

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My first ballet and a debate about which ballerina is best!

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance History, Personal Life

In the last blog, I wrote about the first Broadway show I saw.  In this blog I share the first ballet I saw, and it was one of the best.  I am not sure what my exact age was but I hunch I was about seven.  Doing a little research on the Internet I found out that the Sadler’s Wells Ballet made its first tour to the United States in 1949.  The tour was highly successful and yearly tours continued in the early 50’s. Since the ballerina I saw was Moira Shearer in Swan Lake and she retired in 1953, it was somewhere during these four years.  

A little history about the Sadler’s Wells Ballet.  During its first tour the company traveled with 75 people and 7,000 items of scenery and costumes for 12 ballets. Both Moira Shearer and Margot Fonteyn were ballerinas with the company at that time.  My mom decided to take me to see a matinee of Swan Lake when Moira Shearer was dancing the lead role of Odette/Odile. I don’t remember much about the experience but I do remember that my good childhood friend  Regina also went to see the production of Swan Lake but in the evening and the ballerina she saw was Margot Fonteyn. The result was a lively discussion of which ballerina was better.

Reviews praise both of them highly and of course we know that Margot Fonteyn went on to a very long career as a ballerina while Moira Shearer’s fame was mainly for her role as Victoria Page in The Red Shoes.  The Red Shoes premiered in 1948 and is still one of the classic dance films. While I don’t think I saw it until my teens, it is a film that I love to return to every now and then and I do marvel at the beauty, grace and passion of Moira Shearer’s dancing.

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes 

How wonderful to have been exposed to such an outstanding first ballet, with a recognized ballerina by a first-rate company. I did get to see Fonteyn dance while I was a student at Juilliard when she had just begun a partnership with Rudolf Nureyev. Alas the ballet I saw them do was Marguerite and Armand choreographed by Frederick Ashton based on a book by Alexandre Dumas called La Dame Aux Camalias. I would have preferred to see another ballet with less pantomine. We were encouraged to attend by one of our ballet teachers at Juilliard and we were given free standing-room tickets to the old Met on 39thstreet.  I found this review of the ballet which pretty much says it all.

The finished ballet capitalized on Fonteyn’s natural talents as an actress, and its depth lay less in the choreography than in the performances, the character and electric connection of the two lovers, played by the volatile 24-year-old in Nureyev, whose raw charisma unleashed a new wave of passion and freedom in the poised, 43-year-old English ballerina.

On opening night, the ballet was greeted with a rapturous response and 21 curtain calls, and it went on to become a signature piece for the couple and was performed around the world.  (Royal Opera House website https://www.roh.org.uk/news/how-fonteyn-and-nureyevs-electric-ballet-partnership-made-marguerite-and-armand-into-an-icon)

Fonteyn and Nureyev in 
Marguerite and Armand

Fast forward to many years later when our daughters were around seven and nine and we visited New York City.  I took them to see Alicia Alonso at the Met (by then at Lincoln Center), dancing Giselle. I remember their surprise when the very large chandeliers of the Met automatically lifted up right before the ballet began.  Of course Alicia Alonso was quite wonderful even though she was well into her fifties and this was her last tour to the United States. Many Cubans were in the audience and the curtain calls at the end were a show unto themselves with so many bows and flowers being thrown onto the stage.

Alonso receiving flowers after a performance in her last NY tour, 1976.  (She recently passed away at age 98.)

I stand in awe of these three outstanding ballerinas and am very honored that I got to see each of them in person.  Do you have a favorite ballerina and/or a performance you particularly remember?

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What Was Your First Broadway Show?

JoAnne Tucker / / Musical Theater, Personal Life

I am a regular listener to Sirius, Channel 72, playing Broadway music, and while I have never recorded and sent in an answer to this question that they regularly ask, I often smile when I think of my first experience.  I was about five years old and my grandmother took me to see Peter Pan with Veronica Lake.  When I recently mentioned that to Murray, he joyfully shared that was also the first Broadway show he saw.  We both remember sitting in very good seats at the Old Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh when the production toured back in the late 40’s.  It was a glorious experience for me and started my love of live theater.  Of course, it was not the musical we are all familiar with but rather the original drama of 1904, written by J.M. Barrie.

