Author: JoAnne Tucker

Casa Uno – Labyrinth Number 26 – Camino del Artista (Part 3)

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

With the design created for the Labyrinth, it was now time to focus on the building process.  The first step was to trace the pattern on the ground.  We had already decided that the path would be outlined with red bricks, so the same day that the tracing happened, the red bricks were delivered!  A team of three men came to help with the tracing and moving of the bricks.  Ronald Esquivel, the designer, was here for the tracing and supervised work for the next two days.  The rest of the week the men were here on their own working a full day to place each brick where it needed to be and to regularly check the measurements.  Slowly I could see the path developing.  I regularly took pictures of the process. 

Ronald begins the tracing process.
Tracing is now complete!
Building begins
One section is close to done.
Making progress in another section.
One of the corners is now complete
Part of the completed Labyrinth as it winds its way through the garden.

In the next blog I’ll share the opening celebration and thoughts on regularly walking the labyrinth. 

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Casa Uno – Labyrinth Number 26 – Camino del Artista (Part 2)

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Arts in Education, Costa Rica, Personal Life

Knowing I wanted a labyrinth in my garden, I Googled “Costa Rica Labyrinths” to see if I might get some help in creating one at my home in Atenas, Costa Rica.  I was surprised when the search generated a lot of information.   The very first link was totally fascinating.  “Costa Rica is home to the World’s Largest Labyrinth.” It’s called La Senda and it is located about a four- to five-hour drive from where I live. There is a website all about it and several articles online about how it was created.  (https://lasendacostarica.com/en/). If you are interested in knowing more about it, please check out the website, and do a Google search for additional articles.  Among the names associated with this labyrinth is Ronald Esquivel, who was contacted to design the labyrinth related to two energy vortexes.  Ronald is a Costa Rican architect who specializes in sacred geometry and labyrinth design.

So, of course, my next Google search was “Ronald Esquivel” and again I was rewarded with lots of information both about him and about the different labyrinths that he has designed.  Instead of the usual circular ones that I was familiar with, his designs were totally different, and each one unique. He has built labyrinths for public parks, universities, a prison, a children’s hospital, a yoga center and private homes.  There was also a lot of information on YouTube where his channel has over 69 videos, many of them examples of the different labyrinths he has created.  I was totally fascinated.  He was a keynote speaker at the 2009 Labyrinth Society Gathering in Portland, Oregon as well as a speaker for the Society again in 2020 when he was interviewed in a program called “Creating Balance in Unbalanced Times.”  I listened to the interview and read his kindle book Labyrinth Design and The Energy of its Geometry.  When I found an email address for him online, I decided to send him an email and see if he helped private homeowners like myself create labyrinths for their gardens.

I was delighted when I got a response the next day, and a few emails followed.  We set up a time for him to come and visit the garden and to make some suggestions.  After reading his book, and in particular an article that he and Jan Hurwitch wrote in 2013, I knew that he creates different designs unique to the environment he is working in. For example, at the time of this article he had created 14 labyrinths including a Wisdom Labyrinth, a Growth Labyrinth, and a 4 Element Series. For more information I suggest reading the article. http://gaiacr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Labyrinths-of-Costa-Rica.pdf

In my mind I was beginning to think about a labyrinth here as part of the Artist Retreats I was thinking of offering on my property in Costa Rica!  When Ronald arrived, I felt an immediate connection to him as we walked the garden.  He asked questions and I shared how I envisioned using the labyrinth for both myself and for guests at the Artist Retreats.  Soon we were talking about the creative process and how the labyrinth might represent different stages of the creative journey.  I also talked about how important the diagonal line was to me as a choreographer and in my paintings!   Over the next few weeks, we continued emailing and discussing the different stages of creating something, whether it is a dance, a painting or a musical composition.

Another visit followed, during which Ronald took careful measurements of the garden, and I finalized my decision that he would design the labyrinth and we would use his team to chalk it and create it! We also determined that the borders of the path would be red brick, and when the work would begin.

