JoAnne Tucker

Milestones in Dance in the USA – Part Two

JoAnne Tucker / August 21, 2023September 8, 2023 / Book Review, Dance History

In the last blog , I reviewed this informative book. In this blog, I will share thoughts, insights and new awareness that I gained from reading the book. In May of 2004, I moved from New York City, leaving my role as Artistic Director and choreographer of The Avodah Dance Ensemble, a small modern dance company that I founded in 1974. I often went back to NYC, at first twice a year, enjoying catching up on some dance, especially with dance companies I already knew. Luckily, I spent the summers through 2009 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Camp is located. Linda Kent, then Director of the dance program, brought many up-and-coming modern dance artists to Camp and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing performances and sometimes watching classes and rehearsals. With COVID and the move to Costa Rica, I have only made one trip back to NYC, and that was in June 2022. Of course, over the years I followed dance by reading articles and reviews in various online newspapers such as The New York Times, paying attention to Instagram, Facebook posts, Dance Magazine and other online sources. This is not the same as being intimately involved in dance on a day-to-day basis, as I was before. In writing this, I am amazed that it has now been just over 19 years since I made a major life change. Reading Milestones in Dance in the USA caught me up to date in some dance trends I was not aware of and reminded me of dance experiences I hold dear in my memory.

Before getting into specifics of the book, I also want to point out that reading the book made me aware of how limited I was in exploring the full range of dance happening around me in NYC. I stayed pretty focused on mainstream modern dance while occasionally attending a ballet performance or the latest Broadway musical. Milestones in Dance in the USA let me know about dancers, companies and trends that I had had only limited knowledge about, although they had been happening around me. There were also areas in the book where I simply had no knowledge at all about what happened in that genre of dance.

I wonder if others have experienced being passionately involved in a career and realizing (either at the time or later) how focused their attention has been on their particular niche and how unaware they have been of trends going on around them. Having retired 19 years ago, I wanted to catch up on “new” happenings. It is good to read a book like this and fill in some of those spaces.

I begin by sharing some information I got from the very first of the 10 chapters, “Native American Dance and Engaged Resistance.” The chapter was written by Robin Prichard, who begins with a dedication honoring “my ancestors, the Tsalagihi Ayeli, also known as the Cherokee . . . and the original inhabitants and stewards of the land on which I wrote this article.” She is a choreographer and Fulbright Fellow who undertook a cross-cultural choreography project between Australian Aboriginal and contemporary Dance and has taught at several colleges in the United States and Australia.

The article opens with information she will expand on:

Native American dances are the oldest continuing dance traditions of the North American continent, containing unparalleled diversity in content, meaning and practices. . . . The story of Native American dance tells a distinctly American story of Indigenous lifeways, followed by slavery, genocide, and forced assimilation, as well as resistance and renewal.

She points out how dance held a venerated place in North American cultures as a carrier and creator of knowledge and lifeways during the 15,000 years before European ships “ran aground on the continent.”

The fact that Native Americans use dance to resist assimilation and continue their culture is demonstrated by the concern of the federal government and the hundreds of official restrictions and bans on dance that “the federal government produced in the decades between 1880 and 1930.”

She goes in depth into one dance in particular, The Ghost Dance, describing how “it was meant to bring an end to White colonial rule and restore Native Americans, who would be joined by their ancestors to live peacefully on earth.”

Dance was not just a leisure activity; rather it served as a way “to stay Native American, to continue essential lifeways, and to survive into the 20^th century.” In contrast she shared how Wild West Show (a category of shows) used “Indians” doing dances and horseback riding to appear as symbols of the past.

The end of this detailed and well-written chapter focuses on Powwow Dances which developed into “the largest expression of Native American culture with hundreds each year across the USA and Canada.” She points out that “Powwow dance and music have been present at every major Native American civil rights protest of the 20^th century.” Specific dances that are part of the Powwow are described, such as: The Round Dance, “a social dance of friendship in which every person is encouraged to join,” and The Jingle Dress dances, which have become “visible manifestations of Indigenous healing in both Native America and Black Lives Matter protests.”

She summarizes:

Resilient and adaptable, dance reinforces social, cultural, psychological, economic, and political ideals. Intertribal dance celebrates widely shared Indigenous Institutions and values while also continuing tribal-specific dance cultures.

She ends with a poem by Alcatraz poet Cheryl Ann Payne:

            The layers and layers of concrete could not

            stop the flowing of spirit between the Land

            and her People

            We danced the Spirit back into the Land

Hannah Kosstrin’s chapter on “Dancing for Social Change in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries” stood out for me because as a choreographer I shared this desire for my work. She begins:

When people dance with the goal of making the world a better place, they are dancing for social change. Social action drove many choreographers in the United States of American during the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Occurring on the concert stage and in community settings, dance for social change includes: work that engages social problems to change people’s minds or inspire them to enact change; work that offers viewpoints other than culturally dominant ones; and community-based dance efforts for empowerment and liberation.

She goes on to give specific examples:

The workers dance movement (1920-1940’s) for workers’ rights, egalitarianism and anti-racism. She gives many examples including discussing the work of Anna Sokolow, Sophie Maslow, Jane Dudley, Charles Weidman, Pearl Primus, and Katherine Dunham.

Choreographing Postwar Change to “make audience members feel like they are witnesses to onstage atrocities that inspire them to take action.” Anna Sokolow’s piece Rooms is cited for how it depicts feelings of isolation and alienation.” Donald McKayle’s Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder shows the plight of Black men on a prison chain gang. Alvin Ailey’s Revelations is about representation and opportunity. Some of Jose Limon’s works foreshadowed the Chicano Movement and mentored Native American students. Eiko and Koma in 1991 “embedded dances within specific sites in calls for environmental justice.” Anna Halprin and Liz Lerman used “dance practices to bring communities together mobilizing the Jewish concept of ‘tikkun olam,’ healing the world.”

Mobilizing Sexualities began in the 1980’s when choreographers began making autobiographical dances. “Many mobilized their gender and sexuality identities for social change through representation and collective action.” Bill T. Jones and his “first life and artistic partner Arnie Zane” were leaders in this movement. Arthur Aviles, “a choreographer of Puerto Rican heritage . . . puts dance at the center of queer social justice community building.” Jennifer Monson and Elizabeth Streb, Lesbian choreographers, displayed queerness through how they used movement rather than themes.