Veronica Lake in Peter Pan.  Found on the Internet.
Photographer unknown.

In 1954 the musical version of Peter Pan premiered on Broadway with Mary Martin and Cyril Richards, featuring the wonderful music of Mark Charlap with some additional music by Jules Styne.  Lyrics were by Carolyn Leigh with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.  And of course there was the wonderful direction and choreography of Jerome Robbins.  The television audience was first introduced to Mary Martin and Cyril Richards recreating their roles in 1955 on NBC and again in 1956, live in color.  The 1955 TV program had the largest TV audience ever, with 65 million viewers. 

In 1960 they videotaped a slightly longer version in color and this was rebroadcast often, first by NBC and then by the Disney Channel.  I saw the TV version many times and at some point, probably in the 80’s, we videotaped it.  When our first grandchild, Jessica, was about 2 we introduced her to the taped version of Peter Pan and it was one of her favorites when she came to visit.

Mary Martin as Peter Pan. Photograph found on the Internet.
Photographer unknown.

Then in 1999 when the production with Cathy Rigby was playing on Broadway, three generations went together. Jessica, her Aunt Julie, and I (Grandma) were caught up in the magic created on Broadway.  Since Aunt Julie (our daughter) is a casting director we had perfect seats and she had arranged a backstage tour for us.

The Broadway cast was used to children coming backstage and had designed a perfect way to introduce the new theatergoers to the magic of Broadway.  Jessica was given a small cup with fairy dust in it and cautioned in its use.  We then met the actor who had played Captain Hook.  When Jessica took a step away from him, he reassured her that in real life he was really a very nice person.  I am sure that I had as much fun as Jessica. 

Many times since then Jessica has attended Broadway shows and the last show that we attended together, along with her Mom and Aunt Julie was Finding Neverland with Matthew Morrison.  When I knew we would be in New York City at the same time, I asked what Broadway show Jessica wanted to see.  With no hesitation she suggested Finding Neverland with Matthew Morrison, as she was a big fan of his from the television show Glee.  I hadn’t even heard of the show, or of Morrison.  We got tickets and I loved the show.  Of course, Julie arranged for us to go backstage and meet Morrison.  Here’s a fun picture of us all together with Morrison.

From l. to r, Rachel, me, Matthew Morrison, Jessica and Julie after seeing
Finding Neverland in 2015.

I end by asking if you remember your first Broadway show or musical and whether it made you a fan of later Broadway productions?

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Sometimes you just need to stop and watch the birds!!

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

For those of you who personally know me, you are aware that I usually seem happiest when busy.  For years it was founding, choreographing and directing a dance company.  More recently it has been creating art, selling art and learning how to make the art functional with the tiles and tea towels that we put our images on.  And of course most recently it’s been directing and making films related to domestic violence. The months of August and September were particularly busy with our Day of Action Against Domestic Violence.  When I arrived in Costa Rica a week ago I was pretty exhausted and found myself for the first two days just sitting on the patio of the beautiful home we have rented and mostly doing nothing, with my only interest being watching the birds.

Now it is a week later and I am no longer tired but guess what… I still find it refreshing and a joy to just watch the birds.  Sometimes we are amused and have fun watching what we have learned is the Great Kiskadee flycatcher take a dip in the pool.  A pair fly back and forth and just love to splash in the pool and then find a banana leaf to rest on before crossing back to the other side and repeating their cute little dive.  I find myself just giggling as I watch.

Picture taken with my IPhone as I was writing this blog

This morning Murray got up just after sunrise and wandered outside to see six very colorful Toucans going back and forth between two very close trees. I got to see one at the far away tree a few mornings ago. I may have to get up at sunrise and check out what’s happening tomorrow or the next day.  We are using The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide by Richard Garrigues and Robert Dean.

From page 193 of the Field Guide

Not so long ago a black vulture rested again on the leafless branches of a not so close, very tall tree.  It seems to be a favorite resting place to look around before taking off again.  This time the vulture facing toward me very slowly and elegantly spread his/her wings to their full extent, holding still like this for a good 30 seconds.  What an incredible sight.  Here’s a link to a photo of the wings of the black vulture.  https://ebird.org/species/blkvul

And of course there is a regular chatter going on nearly all the time. 