The next step involved Ronald submitting the design for my approval and asking if I wanted any changes.  I loved it and we had fun following the design and envisioning how it would be on the property.

Design of the Labyrinth: “Camino del Artista” by Ronald Esquivel

Ronald also showed me where each of the physical places of the creative journey we had agreed on would be located.

The stages we had determined were:

  1. First you must show up!!  – that’s the beginning point, from which the two diagonal lines go out, and where you walk to enter the labyrinth.
  2. Then one tends to go inward to see what it is one wants to create. That’s a place in a corner which is very private and somewhat hidden.
  3. Next step is gathering all the tools and research one needs to make the vision happen. That is represented by the curves and twists in the labyrinth as one moves from one side of the garden to the other.
  4. There is a point where one looks outward… and begins to share, and this is represented by a corner where one can view the mountains in the distance.
  5. And of course, there is the center which the path reaches. I view that as the first draft!
  6. The return journey is all the editing that one does to complete a project.

Ronald’s friend and co-author of the 2013 article, Jan Hurwitch,  joined him as we reviewed the draft and she brought with her 5 crystals that would be buried on the path, representing different relevant emotions.  They are:

  1. A black Onyx to repel negativity
  2. Aquamarine for courage
  3. An Orange Agate to reduce stress
  4. Crystal Quartz for healing and spirituality
  5. Rose Quartz for love and compassion, particularly starting with oneself.

The crystals will be buried once the labyrinth is completed, at the inaugural ceremony.

Coming next will be Part 3 – Building the Labyrinth!!

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Casa Uno – Labyrinth Number 26 – Camino del Artista (Part 1)

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Dance Programs in Prison, Personal Life

One morning following my meditation I looked out at the garden and thought, “What this property needs is a labyrinth,” or laberinto in Spanish.  Hum…I wondered if there were many in Costa Rica and how I might go about having one here. So of course I Googled “labyrinth, Costa Rica” and yes a lot of links came up.  It would be possible.  First let me back up a bit and share how my interest in labyrinths began.

While I knew about the difference between a labyrinth and a maze I can’t remember if I had ever walked one before 2012.  Just a reminder, a maze, often made with hedges or walls, is a convoluted path that the walker needs to solve, leading to a goal. In contrast, a labyrinth doesn’t have a hedge or wall but rather a defined path on the ground that twists and turns and eventually leads the walker into the center.   The following description is from the Labyrinth Society:

A labyrinth is a meandering path, often unicursal, with a singular path leading to a center.  Labyrinths are an ancient archetype dating back 4,000 years or more, used symbolically, as a walking meditation, choreographed dance, or site of rituals and ceremony, among other things.  Labyrinths are tools for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. (https://labyrinthsociety.org/about-labyrinths)

My real interest in how the labyrinth could be a tool for meditation and growth didn’t happen until I was volunteering in a meditation and movement program with Aine McCarthy in the Santa Fe County Women’s Detention Center beginning in 2012.  Aine was in the chaplaincy program at Upaya Zen Center and we had met at a retreat. During a breakfast at the end of the retreat we learned that two dancers had stayed at her house when the Avodah Dance Ensemble had spent a week in residence at York Correctional Institution. (See blog https://wp.me/p9Mj5D-gM)  Aine was then a teenager… now over 10 years later here we were sitting across from each other at a breakfast table at Upaya.  When Aine shared that she was in the chaplaincy program I asked what she wanted to do as a chaplain, and she said she wanted to work possibly as a chaplain in the correction field and was planning to do a project in the Santa Fe County Jail.  She then asked, much to my surprise, if I might be interested in joining her and suggested we could develop a movement and meditation program for the women in the jail.  I thought, “Why not!”  And so we began working together.

We did the training program to become volunteers in the jail and developed a curriculum for guiding the women in an hour-and-a-half session once a week.  Working in a jail is very different than the previous work I had done in a prison. First of all there is a much greater level of anxiety, as the women don’t know how long they will be there.  Maybe they will soon be out on bail.  When will they get a court date? What kind of sentence will they get?  They may also be dealing with coming down from drugs or regular alcohol use. So the tension and stress level is very high.