Storytelling for Justice beginning in the 1990’s and continuing to 2020’s made pieces about historical injustices using their communities’ stories for social action. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Urban Bush Women is an example of using Black Women to make pieces important to Black Women. H.T. Chen, in the NY area, and Minh Tran in Portland, challenged anti-Asian sentiment in their work. There are mixed-ability dance companies using dances with multiple physicalities that provide opportunities for dancers whose bodies do not fit the norm of what is thought of as the dancing body. Three Black American choreographers, Kyle Abraham, Camille A. Brown and Jennifer Harge, create works related to the Black Experience in the 2010’s to 2020’s. Discussion of the works of two current Indigenous choreographers, Rulan Tangen and Patrick Makuakane, illustrate storytelling for sovereignty and environmental justice. Jody Sperling, who danced on sea ice in the Arctic in 2014, is included, as well as Mexicanx-American artist Fabiola Ochoa Torralba’s work calling for climate recognition and rights of people on society’s margin.

This is an intense chapter filled with lots of information. It resonated with me because I was familiar with so many of the choreographers and pieces that are mentioned, and it was interesting to see them put in this context. I, too, found that a lot of my interest in choreographing pieces had an underlying call for social change.

The last chapter I want to share is by Joanna Dee Das: “Challenging the Distinction between Art and Entertainment: Dance in Musical Theater.” Musical theater holds a passionate place in my heart, as I have been involved in both directing and choreographing community productions and am an enthusiastic Broadway attendee. I was curious what new things I would learn from Dee Das.

In her introduction she poses some interesting questions and states the purpose of the chapter:

If George Balanchine can create “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” and have it called entertainment when a part of the musical On Your Toes (1936) and art when performed by members of the New York City Ballet in 1968, then we must question the root of this art/entertainment distinction. Musical theater choreographers operate under a different set of constraints than those working in concert dance, but those constraints lead to creative work that is no less worthy. This chapter will demonstrate how race, gender, and ideas of artistic independence, originality and authenticity shape how dance is classified.

She shares how dance in early musical theater had two influences, European ballet extravaganzas that began in the US in the 1860’s and the Africanist aesthetic of Black American social and theatrical dance. The first major transformation of Broadway dance was in 1921 in the musical Shuffle Along where dance became central to the “energy and motion of a Broadway show.” There was such a reaction to this all-Black cast and all-Black creative team that The Ziegfeld Follies of 1922 had a number called “It’s Getting Dark on Old Broadway.”

Interestingly, Martha Graham in 1930 referred to existing theatrical dance as a “handmaiden of music, of drama, even of costumes and stage sets and equally obscene in their lack of artistic integrity.” Dee Das points out how this led to an inauguration of concert dance as separate from Broadway entertainment. It was not only the dancers that expressed this division, but also critics of the period such as John Martin, Edwin Denby and Clement Greenberg.

That separation didn’t mean that ballet choreographers or concert dancers didn’t become involved in Broadway productions. George Balanchine is one example; Katherine Dunham is another who “blurred the Broadway/concert dance, entertainment/art lines.”

In the 1940’s there were many examples of crossover between modern dance and Broadway. Helen Tamiris choreographed Up in Central Park and Hanya Holm did Kiss Me Kate. At the same time there was also a movement to make “ordinary jazz routine” have power. As choreographer Robert Alton says, “I have exactly six minutes to raise the customer out of his seat. If I cannot do it, I am no good.”

Of course, most of us are familiar with how Agnes de Mille influenced Broadway dance in Oklahoma! and Dee Das reminds us that “de Mille’s choreography in Oklahoma! furthered the plot and developed characters’ emotional arcs.” Following de Mille, Dee Das points out that Jerome Robbins became the “standard-bearer for musical theater choreography” and he enjoyed success on both Broadway and in the ballet world. He is known for musicals such as Peter Pan, West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof, and for being both the director and the choreographer of shows.

In the 1970’s and 80’s Michael Bennet, Gower Champion and Bob Fosse were important figures in Broadway choreography. Fosse followed Jerome Robbins’ pattern of serving as both director and choreographer and developed his own style, which is pointed out as a “cynical depiction of female sexuality.” An example is given in “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity where the women “thrust their pelvises jerkily and aggressively.”

The next trend wasn’t until the 1990’s when George C. Wolfe as director, and dancers Gregory Hines and Savion Glover brought a trio of musicals that showed an “African aesthetic of tap dance and its capacity to carry history and memory.” For example, in Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, “the story of the survival of “the beat,” as expressed through tap dance, became the metaphor for the Black experience in the United States . . . .”

The Avodah Dance Ensemble worked with Children Living in Temporary Housing. One year we arranged for the group to attend a performance of Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk. In the front row of this photo (dark shirt, light pants) is Elizabeth McPherson, editor of Milestones in Dance in the USA. I took the picture.

The chapter goes on to discuss how choreographers and dancers continue to cross over between the different dance worlds. In the very successful Hamilton, premiered in 2015, Andy Blankenbuehler created a “parallel physical score,” where dance moved seamlessly throughout the musical. The style of movement is unique, fitting each of the scenes as “he combines various forms of hip-hop with musical theater’s ballet/tap/theatrical jazz . . . . ”

Dee Das concludes the chapter by pointing out that the question needs to shift to “how musical theater dance’s kinesthetic contributions balance with other aural and visual media to communicate with audience members and create pleasure.”

While certainly all the chapters deserve mention and held my interest, these three had particular appeal. All the chapters in this book are well researched, and I have only given you a taste of the scholarship each author brings to their topic. This book is an outstanding resource not only for dance history courses but for those individuals who want to explore dance in the United States from a variety of perspectives.

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Milestones in Dance in the USA edited by Elizabeth McPherson

JoAnne Tucker / June 29, 2023September 8, 2023 / Book Review

I just finished reading this eye-opening book, and I had planned to write a review. As I begin to write, I realize there is more I want to say than simply to review an excellent book. In this blog I will point why this work was very much needed and how Dr. McPherson developed the collection. I’ll include a brief overview of the book. In my next blog, I will explore my reaction as a retired dancer/choreographer/artistic director, and note particular chapters that were important in helping me to better understand both the times during which I was very active in the dance world, and where things have evolved to now.

Let me begin by saying I have a friendship with Elizabeth McPherson, so as I continue this blog I will be referring to her as Elizabeth. Elizabeth performed for 8 years in the company that I directed. We have continued to stay in touch since then. I have written articles for the quarterly Dance Education in Practicewhich she edits. We presented a workshop on Helen Tamiris at the 2018 Jews and Jewishness in the Dance World conference. Recently she visited me in Costa Rica, spending time working on a biography of Helen Tamiris.