So here’s to just watching the birds!!

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Photographs from the 2002 Season

JoAnne Tucker / / New York Company

Several of the recent blogs explored the unique changes in the dance company that occurred with The Forgiveness Project and a new creative burst of energy I felt.  The three new pieces that I created with the four dancers in the company were challenging and very satisfying.  We had an excellent photo shoot with dance photographer Tom Brazil in our rehearsal space (which also serves as a theatre) at Chen and Dancers.  In this blog I share several photos that I have not shared in previous blogs, from each of the pieces.

Photos by Tom Brazil from The Forgiveness Project

From l. to r. Jessica Sehested and Andrea Eisenstein
From l. to r. Andrea, Kerrie Anne Toma, Danielle Smith, and Jessica
From l. to r. Jessica, Danielle

Photographs by Tom Brazil from Tent, Tallit and Torah

Jessica
Jessica
Danielle under the fabric and Kerrie circling

Photos by Tom Brazil from Heroic Deed

From l. to r. Andrea, Kerrie, Jessica, and Danielle
From l. to r. Danielle, Jessica, Andrea, and Kerrie
Kerrie holding Jessica

I am deeply grateful for the collaboration with Avodah dancers through the years in creating pieces that I was proud to have in our repertory.  The Forgiveness Project (with music by, and with the creative collaboration of Newman Taylor Baker); Tent, Tallit and Torah; and Heroic Deeds are examples of creative energies coming together in a wonderful collaborative way. 

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Rituals Acknowledging the Directions – Native American Tradition and Jewish Sukkot

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, movement rituals, New York Company

Just a few weeks ago we opened A Day of Action Against Domestic Violence in Santa Fe, with a Native American acknowledgement and blessing.  It was a ritual to acknowledge that we, here in Santa Fe, are living on Tewa Ground. Tewa refers to the language spoken by the six pueblos located adjacent to the Rio Grande River in Central and North Central New Mexico. All attending were invited outdoors, and Teresa Candelario, a member of the Yaqui Tribe from California, blew the conch in all six directions as we gathered into a circle.  She acknowledged each direction, traditionally done by facing east first, then south, continuing west, north, above and below.  It was a powerful way to start our day, and that evening when I got home I found myself reflecting on the ceremony and remembering a project with The Avodah Dance Ensemble that goes back some twenty-three years.

In the fall of 1996 I explored with two outstanding Native American actresses/dancers/directors a project exploring Native American rituals, particularly related to direction and the shaking of the lulav and etrog as part of Sukkot.  The two women, Muriel Miguel and Murielle Borst-Tarrant are mother and daughter and members of the Kuna and Rappannock nations.  Muriel Miguel is the founder and Artistic Director of Spiderwoman Theatre, the longest running Native American women’s theater company in North America.  She also has a strong modern dance background having studied with Alvin Nickolai, Erick Hawkins and Jean Erdman.  Her daughter Murielle Borst-Tarrant is a playwright, performer and director. 

Working with the two women and Avodah company members Elizabeth McPherson and Beth Millstein we began exploring the use of directions in Native American tradition and in the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.  While we did several informal performances and workshops it remained a “work in progress” and was never fully realized as a dance/theatre piece.

What stands out most in my mind from the experience was how we began each rehearsal.  Muriel Miguel shared with us that they always began rehearsals or performances by calling their ancestors into the space with them.  It was a way of protecting the working space. They welcomed us to face each of the four directions and invite whoever came to mind to protect and join us on this creative journey.  I found this most interesting and actually very potent. I was a bit surprised who came to mind.  Sometimes I welcomed a grandparent, a childhood rabbi that had died, an outstanding creative artist from our dance tradition or a biblical character into the rehearsal room with me. We did this each time we had rehearsal and sometimes it was the same ancestors who joined me and sometimes it was someone new and different. At the end of the rehearsal it was important to thank them for helping us, and let them go.