We designed sessions integrating movement, meditation and writing.  Soon we were leading sessions and each one was totally different and unique.  Sometimes we just had 2 people and other times a crowded room of 7 or 8.  Our space was small and so we began by moving the tables to the side and started with movement activities.  Worksheets with quotes related to the session’s themes were shared and a writing or discussion prompt followed.  Each session ended with the women meditating and then tracing by pencil  a paper labyrinth.  Here’s a link to where you can download and print out several to trace with a pencil.  https://www.relax4life.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/papersimplechartres-.pdf

The Santa Fe County Detention Center has a yard where the women can spend some time outside each day.  Aine and I thought it would be quite wonderful if we could paint a labyrinth on the floor so the women might have an actual experience of walking it.  Again there were lots of hoops to jump through but finally we were able to do that.  Several women who had been regular participants were able to join us and it was an excellent event with Aine guiding us inmeasuring and then painting the lines.

Aine measuring the distance between lines for the labyrinth.

When Aine and I began working with women in a domestic violence center we again used ideas from the curriculum we had developed for the jail program.  And then when I made a film called Through the Door: Movement, Meditation and Healing, we filmed a session of the women from the Esperanza Shelter walking the labyrinth at Upaya Zen Center. Aine had spearheaded the project to get that labyrinth built.

Screen shot from Through the Door: Movement, Meditation and Healing

In the next blog I’ll share what I found out when I Googled “labyrinth in Costa Rica.”

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Dancing with the Penguins

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration! I love the scene in Mary Poppins where Dick Van Dyke dances with four cartoon penguins. And no, Murray and I did not become transformed into Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, but what we did do was go to an island where we could walk with and near the penguins.  A limited number of people each day are allowed to enter the island and walk within a few feet of the penguins.

We left Ushuaia, the southern most point in Argentina, by a minivan of 12–15 people, and after an hour or two of driving east along a scenic highway we came to Estancia Harberton where we had a bathroom option before we boarded a small zodiac-type boat to Martillo Island for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I knew that we would see penguins but I had no idea how many, or that we would literally be waddling right beside them.

After getting off the boat on a sandy and pebbly beach we were greeted by mainly Magellanic penguins. From September to April this is their home and there are over 1000 nests.  There are also a few Gentoo Penguins who nest there.  Much to my surprise they did not move away from us but basically welcomed us as a natural part of their environment.

For an hour Murray and I quietly wandered among the penguins, mostly in silence, photographing and observing.  Later I would return home and make pastel paintings from several of Murray’s photographs.

Arriving on Martillo island. Photo by Murray Tucker
Two penguins along our walk. Photo by Murray Tucker
A pastel painting that I did several months later based on one of Murray’s photos.

On our return to Estancia Harberton we had time to wander the gardens and old buildings and enjoy lunch at the restaurant.  Murray was fascinated by this bent-over tree.

Photo by Murray Tucker

Three other excursions stand out: a visit to the national park, a cruise on the Beagle Channel and a ride up the ski lift close to town.

Getting to the National Park was an easy bus ride of just a few kilometers going west of town.  The park entrance is at the end of the National Highway and the other side of the park is the border with Chile.  We had a delightful walk along the main trail in a forest of beech and evergreen.  The trail borders the water and there are side trails which take you down to the water.  We enjoyed seeing the various waterfowl that were along the water’s edge.

Murray took this picture of me at the entrance to the park.

On another day we took the ski tow up to an alpine area and enjoyed wandering around and getting a different sight of the town below and the mountains above.  We walked back to town.

Finding the path to begin our walk back to town. Photo taken by Murray

And of course, no trip to Ushuaia would be complete without a cruise around the Beagle Channel.   This is a favorite picture of Murray and me aboard the boat and then another of the sea lions we passed by.

A close-up taken by Murray during the cruise on the Beagle Channel.