Milestones in Dance in the USA was one of two books that received the 2023 Ruth Lovell Murray award from the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). In recognizing the book, the organization provided the following description:

Designed for weekly use in dance history courses, it traces dance in the USA as it broke traditional forms, crossed genres, provoked social and political change, and drove cultural exchange and collision. The authors put a particular focus on those whose voices have been silenced, unacknowledged, and/or uncredited – exploring racial prejudice and injustice, intersectional feminism, protest movements, and economic conditions, as well as demonstrating how socio-political issues and movements affect and are affected by dance. https://www.ndeo.org/Membership/Awards/Ruth-Lovell-Murray-Book-Award

In a blog that Elizabeth wrote for NDEO in February, she describes her extensive background in taking and teaching dance history courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. She points out that most of the focus in such courses has been on showing how US dance has grown out of Western European aesthetics, and as a result, “many important and influential voices in dance have been less acknowledged and sometimes even silenced.” Her current dance history course seeks to highlight these voices.

Link to full blog: https://www.ndeo.org/Latest-News/View/ArticleId/11688/New-Blog-Post-Reframing-a-College-Dance-History-Course-to-Dance-in-the-USA

In this same blog, Elizabeth describes how she was approached to be the editor of the book:

In the summer of 2020, after doing a peer review of a book for Taylor and Francis-Routledge, I was contacted by the publisher to gauge my interest in creating a textbook on the history of American Dance. Routledge was developing a Milestones series. Each book would be an edited collection of ten essays on various topics related to the overall theme.

Cover of the dance history book reviewed in this blog.

https://www.amazon.com/Milestones-Dance-USA-Elizabeth-McPherson/dp/1032131020/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3Q5FLVSMYTHJ6&keywords=milestones+in+dance+in+the+usa&qid=1687929085&sprefix=milestone+in+dance%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1

Drawing on her new approach to teaching dance history, Elizabeth selected ten authors who matched the new focus of her dance history course. The diverse authors were all very qualified to write on their specific subjects.

There is no better way to share the depth of the book and the authors than to list the ten chapters:

“Native American Dance and Engage Resistance” by Robin Prichard
“An American Take on Ballet” by Dawn Lille
“Black Women Keep the Tempo: The Impact of Black Women on Jazz and Tap Dance in the USA” by Alesondra Christman
“Gendered Politics and the Female Dancing Body” by Julie Kerr-Berry
“An Exploration of Inspiration, Imitation, and Cultural Appropriation in Dance in the USA” by Miriam Giguere
“Dancing for Social Change in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries” by Hannah Kosstrin
“Challenging the Distinction between Art and Entertainment: Dance in Musical Theater” by Joanna Dee Das
“Postmodern Dance: Laboratory of Rupture” by Emmanuele Phuon
“On Black Dance and Postmodern Representation from Black Power to Afro-Futurist Performance” by Carl Paris
“From The Serpentine to The Renegade: Milestones in Dance and Media Technology” by Jody Sperling.

I found each chapter fascinating, well researched and filled with new insights into the world of dance in the United States. One of the outstanding features of the book is the Further Reading List that each author gives at the end of their chapter. The materials include books, films, and Internet resources. Following that are the specific References that relate to the chapter. If one’s curiosity is peaked, there are lots of options for getting more information.

The Appendix of the book provides useful information for the reader. This includes a detailed Timeline of US history and dance in the US, a Glossary, and a Further Reading List which has sections for Books, Films and Videos, Internet Resources, Articles, Exhibits, and Journals.

Elizabeth has edited an outstanding book, not only as a textbook for dance history courses but also as an excellent resource in any college/university library for humanities courses. I highly recommend Milestones in Dance in the USA to any reader interested in getting a diverse perspective of the range of dance activities in the US. I learned a lot and in the next blog will share some of the information I found particularly fascinating.

Elizabeth on her recent trip to Costa Rica

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Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Costa Rica, April 23, 2023

JoAnne Tucker / May 5, 2023September 8, 2023 / Costa Rica, Current Dance Events, Personal Life

I never would have imagined that I would get to see the Ballet Nacional de Cuba here in Costa Rica, but I did, and what a delight, for several reasons. First, going to theatre and ballet is what I miss most in my life here. When I saw a sign advertising the Ballet Nacional de Cuba for two performances here, I knew that I wanted to go. Second, there were some unexpected surprises in the repertory and third, it was a fun evening, providing a chance to experience a different side of life in Costa Rica.

Checking online, I was able to find that the repertory the company would be doing here was a mix of classical — which they are well known for — and some new pieces which looked intriguing. There was even a YouTube video of one of the new pieces, and after watching it I knew for sure I wanted to get tickets. I asked a friend who I thought might be interested, and sure enough she was and even offered to drive. Since I knew I would be having a guest at my house on the date of the performance, I also asked if she wanted to go. She did, and so I went online and bought three tickets in what we would call the mezzanine. The tickets were appropriately priced but the service charge for buying them online was outrageous. Alas, there was no other way to buy them, and you are not told about the service charge until after you have paid and see the separate amount on your credit card.

We did a bit of research on possible parking lots and decided we also wanted to have something to eat before attending the 5 PM performance. With the help of Google Maps we made it into the area and were immediately impressed by the stature of the theater – and this wasn’t even the National Theatre. The Melico Salazar Theatre is built in the European Baroque style. Originally called the Raventos Theater, the building was completed in 1928. Various restorations were done over the years, and in the mid-1980’s the government bought the theatre. By law it became a “cultural institution especializada” of the Costa Rican State. In 1986 it was renamed to honor the famous Costa Rican tenor Manuel “Melico” Salazar.

We drove around the area, but no parking lots were open, even though some had indicated they would be open for theatre performances. So we pulled up in front of the theatre to ask where to park. There were several cones blocking the direct entrance but a gentleman, clearly part of the theater staff, moved the cones. When we asked where to park, he said that for 5,000 colones (around $9), right where we were. We were thrilled and my friend Cynthia, who had driven and who speaks perfect Spanish, had a fun conversation with Hugo. And to make things even easier for us, the theatre has a lovely Café Raventos with a menu that worked perfectly.

Following a wonderfully relaxing late lunch, we entered the theater. I felt my usual excitement at attending dance and theater events. The theater definitely had a feeling of grandeur, and we found our seats. As the theater filled, it became clear that even though we were in the 4^th row of the mezzanine the slope wasn’t steep enough for us to have a clear view. Luckily there were empty seats behind us and even one on the aisle in front. So we each were able to get a good view of the entire stage.