Several years later I was leading a workshop at Hebrew Union College and invited the participants to face each direction and welcome their ancestors into the session. I did the exercise too and when I finished and came back to my place in the circle I had the most surprising feeling that the room was suddenly very crowded with lots of people I had never met.  The next day I happened to run into one of the rabbis on the HUC faculty who commented that he had looked in the chapel where we were dancing the previous day and the room felt so full and crowded.  Humm… I  thought about the exercise we had done the day before but felt it was wise just to agree with him without saying anything else!!!

At another workshop when we were dancing Exodus 15:20 “and all the women went out after [Miriam] in dance with timbrels,”  I asked the participants to become the women going out after Miriam, but to replace Miriam in their imaginations with whomever they were following in their own lives. This proved to be insightful and another variation of acknowledging our ancestors as we had done with Muriel and Murielle!

It is interesting to note that on each night of Sukkot it is a custom to invite “invisible guests” into the Sukkah along with “visible ones.”  Usually this meant biblical characters.  

Another Sukkot custom that seems to have a parallel with Native American tradition is to include a prayer for rain as part of the last day ritual of carrying the lulav and etrog.

Part of the beauty of Sukkot in many places is to be out among the changing leaves.  So I have selected as the visual for this blog a fall leaf pastel painting that I did.  

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Reflections on the 5-Day Residency at York Correctional Institution

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Programs in Prison, Forgiveness Project, Personal Life

Sometimes we get surprised and we realize that an experience has profoundly changed us when we least expected it. That is what happened to me following the residency at York. It wasn’t just one thing but a series of changes that I felt inside myself.  A shift.

First of all, things were no longer black and white/good or bad — rather, many shades of gray. Someone could have done something bad at one time in their life and yet have many good qualities.  And how many of us have done things and gotten away with them while someone else didn’t? That was my first take away – an opportunity to see people differently and to know that we all have a tremendous range of capabilities within us.

Second, I had truly loved the teaching experience.  The women were very open to learning and enthusiastic in their participation. They were willing to try new things in a much more open way then I had experienced when leading workshops at synagogues, community centers and schools.  And they were so appreciative. They listened and responded in a very attentive way especially by the third day.  It was clear we had connected with them.  They were creative.

Third… there seemed to be some characteristics that artists and inmates have in common.  Both like to think outside the box, so the level of creative responses is excellent.  Both like to get high.  The majority of the women had gotten high either via alcohol or with drugs. Now they were discovering the high that they could get from performing and were very enthusiastic about it. Artists and inmates are risk takers.  I think sharing these kinds of traits enables a deeper connection to be made than happens in teaching in a typical urban or suburban adult class.

For the first time in a long time I felt like I was teaching with the flow rather than against the current.  So often in teaching situations over a number of the previous years I had felt like it was a struggle to get the point across.  Here was a situation where the participants were like sponges, eager to learn and to take in every word.  Indeed a very satisfying teaching experience.

I wondered if this had been just a unique week or if it would be true if we returned to York again or went to another women’s facility.  The next season we found ourselves both back at York and in residence for a week-long program at Dolores J. Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in New Castle, Delaware.  Again the connection to the women was strong and our teaching resonated with them.  I found myself wanting to do more of these type of residencies and less of the type of bookings we had done before.  

The work in women’s prisons continued to grow with less and less other bookings. In the winter of 2004 Murray and I decided that we would retire from the New York area and I would find a new leader for Avodah.  I did and remained on the Board for a few years.  I was haunted by the women’s stories that I had heard and the intensity of the teaching experience.  Five years after I had retired, the stories still resonated, particularly those of several women we met who had murdered their abusers out of fear for their lives or having been pushed to the point where they snapped. This would lead me to form a non-profit film company with the mission of creating and distributing media of women striving to overcome abuse, and I’ll share more of this in a later blog.  I would also return to teaching movement in a women’s jail in Santa Fe as well as working in movement with women at Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families. I also helped to facilitate an art project at York, done by a friend.  There will be later blogs about these various experiences. That first week at York planted the seeds for creative work I have continued, to today.  Thank you, Joe Lea, for the invitation to bring the Forgiveness Project to York.

JoAnne, looking ahead. 
Photo taken by Murray around May 2004
at Liberty State Park near our home in Jersey City.

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