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Argentina – Spanish School for Murray and Painting for JoAnne – Part I

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

The 10 weeks we spent in Argentina during the winter of 2006 were filled with different unique experiences somewhat representative of the natural diversity of the country that extends from a subtropical north to a sub-Antarctic south.  Considering that Argentina is the 8th largest country in the world, we were able to enjoy and explore the country a lot by flying from place to place.  We found in our early research that if we flew into Buenos Aires internationally on Argentina’s national airline, Aerolineas, then there were discounted fares for flying between places within the country. From our homebase in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, it wasn’t easy to connect to Aerolineas in the US so we flew to Santiago, Chile,  I think on Delta.  We didn’t have to go through immigration and easily connected to an Aerolineas flight into Buenos Aires.  Now we qualified for the discounted fares which made a significant difference in cost and time so we could see more of Argentina!

Our trip was framed by a few days in Buenos Aires at both the beginning and the end.  We loved wandering the streets, sampling the excellent food, attending a tango show and visiting Eva Peron’s grave.  While it was lots of fun it wasn’t very different from the excellent experiences we had had visiting other major cities.

Picture taken by Murray when we visited the cemetery.
Picture taken by Murray when we visited the cemetery.

What was very unique was the month we spent in Ushuaia.  Ushuaia is sometimes referred to as the “end of the world” as it is located at the southernmost tip of Argentina.  It is the “gateway” for Antarctica cruises. It is located on the Beagle Channel with the Martial Mountains behind. I have very vivid memories of seeing both the Beagle Channel and the mountains behind as our plane landed at the airport.

We had a wonderful hostess for the month.  She was a retired teacher who earned extra income by hosting students studying at the Spanish school.  A comfortable room, a good breakfast and dinner, and a drive to the school located up on a hill made it easy for us to quickly settle in.  While Murray was in school in the morning I would usually set up somewhere close by on the sidewalk and just enjoy painting.  I got very comfortable with people looking over my shoulder but conversations were limited as I had so little Spanish, and that suited me very well.  Among my favorite paintings done on the street were paintings of the mountain peaks, the huge lupine flowers and the view into the channel.

View of the Beagle Channel. Pastel Painting by JoAnne Tucker.
Pastel painting of lupine flowers by JoAnne.
Mountain peaks with snow and clouds.  The days were often cloudy and grey yet still very beautiful. Pastel painting by JoAnne.

Following our mornings in school we would wander down the hill and find a cozy restaurant for lunch.  Sometimes we were joined by some of the students at the school.  I remember one lunch at an informal pizza place with a couple in their 30’s from Germany.  They were taking a half year off to begin a bike trip from Argentina to Alaska and decided to begin by reviewing their Spanish.  Murray and I were both surprised and thrilled to hear about their plans and the trip.  What an amazing, ambitious undertaking.  We learned that others had actually done the trip and that they were going to do it in stages.  We did follow their blog at first and know that they made it the length of Argentina riding their bikes.  A quick Google search couldn’t find anything about their trip but I did find some blogs of people that actually completed the trip and I include them here for your reference.

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/theredbulletin/michael-strasser-ice2ice-pan-american-highway-ride-stats

http://www.scc2ush.com

https://3boondogglers.com/20-questions-pan-american-bicycle-tour/

After lunch we would sightsee downtown and walk along the harbor until we got to the street where we lived and then follow it, arriving home in time to relax before dinner.

We did have a few dinners out.  One related to the Super Bowl.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Seahawks on Sunday night, February 5, 2006.  Murray and I had both grown up in Pittsburgh and Murray’s dad was Joe Tucker, the very first sports announcer for the Steelers. He began broadcasting on radio in 1936 and his last game was on television in 1968.  Murray never missed a game and usually I was right there with him so it was only natural that we would find a place in Ushuaia to watch the Super Bowl.  The week before, we visited several places that had TV’s and sport events on and did find one place that promised that they could get the game and we could have dinner and watch it there.  We did and it was great fun to see the Steelers win, 21 -10 over the Seahawks.

Our other very memorable dinner out was at an elegant restaurant that prepared a five-course meal, each course served with a special wine.  Our hostess told us that whenever a major cruise ship was in town, the captain of the ship usually dined there.  It lived up to its reputation.