The first half of the program was my favorite. It opened with The Shape of Red, a recent addition to the repertory, by choreographer Ely Regina Hernandez. While I found an interview online where she talks about the piece, I was unable to find her bio. There were no printed programs. With a QR code I was able to download the program, but it contained no bios, and dancers who perform main roles in pieces are not named. The choreography incorporated a lot of modern dance moves typical of choreography in the mid-20^th century, and then suddenly there was a pointe solo added in. That was a bit surprising, but as a whole the piece’s theatrical portrayal of the color red was very satisfying, including the ending where the lead character grabs hanging fabric and is lifted into the air. If you are interested in watching the piece, it is available on YouTube, and here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGkxIfHH2A&t=745s

My overall favorite piece was La Muerte de un Cisne, (The Dying Swan). Choreographed by Michel Descombey (1930-2011), it opened with the roaring sound of wind blowing, and what a surprise for me to see that the Dying Swan was a male dancer in bare feet. This was clearly going to be a different version than the original one created by Michael Fokine for Anna Pavlova in 1905. Descombey’s choreography worked with some very interesting and original dance phrases and it was beautifully performed! Alas there was no information about Descombey on the Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s website nor do I have any information about the dancer. The audience loved the work, and the performer received lots of bravos. From some research online I learned that Descombey was a French ballet dancer, choreographer and director. Most of his career was in France but the last part of his career was in Mexico. There is a video of La Muerte de un Cisne on YouTube. Here is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RphILIjOL0

The dancer in Ballet Nacional de Cuba caught the fragile quality much better than the performer in the link.

The other piece that that I really liked in the first half was Tres Preludes by Ben Stevenson. A trio, it was beautifully danced by two men and a woman. It had a simple quality to it, cleanly and playfully performed.

The rest of the program was what I had expected to see — well-trained dancers performing classical material, some of it credited to Alicia Alonso’s variation, such as the duet from Swan Lake.

The company is much loved in Cuba and the final curtain call showed that they are used to much adoration. The Costa Rican audience was generous with its applause, but I got the feeling that the company is used to more.

It was a very special evening and a real treat to see a fine company here. I hope there will be other opportunities!

We were allowed to take photos, as long as we didn’t use a flash. I enjoyed photographing the final curtain calls; here is the male dancer of the Dying Swan taking his solo bow.

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My Kitchen Goddess Painting – An Ekphrastic Challenge

JoAnne Tucker / April 6, 2023 / Art, Personal Life, Poetry

Nine months ago, I had never heard of the word “Ekphrastic.” In an Introduction to Poetry class that I took last fall, I learned that the word means “description” in Greek. According to The Poetry Foundation:

An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. A notable example is Ode on a Grecian Urn, in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ekphrasis

We were assigned to write an ekphrastic poem, and I had fun writing mine inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s Abstract White Rose, 1927. Here’s a link where you can see the painting: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/abstraction-white-rose.jsp

A Single White Rose

Petals curling and blending

Into each other. Unclear

Where one begins

And the other ends.

Grays become white

And white becomes grays

With a touch of yellow

Or maybe lavender or blue.

Circling into the center

And then back out again.

Like breathing in and

Catching one’s breath

And breathing out again.

Curving, circling, catching,

Breathing, weeping, centering,

A single white rose

Awakens a sadness

Deep within.

A second poetry course followed, led by Pam Wax, and later I showed her this poem and appreciated her feedback, which helped me to edit the poem to the version I just shared. Pam also talked about ekphrastic poetry and told us about Rattle, an online website with the mission of promoting the practice of poetry. Each month Rattle has an Ekphrastic Challenge where they share a piece of artwork and invite poets to submit poems inspired by the visual image. The artist whose artwork is featured gets to select a favorite poem, as does the editor, Timothy Green. I was fascinated and enjoyed exploring the website, seeing different artwork and the winning responses. As I continued exploring, I came across a request for artists to submit artwork for the Ekphrastic Challenge. Twelve pieces would be selected for the coming year.

Soon I was browsing through digital images of my artwork and came up with five pieces I thought might inspire poems. What a delight to get an email a few weeks later that The Kitchen Goddess had been selected for the February challenge.

In mid-March I received an email from Tim with an attachment that had 25 poems for me to select from. While 455 poems had been submitted, Tim had chosen just 25 for me to read. I read and reread the twenty-five submissions, and clearly one kept standing out to me. Before making my final decision, I went back and read them all again to see if I would change my mind. Here is what I wrote about my experience and the poem I selected, The Rebirth of Venus by Luisa Giulianetti:

I was delighted and surprised at the range of emotions and different journeys that were expressed in the poems which I reviewed. The pastel painting was part of a show calling for work on the theme of the kitchen goddess. I approached the painting from a whimsical point of view placing a dancer in a frying pan. The poem that I have selected captures the playfulness of the painting. It is called The Rebirth of Venus and the opening lines refer back to the painting Birth of Venus by Botticelli. I have fond memories of seeing that painting when I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I laughed with delight with the phrase ‘found new digs.’ While the Botticelli painting was not on my mind when I created my kitchen goddess, the reference shows how two paintings inspired the poem, and I love that. In the poem, the poet has the dancing goddess opening a scallop and of course the original Venus is standing in a scallop shell. In addition, the poet also captured so well the feeling of the dancer in the kitchen ‘reigning supreme.’

It was first published as the poem of the day on March 23, 20023. Here’s the link to see Giulietti’s poem: https://www.rattle.com/the-rebirth-of-venus-by-luisa-giulianetti/

Mostly Dance’s editor, Kezia Gleckman Hayman, was with me when I saw the painting Birth of Venus. We had spent time in Italy setting some of Avodah Dance Ensemble’s repertory on local dancers for a Jewish Film Festival. When our work was done we had a few fun-filled days sightseeing in Florence. Kezia reminded me that we were so fascinated with the painting that we went back to view it a second time. Here’s a link to see the Birth of Venus: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus

I was curious which poem the editor would choose, and I had to wait almost a week until it was published also as a poem of the day on March 30, 2023. He chose Joy by Melissa Madenski.

Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “The best ekphrastic poems expand on their source image, pushing the experience in a new direction. Joy does that by finding all-too real grounding for the rich symbolism of JoAnne Tucker’s painting. Rather than describe the woman dancing in the frying pan, the poem describes the emotion she represents—and through the otherwise unrelated metaphor of the train. As a result, the poem enriches the painting while the painting enriches the poem, as if the two pieces of art were bound in their own dance together, exploring the complex transition from the darkness of grief back to the brightness of joy.”

Here is the link for Joy by Melissa Madenski: https://www.rattle.com/joy-by-melissa-madenski/

I was fascinated by his selection and that he focused on the emotion my Kitchen Goddess represented.