Picture taken by Murray when we arrived in Ushuaia. It was either taken during a cruise on the Beagle Channel or from the airport right after we arrived.
Picture taken by Murray of a typical lupine garden in Ushuaia

The next blog will share some of the special sightseeing that we did while in Ushuaia.

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Finding just the right music for a film

JoAnne Tucker / / Film, Music

We’ve got the right script for a film and it has been edited.  Now we need to add some music.  Solving the problem of just the right accompaniment has been nearly a sixty-year challenge for me.  I can remember spending hours in the Juilliard library listening to music to find the right piece for a work I was creating for Louie Horst’s choreography class on Group Forms. More recently I have been challenged to find music to go with the films that Healing Voices – Personal Stories has made, related to domestic violence.  Often, the music has been the final step in the filmmaking process, and that was the case with our most recent film, One in 7, which we completed in December 2021.

The earlier films for Healing Voices were focused on women, but this new one was focused on the fact the one in seven men also are victims of domestic violence.  As I watched the early drafts of the film I thought that it might be a good idea to ask my friend and colleague Newman Taylor Baker to create some music for the film using the washboard.  Newman is a percussionist whom I have worked with since 1990, when I directed The Avodah Dance Ensemble.  He provided the accompaniment or an original score for a number of the dance pieces in the company.  I thought this might be a project for him and discussed it with my co-director and co-producers.  They all liked the idea, and my co-director David Lindblom had a good suggestion that Newman also film his hands while he was playing.

Newman was enthusiastic.  We sent him a draft of the film so he could get an idea of what we might use in the opening and then in the credits at the end.  That was where we thought we needed music.  When Newman got the short film of 7:14 minutes he decided to improvise and create a score for the whole film.  He was about to go on a trip to Poland and thought he knew some people in Poland who could film him playing in a studio there.  David and I said sure.  We imagined that we could find sections to use for our original idea, and we were curious what Newman’s music would sound like for the full film.

Then we got his score, and what an amazing surprise it was that we liked the music throughout the film.  It gave a rhythm and intensity that fit perfectly and in fact greatly enhanced the impact of the film.  It was a challenge for David who was doing the film’s editing to sync everything correctly, and I am so grateful that he took his time and worked on it until he felt it was just right.  It was important to balance the level of the washboard with the voices of the speakers in the film too. David also used visuals of Newman playing in different places, and the image of Newman’s fingers inside bullet cases playing on the washboard added another dimension to a story focused on the three men describing violence they had experienced.

The whole experience reminded me again of the importance of how the arts complement each other.  Filmmaking — like theatre, opera and dance — is bringing together more than one art form.  Yes… it may be driven by a script, or choreography, but it is the blending of other art forms with the primary one that makes the work complete, taking the viewer on a total journey.  Newman’s creativity and fascination in experimenting with accompanying the film from beginning to end made a huge difference.  David’s vision of not just hearing Newman but making sure we had a visual of him playing was essential for the final result.

I come away from this project celebrating collaboration and keenly aware of how the right musical accompaniment can drive a work whether it be in dance or in film. A special thank you to Newman Taylor Baker, David Lindblom, The Family Place in Dallas, TX, and the three men who bravely shared some of their story with us.  Here is a link to watch the film.

A screen shot from the film of Newman’s hands playing the washboard!

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Improvising into 2022

JoAnne Tucker / / Arts in Education, Movement Workshops

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but somehow as I step into this new year I sense a need to have a philosophy or an approach to handle the continuing challenges of the time we are living in.  As I pondered what this approach could be, what came to mind was the important role improvisation has played in my work with the dance company and in the many workshops I have led in so many different situations. When an improvisation works it transcends the moment, connecting the participants together in a new and unique way.  Somehow each participant has let go of their individual agenda and given themselves fully to the moment and to each other.  Over the years I have experienced this in a variety of different places, and the feeling of connecting deeply was sometimes surprising and always very fulfilling.  I have observed it when the Avodah Dance Ensemble nailed an improvisation of a particular Torah portion.  Once when I was leading a group of students in a Doctor of Divinity Program it happened as we responded to a line of text in movement, and after the beautiful movement improvisation of about 10 minutes we quietly sat together, not sure what words to use to describe the experience, and just remained quiet, taking in what had happened.

So we are living at a time when it is important to let go of being fully committed to plans. We just don’t know what’s around the corner related to COVID… will there be a new variant that will close things down?  How do we interact with people, even if we have gotten the vaccines and booster?  This is all very new, and I find I am reminding myself of what I know from years of improvisation and even from the more informal creative movements I learned as a child:  having fun and committing myself to the moment and finding the way to respond.

Recently Rabbi Lisa Greene emailed me and asked me if I would speak to a student of hers who was a dancer preparing for her Bat Mitzvah.  I agreed and did, and then Lisa and I enjoyed emailing back and forth.  Lisa shared a link with me about Viola Spolin, Spolin’s son Paul Sills and Second City Improv Company.  It was a program created by the PBS station in Chicago and the description about the program is as follows:

Chicago’s greatest cultural export just might be improvised theater, which was born at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Great Depression and carried out into the world by the likes of Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert.  But while to most people improv might seem synonymous with comedy, the art form was devised by a woman named Viola Spolin who wasn’t out for laughs.

I knew Viola Spolin’s name well and even took a workshop with her in the 60’s in Chicago, probably knowing of her through the graduate work I was doing in theatre either at the University of Pittsburgh or University of Wisconsin in Madison.  And I had both her book Improvisation for the Theater and a wonderful box filled with all kinds of cards for games to use in teaching movement improvisation.  Her book came out in 1963 and is still available on Kindle or through a website devoted to her work.  I highly recommend checking out the website.

Viola Spolin was born in 1906 to Russian Jewish immigrants.  In the 1930’s, as a social worker, she began experimenting with theatre games.  To learn more about her amazing life, the number of actors and teachers she has directly influenced (along with countless others through them) and why she is called the “mother of improvisation” please check out her biography  at:  https://www.violaspolin.org/bio

Spolin died in 1994.  Her son Paul Sills continued her work during her lifetime and after and there is lots about him in the PBS YouTube link.  Her granddaughter Aretha Sills is continuing to lead workshops and has a series online.  I just boldly signed up for a workshop beginning March 3rd, meeting once a week for 2 ½ hours, for six weeks.  I am very curious to see how she will be leading it online and I definitely want to refresh myself on how an improvisational way of thinking might help to handle the challenges of 2022!

Before I close this blog I want to share a few specific reasons why improvisation can be a guide for 2022.  These come from two websites that cite Spolin’s work and express it clearly:

  1. Live in the moment, responding to what is happening
  2. “Yes and,” not “No but”! Be positive
  3. Listen
  4. Meet the needs of your partner, team or situation rather than your ego
  5. Do your best and learn from your mistakes
  6. Don’t have an agenda
  7. Don’t be afraid to fail

Here’s the link to the two websites that talk about how improvising can contribute to a more positive creative life.    https://www.nextavenue.org/mprov-way-through-life/

https://greenglobaltravel.com/how-to-be-happier-5-secrets-to-improvising-your-life/

I look forward to taking the online workshop and most certainly will write a blog about it!  SO here is to a new year navigating with flexibility and improvising as we go!

Both images are from the ViolaSpolin.org website.  Although it turned out that I didn’t need permission to use the images (as they have the website on the posters), I did check and was pleased to get a speedy positive response from Aretha Sills.

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Dr. Barbara McIntyre – “An Inspiration and Mentor to Generations of Students”

JoAnne Tucker / / Arts in Education, Personal Life

I am one of those students and the above quote is from an obituary of Barbara McIntyre.   When I returned to Pittsburgh in 1962 and became a theatre major at the University of Pittsburgh following two years at Juilliard, one of the courses I took was Dr. McIntyre’s class on Creative Dramatics.  It was for both education and theatre students and gave us a good grounding in how to teach creative dramatics to children.  When I completed my undergraduate work and we stayed in Pittsburgh another year so my husband Murray could finish his Ph.D., I became Barbara’s teaching assistant as I worked towards a master’s degree in theatre.