I encourage Mostly Dance readers to follow the link to the poems and not only to read them but to hear the poet read them. It adds another dimension. I am most grateful to Timothy Green for selecting The Kitchen Goddess for the February Ekphrastic Challenge, as it was fun, and an excellent learning experience. I look forward to following the Ekphrastic Challenges each month and reading the selected poems. I might even get brave enough to write a poem and submit it.

You can also go to the Ekphrastic Challenge page, scroll down and there is a link to both poems. https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Here’s the pastel painting The Kitchen Goddess painted around 2008 and accepted into a show in Denver

The Kitchen Goddess, pastel painting by JoAnne Tucker around 2008.

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An Experiment: Writing Haiku with Accompanying Watercolor

JoAnne Tucker / March 24, 2023March 24, 2023 / Art, Costa Rica, Personal Life

I have always been fascinated with the short poetic form of Haiku and how much meaning can be put into just 17 syllables. During the pandemic I took a weekend Haiku workshop at Upaya Zen Center via Zoom. I had fun exploring the form and enjoyed reading Natalie Goldberg’s Three Simple Lines. However, it wasn’t until we began the Atenas Writers’ Group in Costa Rica that I was motivated to write Haiku on a regular basis. At the same time, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review was offering a six-week online Haiku course, “Learn to Write Haiku: Mastering the Ancient Art of Serious Play,” taught by Clark Strand. I quickly signed up. Most sessions were prerecorded but a few were live sessions where we could ask questions. Clark encouraged us to have a daily practice and to write lots each day! What a great opportunity to learn from Clark, as he is totally dedicated to Haiku, with a big commitment to write Haiku himself, translate classical and contemporary Japanese Haiku and to encourage others to write Haiku. Here is the bio that Tricycle has online:

Clark Strand is a former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. His books include Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey and The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, which was co-authored with his wife, Perdita Finn. He teaches the popular group “Weekly Haiku Challenges with Clark Strand” on Facebook and leads Tricycle’s monthly haiku challenge, as well as the Tricycle Haiku Challenge Facebook group. (From Tricyle.org ‘s website)

The medium of watercolor has always both challenged and fascinated me so I decided I would choose the best Haikus that I wrote each week and do small watercolor paintings including the text in the painting. Since mid-August I have completed 35 painted Haiku ranging in size from 6” x 8” to 9” x 12”.

I also made the decision that the Haiku had to be inspired by what I saw in my own backyard. Living in Costa Rica, that’s not a problem. My husband used to say that we were living in our own National Park. In Clark’s course we were not only to follow the form of 3 lines with 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second and 5 in the last, but also to include a seasonal word. I decided to follow the traditional style as much as I could, including a seasonal word as it related to Costa Rica. I also thoroughly enjoyed the different samples of classical Haiku that we were exposed to.

It has been great fun to do this practice, and I have been quite consistent until recently, when I started writing prose to share with the Writers’ Group. I look forward to getting back to my Haiku/watercolor practice on a regular basis. Meanwhile, here are eight favorites. To see more, visit my Facebook page – JoAnne Tucker Art – where you can see all 35.

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Bonds of Friendship in a Writers’ Group: Remembering Jim Shaw

JoAnne Tucker / March 7, 2023March 14, 2023 / Costa Rica, Guest Posts

Our writers’ group in Atenas is just 7 months old, yet a special intimacy has developed in coming together and sharing what we have prepared for the week or in responding to a prompt. I have experienced a similar rich friendship and closeness built when creating choreography for a new piece with a dance company, or going on tour with a small group of participants who only a few weeks before were strangers. That kind of warmth and fellowship developed quickly in our small writers’ group.

The writers’ group grew out of a workshop presented by Jennifer Paquette when she was my guest spending several weeks working on a historical fiction novel. A day before she was due to leave, she shared some of her writing and then prompted us to do some writing. Immediately afterwards several participants enthusiastically suggested, “Let’s start a regular writers’ group here.” And so we did. Jim Shaw was one of the people who was at the workshop and immediately wanted to be part of the new group.

I had known Jim since January 2020, when my husband and I moved to Costa Rica. At that time, Jim was President of our homeowners’ association and made a welcoming visit. Nine months later, when my husband passed away and Jim saw my post on Facebook, he immediately drove down to my house to check if there was anything he could do to help. That gesture sealed a special place in my heart for Jim.

When I began to think about inviting artist friends to spend some time at my home, I reached out to several members of the community for suggestions on places to take visitors and ways that we might interact with the community. Jim and his wife Tracey had lots of good suggestions. A year later when the artists’ visits began, Jim and Tracey enthusiastically attended the artists’ presentations.

Jim came to the writers’ workshop when he could. Writing wasn’t easy for him so sometimes he shared a combination of what he wrote and just talked about his poignant memories of growing up and being a pilot during the Vietnam war. Since confidentiality is an important component of the group, we won’t reveal specifics, but we will share how much Jim meant to us. I personally am so grateful for Jim’s friendship, founding role in our writers’ group, and the opportunity to have heard his writing and storytelling.

Members of the Writers’ Group Share Their Thoughts

From Rosalie Olds

Even though I’ve been living in Atenas for about three years, I only met Jim recently when we both joined a local writers’ group. His quick wit and twinkling smile endeared me to him right away. When I shared my writing piece, I found his comments supportive and insightful. I especially enjoyed hearing about his experiences serving in Vietnam. Jim clearly felt compassion for others and delighted in being kind and helpful. I’ll miss the ribbing he gave me when his beloved Astros beat the Mariners. May he rest in peace.

From Trey Mallard

Haiku for Jim Shaw: In Memoriam 01/17/2023

1943-2023

In one’s life, people cross your life’s journey for just a moment but have a lasting impact. For me, one of those people was Jim Shaw. We met at a party, and immediately, Crissy and I knew that Jim and Tracey would become fast friends. We had similar stories in that we were both on second marriages, and some would say we married “eye candy.” But Jim and I knew better. Even though there were age differences with younger wives, we had both met and married our “soul mate.” Jim joined the initial writers’ group organized by JoAnne Tucker, which met in her lovely home in Hacienda Atenas. We were all would-be writers, but Jim was the only one who had not put his stories down on paper–Wisconsin farm boy to Top Gun in the Vietnam war. His stories were difficult to transcribe because his war experiences were still much with him and hard to relive. Jim lived with significant physical disabilities but was always up for a good time. His smile and sparkle in his eyes belied internal pain but were an instant attraction to those he encountered. I was fortunate not to have been drafted into his war, but I understood what it was like to lose friends who never returned. His death was sudden and too soon. Here’s to you, my friend…

Top Gun y Mas

Home, country, farm boy

grew, handsome, gentle spirit

pilot, war, hero.

Soars on metal wings.