Barbara had a wonderful way of encouraging creative potential in young children as well as in those who studied with her at the undergraduate or graduate level. While I was her teaching assistant she encouraged me to integrate creative movement into creative dramatic classes and suggested writing an article for teachers about how to use movement in creative dramatics.  It was an excellent assignment and experience for me as I researched and thought about movement and how best to express it for teachers. It gave me a fundamental understanding that served me well for the next thirty years. It did result in a publication, and the next year when we had moved to Madison, Wisconsin and I began graduate work for a Ph.D. in theatre, the University did not require me to finish my master’s since my work had been published.  I was allowed instead to enter the doctorate program directly.  I also became a teaching assistant in the theatre department, but those experiences will be for a later blog.

Barbara was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1916 and according to an interview by Ruth Beall Heinig, Ph.D., a former student, she wasn’t much of a student growing up.  She began to find her talents in theatre and voice especially when she went to Normal School which she attended after high school and where she was in a teacher training program. Upon graduating from the program she taught in a small rural school near Moose Jaw. That teaching experience with 11 students ranging in grades 1 to 9 instilled in her a love for children and teaching. In fact, her obituary (June 2005) mentions that “Barbara fell in love with children and with teaching did everything in her power to bring learning alive in her classroom. Early on Barbara incorporated drama into her classes and learned how powerful a force it could be in children’s learning.” (https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/timescolonist/name/barbara-mcintyre-obituary?n=barbara-mcintyre&pid=14252934)

In researching for this blog there was much I learned about Barbara’s life, including her earning her M.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1950 and then moving to Pittsburgh a few years later, first with a shared job between the University of Pittsburgh and the Children’s Theatre of Pittsburgh. The Arizona State University Library, Child Drama Collection, where Barbara’s papers from 1948-1991 are housed, provided an excellent write up of her time at Pitt.

As a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Barbara shared a job with the Children’s Theater of Pittsburgh and the Pitt Speech Department. This enabled her to develop a teacher education program where the college students could be involved with children from the first week of classes. When the Speech Department started sending children with hearing and speech problems to her classes, she realized the therapeutic value of creative drama. Her chairman encouraged her to go back to school and get a doctorate degree in speech and hearing. She studied with Eleanor Irwin, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, who promoted the use of creative drama in drama therapy. McIntyre received her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957. The title of her dissertation was, The Effect of a Program of Creative Activities Upon the Consonant Articulation Skills of Adolescent and Pre-Adolescent Children with Speech Disorders.  (http://azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/mcintyre.xml;query=;brand=default)

Besides the excellent experience of learning how to analyze and incorporate movement into creative dramatics, there were some other very important things I learned from Barbara.  First of all, she introduced me to literature on children’s theatre and creative dramatics and particularly Winifred Ward’s Stories to Dramatize. I am not sure if Caps for Sale was a part of this collection but this became one of my favorite stories that I used often in creative movement classes.  It is about a peddler who falls asleep under a tree and monkeys come down from the tree and steal all of his hats from his bag.  When he wakes up and sees what has happened he finds a clever way of tricking the monkeys to get his caps back.  Under Barbara’s guidance I learned how to use these stories to captivate a group of children and to engage them so that they could act or dance the stories.  And I learned how to ask questions following their acting/dancing so that the group could both see what worked and what might be improved upon in a positive and healthy way.

One of my responsibilities as Barbara’s teaching assistant was to observe (via a one-way mirror) children with speech and hearing problems working in creative dramatics, and to take notes about the sessions.  Both my observations with Barbara and my mother’s work with the visually handicapped encouraged me to see and sometimes work with children or adults with disabilities.