Flight, chase, fell the enemy.

Now, soaring on mist.

III

Second time love found

On love bird wings, two fly high

Soaring one flies home.

Crippled body parts

needs extra feet for walking

now, one straight path, Light.

Blue eyes, smile lives on,

His loving memory strong.

New star, so bright, Jim

Jim Shaw
Photo taken by Tracey Shaw on the Roue de Paris (Ferris wheel) on the Place de La Concorde in Paris when they visited 6 years ago. They went on a wine cycling tour in Burgundy and visited Paris before and after their wine tour. Tracey described it as a truly wonderful trip.

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Literary Dance Scenes: How I. J. Singer Used Dance in “The Brothers Ashkenazi”

JoAnne Tucker / February 25, 2023 / Book Review, Dance History

My attention was caught by the title of a talk presented by HUC (Hebrew Union College) Connect in collaboration with the journal Prooftext: “Dance as a Tool of Pleasure and Humiliation in I.J. Singer’s Book The Brothers Ashkenazi. It was a webinar on Zoom, so I registered to attend and am glad I did. The presentation by Sonia Gollance triggered my intellectual side to learn more about how dance was used in this family epic novel that takes place mainly in the city of Lodz, Poland between 1870 and 1920.

Sonia Gollance, a Lecturer in Yiddish in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London, is a scholar of Yiddish Studies and German-Jewish literature whose work focuses on dance, theatre and gender. In her article in Prooftext she explores how dance is a main motif in The Brothers Ashkenazi, advancing the plot, character development and social commentary. In the very well researched article, she uses the term “literary dance scenes,” pointing out that the term mainly has developed in the context of British literature and the novels of Jane Austen. Her scholarly look at I. B. Singer’s book shows how literary dance scenes clearly depict the complexities of life in Lodz and the differences between the two brothers.

When I heard the talk via HUC Connect, I thought I would be focusing this blog on how dance was used for humiliation in Singer’s book and other related books or movies. While I will include some of that here, after reading the article in Prooftexts, I am equally fascinated with Gollance’s analysis of the dance motif and how it impacts the whole book’s development.

Dance is used masterfully to show the differences between the main character Max and his twin brother Yakub. Gollance points out that not only are the characters being developed by use of dance scenes, but we are being given insights into the different social groups and their assimilation into the main culture. Gollance looks at how each character functions in dance situations.

Early in the book we learn that there are differences between each twin’s relationship with his body. Max, the older twin, is thin and quiet. He doesn’t like to go outside and play with the other children. Yakub is the opposite; he is robust and thoroughly enjoys play. Singer then uses dance to tell us more about the characters. Max only dances when he is forced to. This happens only twice. The first time is at his arranged wedding, when his father tells him to join the Hasidic dancers at his celebration. His father has arranged for them to come, even though that is not what the bride’s family wanted. One hundred Hasidic men basically take over the dancing at the wedding, and Max does join them. The second time Max dances is toward the end of the book. Max has been rescued from a Russian prison by his brother Yakub, and at the border the antisemitic Polish soldiers command him to dance. This kind of dance is referred to as a Mayufes. He does so to prevent himself from being physically attacked by them. He dances and moves as fast as he can until he collapses on the ground. His life is saved.

In contrast we learn that Yakub dances for his own enjoyment and pleasure with his dancing partners. He enjoys moving and engages in the more modern pair dancing. However, he will not be forced to dance. When the Polish soldiers tell him to dance, he refuses and instead strikes the lieutenant, who then empties his pistol into Yakub’s body, killing him.

Singer has used dance to tell us more about each of his characters and also about the social order of that time. In particular, the wedding dance scenes illustrate this. The bride’s family wants the dance that is taking place in the women’s section where men and women are dancing together. In contrast, the groom’s father stops that interaction, with his 100 Hasidic men taking over the dancing. This tells us a lot about cultural differences and challenges of the time for the Jewish community.

The Mayufes scene in The Brothers Ashkenazi is very poignant because it ends with a death. In the movie The Piano there is also a scene where Jews are made to dance, showing a similar form of humiliation and mockery of Jews.

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00PHsaaXb0) clip from The Piano

Although not dancing a Mayufes, Edith Eger in her book The Choice: Embrace the Possible,and in various interviews, talks about how she danced for Dr. Mengel. The following is from an interview in 2015 for CNN. (https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/25/world/auschwitz-dancing-mengele/index.html)

“Dr. Mengele came to the barracks and wanted to be entertained,” Eger says.

Fellow inmates “volunteered” Eger to perform for the man who had ordered her parents’ death.

She asked her captors to play the Blue Danube Waltz as she danced for one of the worst war criminals of the Holocaust.

“I was so scared,” Eger says.

“I closed my eyes, and I pretended that the music was Tchaikovsky, and I was dancing ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the Budapest opera house.”

The German doctor rewarded the Jewish girl with an extra ration of bread, which she later shared with the girls in her prison quarters.

Eger says months later, those same girls rescued her when she nearly collapsed from disease and starvation during a forced death march through Austria.

To learn more about Edith Eva Eger, please check out my blog on July 12, 2019, where I write about her, her book and my reaction to it.

To conclude, I am very grateful to have heard the webinar presented by Sonia Gollance, as she made me aware of how dance can be used in literature to further character development and convey social order of the time. Her article in Prooftexts is available online; here is a link to it. The link works for me and I was able to read the full article. https://www.proquest.com/openview/e19eac68f651b3a1595b5e5584ad3bf9/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47712

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Guest Blog – Tara Stepenberg: First visit to Jacob’s Pillow – l953 – I am 10 years old

JoAnne Tucker / January 31, 2023 / Dance History, Guest Posts

I am pleased to welcome Tara Stepenberg as a guest blogger. Tara responded enthusiastically to my last blog about Jacob’s Pillow, when I invited anyone who had a memorable experience at the Pillow to contact me about doing a guest blog. Thank you, Tara, for sharing your experience. JoAnne

One evening in August of 1953, my mother and I went to Jacob’s Pillow for a performance. It was before dusk when we arrived. What first struck me were the rustic wooden cabins where students were staying. As we walked on the path by the cabins, the open windows allowed one to see inside. The rooms had lights on, and I could peer in, seeing pointe shoes hanging in the rooms (perhaps hanging down from rafters). I loved the look of that; it has stayed with me all these years and was experienced like some kind of “touchstone” for the future.

As was mentioned in a previous post, the place where the performances occurred was the “barn” and the program had different dance styles: classical ballet, modern and “ethnic” dance. (Each style was given equal weight. This was an important vision of Ted Shawn’s and was not lost on me). The performances were by the best representatives of these styles. I believe I saw Alicia Markova and perhaps one other ballet performer. For the “ethnic” portion, I saw the dynamic Jean Leon Destine (1918-2013) and his Afro-Haitian company. (For more information, google danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org to see photographs of this company.) He performed with Katherine Dunham and established his own company emphasizing dances/rituals from Haiti.

What I remember most about the performance is Giselle’s Revenge by Myra Kinch. I had seen the ballet Giselle in Rochester, but this Giselle was hilarious, dressed in all black, looking like the Addams Family, and there was a coffin and a hammer! (Giselle seduces her Albrecht into the coffin and nails it shut.) For photographs, google “Myra Kinch Giselle’s Revenge,” and photographs from Getty Images appear. (I could not find videos). Myra Kinch (1904-1981) was a modern dancer born in LA who trained with La Meri. She was known for her humor and satire – the focus of her choreographic output. She was head of the Modern Dance program at Jacob’s Pillow for 25 years beginning in l948.

The trip to Jacob’s Pillow was particularly memorable because it solidified for me what I wanted to do with my life. The affirmation occurred at dinnertime a day after the Jacob’s Pillow performance during our summer’s visit to a “farm” in Great Barrington. For several years, my family went to the Berkshires to spend a week on the “farm” of a family who were friends of my parents’ from their days with the American Labor Party. This lovely “farm” in Great Barrington, MA, was a beautiful place with many blackberry bushes, a nearby brook, and a run-down one-room schoolhouse filled with “old” books. The primary family also housed refugees from time to time and during this summer I noticed a person, a woman who had numbers on her forearm, and I learned that this woman had been in Auschwitz. (This was my first encounter with a survivor from the camps.)

I can see myself standing at the dinner table with many people around it. Someone asked me what I wanted to do or be when I grew up (I don’t remember the exact question). My response was, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a dancer, graduate high school early and go to New York.” And in fact I graduated high school just after turning 16, went to the Boston Conservatory of Music for a year, then Juilliard, and after graduating, performed with Anna Sokolow for a year.

Tara, age 11, the year after she visited Jacob’s Pillow.

Bio. Tara Stepenberg (ne. Francia Roxin) Tara (M.Ed., CMA, RMT) a former Education Director of LIMS, has been deeply engaged with movement for over 50 years, as a performing, creative artist, university professor, reconstructor from Labanotation, movement coach, somatic and authentic movement practitioner. She founded & directed the Dance Department at Hampshire College, taught at SUNY Brockport, The Naropa Institute, Antioch New England, Wesleyan Summer Program and Southwestern College. She currently is on the conditioning staff of Pacific Northwest Ballet, has a private practice Somatic Resonance, and in January (2022) completed the Ways of Seeing program with Suzi Tortora. Tara loves the places and spaces that engagement with the bodymind reveals.

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First Visit to Jacob’s Pillow in 1956 and Virtual Visit 2023

JoAnne Tucker / January 17, 2023 / Current Dance Events, Dance History, Personal Life

Some memories stay vividly with you even after 67 years. The memory of my first visit to Jacob’s Pillow in 1956 is such a memory.

I was attending Belgian Village Camp located in Cummington, MA. While I was only thirteen, a close friend of my Mom’s knew of my strong interest in teaching dance. She had a good friend who ran the camp and contacted her, sharing my interest. I was given a scholarship with the understanding that I would teach the younger kids dance. I was thrilled.

It was a wonderful summer and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the young girls creative movement, much as I had learned from my teacher Genevieve Jones. And the highlight was when a group of us was taken to Jacob’s Pillow for an afternoon performance.

In a rustic theatre, the performance began with Ted Shawn introducing himself to us and telling us about Jacob’s Pillow. I don’t remember his exact words, but my thirteen-year-old self knew he was a very important person and spoke to us in a very dignified manner.

Later I would learn just how important a figure he was in the creation of American modern dance. A New York Times article written by Clive Barnes shortly after his death gives good insight into his role:

THE death of Ted Shawn shortly after his 80th birthday brings to an end a whole era in American dance. Shawn, together with his wife, the late Ruth St. Denis, was largely responsible for the creation of American modern‐dance.

It was in 1915 that Shawn and his wife started the original Denishawn School in Los Angeles, and from this school emerged the first generation of American modern dancers, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. These were the new pioneers of American modern‐dance, and Shawn was their spiritual father. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/16/archives/ted-shawn-18911972.html

The current Jacob’s Pillow website points out that in 1930 Shawn purchased a “rundown farm in the Berkshires known as Jacob’s Pillow … and that laid the groundwork for both his revolutionary company of men dancers and America’s oldest dance festival.”

On YouTube you can watch a piece of his company of men performing

When our camp visited the Pillow, Shawn said the performance that day would let us see three different kinds of dance: modern, ethnic and ballet. I do not remember the modern or ethnic dance performances at all, but having the opportunity to see Alicia Markova dance “The Dying Swan” was breathtaking.

Markova was 46 when I saw her perform, and the emotion and delicacy that she exhibited, especially in her arms, stood out. She had begun performing when she was just 14, discovered by Diaghilev. After her time with the Ballet Russes she moved to London and danced with the Sadler Wells Ballet Company and was noted for her partnership with Anton Dolin. On YouTube you can find excerpts of her dancing The Dying Swan and also Giselle with Anton Dolin as her partner.

Link to The Dying Swan

Link to Giselle

The summer at Belgian Village opened my eyes to new possibilities ahead and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to begin exploring my teaching abilities and to visit Jacob’s Pillow.

Now living in Costa Rica, I don’t get many opportunities to see dance, so I am very glad that Jacob’s Pillow is now making so much available online. Some videos and films are free and that includes the short films that are a part of Inside the Pillow Lab and some longer films that are part of Pillow Talk. It is a great resource both for gaining a historical perspective and for knowing what is happening now. For example, one film of historical note in Pillow Talk is “Ann Hutchinson Guest: A Century +”:

Celebrating the life of dance notation pioneer Ann Hutchinson Guest (1918-2022), her legacy and deep Pillow roots are explored by friends, family, and fans including Norton Owen, Michael Richter, Tina Curran, and Melanie Dana, with many video clips of Guest herself. (1:00:37)

The Pillow Lab videos are short interviews with choreographers, about the work they created while at Jacob’s Pillow. While they are talking, we see dancers moving with phrases from the developing piece. The videos are short and informative with a diverse group of choreographers.

There is also a pay-for-events section where one can select films of past performances at Jacob’s Pillow. Currently streaming now and available for a fee of $15 is the Limon Dance Company which is currently celebrating its 75^th anniversary. It was added on January 9^th and will be available until February 19^th. Once you pay you may watch the performance as many times as you like. Also available are pre- and post-show talks related to the performance, and these are free.

So even if you can’t make an in-person trip to the Pillow, you have lots of options to watch, many for free and some costing $15.

If you have studied at Jacob’s Pillow, performed there or attended a memorable performance, I invite you to add a comment — or better yet, to contact me to do a guest post about your experience.

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Options for Streaming the Nutcracker Ballet – December 2022

JoAnne Tucker / December 25, 2022 / Arts in Education, Current Dance Events, Dance History

For as long as I can remember, Nutcracker performances and the holiday season have gone together. Many dancers have early memories of being in a Nutcracker. From major ballet companies to small regional companies, energies have gone into creating Nutcracker performances to delight local audiences and to help support the company financially, as shows are usually well attended. Even some modern companies have ventured into their own interpretations. Donald Byrd created the Harlem Nutcracker back in 1996 but unfortunately by 2001 it had financially bankrupted his company. He is now recreating the work in Seattle, with more financial care, and this year he has offered the Harlem Nutcracker Teaser to be followed by a full production next year. Mark Morris created The Hard Nut which is set to Tchaikovsky’s 1982 score. It takes inspiration from the “comic artist Charles Burns, whose art is personal and deeply instilled with archetypal concepts of guilt, childhood, adolescent sexuality, and poignant nostalgic portrayals of post-war America” (Wikipedia). The Hard Nut was performed this year at the Detroit Opera House.

For this blog I am going to share three different Nutcrackers which you can stream online. New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker created by George Balanchine is available to watch on Hulu. Disney Plus has a brand-new Hip-Hop Nutcracker which has some surprise cameo performances. Netflix has Debbie Allen’s Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker which is a documentary about her school and shows the process from audition to performance of her Nutcracker which involves many students and even some teachers.

On Hulu, The New York City Ballet production is the classical Nutcracker we usually think about. It had its original premiere in 1954 created by George Balanchine to the music of Peter Tchaikovsky. Like the original Nutcracker ballet created in 1892 by Marius Petipa, it is in two acts. The libretto was adapted from Hoffmann’s 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The version on Hulu was filmed in 1993 adapted by Peter Martins with narration by Kelvin Klein.

The New York City Ballet website informs us that the production involves all “90 dancers in the company, 62 musicians, 40 stagehands and more than 125 children in two alternating casts from the School of American Ballet.”

The stage elements are amazing with a Christmas tree that grows from 12 feet to 41 feet and a bed that floats through the sky. While it is filmed beautifully, I sometimes was frustrated by the close-ups when I really wanted to have a full view of the stage. The dancing is outstanding with Darci Kistler as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her partner Damian Woetzel as Cavalier. Kyra Nichols is beautiful as Dewdrop. The children from the school are well trained and fun to watch as party guests, soldiers, angels, and mice. I was surprised that the young boy playing Drosselmeier’s nephew was Macaulay Culkin, best known for Home Alone. And sure, enough Culkin did indeed study at the School of American Ballet.

On Netflix is an original documentary produced by Shondraland titled Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. It focuses on Debbie Allen, who had an outstanding award-winning career on television, in theaters and the movies as a dancer, singer and actress. In 2001 she formed the Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA). In 2008 she created Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. The documentary was created in 2020. While the documentary opens with Debbie Allen coaching young children to the music of Tchaikovsky, the ballet also incorporates a variety of other music and styles. 200 children from the ages of 4 and older participate in the ballet. We never see The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker from beginning to end; instead we are given a backstage look at how it is put together from the children’s auditions to rehearsals to backstage before the performance. Excerpts from the performance are included.

Woven into the documentary is Debbie Allen’s biography. Teachers at the DADA are interviewed, as well as several students. A few students are followed in more detail sharing their dreams and frustrations of having a career in dance. Debbie Allen’s coaching of the dancers is very interesting as she treats them as professionals and expects them to behavior appropriately. At one point she insists they stop talking or get fired!!

Savion Glover is guest choreographer, and we see several excerpts where tap dancing is featured. This production is filled with high energy and lots of imagination. The young dancers are well rehearsed and many of the dancers have participated in the ballet over several years (as do dancers from the School of American Ballet in the NYC Ballet’s Nutcracker). They give 8 performances each year with a total of 11,520 seats and ticket sales of $450,000. This is a major fundraiser for DADA, which provides classes for students whether they can pay or not.

Hip Hop Nutcracker is a new video on Disney Plus and it is lots of fun to watch. It is described as a newly imagined and reinvented Nutcracker. Basically the plot is that Maria Clara’s parents are not getting along and she takes them on various adventures to get them back together.

The first fun thing I noticed was how cleverly they use the Tchaikovsky music. We hear a theme and soon it blends into a hip hop sound or music. At one point Maria Clara does a playful hip hopish solo to some of the actual score and amazingly it fits very well. The program opens with a narrator rapping and he comes back in a few other places. The group choreography is lively, well executed and just plain fun to watch.

There are two unique cameo appearances. The first is Tiler Peck coming to life as a Toy Doll. It has traditional ballet steps with some added twists. In a November 29, 2022 interview Tiler speaks about when she first saw The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and decided she wanted to perform on that stage, to her joy in dancing various roles in The Nutcracker with the New York City Ballet and finally how she enjoyed being a part of the Hip Hop Nutcracker. She is hoping that it will bring a different audience to The Nutcracker. https://news.yahoo.com/ballet-dancer-tiler-peck-dishes-212929808.html

The second cameo, somewhat briefer so it is easy to miss, is Mikhail Baryshnikov. He joins the character Drosselmeyer as both come down brownstone steps. A scene title calls him the Spirit of Snow. Alas it is much too short. The first time I watched it…. I did a double take saying, “Wow that looks like Baryshnikov” and of course when I looked at the cast credits, sure enough it was!

I hope you take some time to watch at least one of these Nutcrackers. All three are different and each is special in its own way. And maybe some of you have memories of being in The Nutcracker. Elizabeth McPherson,(a regular reader, Avodah Dance Ensemble member for 7 years, and now Dr. McPherson, Director of Dance at Montclair State University, and author of several dance history books) shared this picture of her getting ready backstage for Atlanta’s Nutcracker when she was about ten years old. Her teacher, Janet Clough, is fixing her hair. Thank you, Elizabeth, for sharing a Nutcracker memory with us. Do any other readers have pictures or memories they would like to share of being in or seeing a Nutcracker performance?

Elizabeth McPherson getting ready for the Atlanta Nutcracker
with her teacher, Janet Clough, fixing her hair.

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