I am also very grateful for the seeds that were planted in working with Barbara of how dance and theatre can reinforce academics — and not just with young children.  Two of the projects of Avodah (the dance company I founded and directed), made good use of this.  “Let My People Go” received a number of grants that enabled us to go into the New York area public schools and present concerts and workshops with students which reinforced curriculum related to American history, slavery in the United States and figures like Harriet Tubman.  We also developed programs around the Holocaust and again received grants to bring them to students.

And of course, the roots of how I incorporated dance midrash into the Jewish educational classroom, especially for children, goes back to this time. As I reflect back on the different role models and mentors I had it is like looking at a good recipe with lots of different ingredients.  I feel so grateful that I had the opportunity to study and work with Barbara McIntyre.

I especially want to thank Dr. Eleanor Irwin and Dr. Ruth Heinig for their help in “remembering Barbara.”  Both of them stayed very close to Barbara after she left Pittsburgh.

Picture from the personal collection of Eleanor Irwin, Ph.D.  Barbara is on the left, with her sister, niece and nephew.

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Celebrating Two Recent Dance Virtual Events

JoAnne Tucker / / Current Dance Events, Dance History

While we are all so eager to be at live events, I am so grateful to have been able to participate in two virtual Zoom gatherings from my home in Costa Rica. Without this option I would not have been able to be a part of either of them.  On Monday night, November 22nd, The Martha Hill Dance Fund’s Celebration honoring two dancers started with a film and panel discussion via Vimeo, followed by a social gathering via Zoom. On Saturday afternoon, November 20th, The Sacred Dance Guild had a panel discussion on Dance as Healing, and I was pleased to be one of the five panelists.  It is exciting to see how well events can now be organized and technically handled online.

Let me begin by sharing the first event, “A Panel Discussion on Healing,” which is part of a larger series called “Is This Sacred Dance?”  Back in the late 80’s and into the 90’s I was a member of the Sacred Dance Guild and occasionally led workshops at their conferences.  As Artistic Director of the Avodah Dance Ensemble I was often invited to represent a Jewish perspective, as the majority of the members were Christian.  I was really surprised to be contacted by the current President, Wendy Morrell, this past spring. She was reaching out to explore the possibility of my participating in one of their quarterly events featuring a panel. My name had come up at an organizational meeting, and they were able to find me via a Google search and my postings on this blog.  Wendy and I had a lively conversation and it was very interesting to hear how the organization was addressing the question “What is Sacred Dance?”  After hearing about my recent work with domestic violence survivors and my work in prisons she thought I would be an excellent fit for the fall panel on healing.

There would be five panelists and each of us would be given five minutes to introduce ourselves and the kind of work we did.  Then the moderator would ask three questions before opening it to any questions that had been submitted via “chat.”  I enjoyed preparing and refreshing my presenting skills.  Zoom is easy because you can have notes or read what you have prepared, with the camera still seeing your face and not what you are reading unless you do a screen share.  We were also asked to have a closing movement gesture.

When the day arrived I was prepared and ready to go.  And of course, the electricity went off 10 minutes before the program was to begin.  Losing electricity happens often in Costa Rica.  As my house is closest to the guard house in our community, I have a small generator to keep my internet and the guard house internet working during a blackout.  Wow, was I glad to have that!  So I let the moderator know that I didn’t think it would be a problem and she decided that I should go first just in case it was.  And so I presented mainly about my work in prisons and in making films with domestic violence survivors.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing each of the other four presenters, and I liked the variety of approaches that were shared.  Each of the presenters has a unique background, and presentations were well organized.  I strongly recommend going to this link to learn about the presenters: Alexia Jones, Priya Lakhi, Ilene Serlin and Carla Walter.  https://sacreddanceguild.org/event-details/?event=651

Screenshot of the publicity for the program

The recording of the event has now been posted along with two earlier panels.  Here’s a link to YouTube if you want to watch the program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zlJsV44uHo&list=PL-1ZesdI7wMeVx_P2Gae9zGTOlYGVP78M&index=3

On Monday night, the Martha Hill Dance Fund honored Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Heidi Latsky.  The presentation on Vimeo began with film clips that I think are from the documentary made about Martha Hill.  What a wonderful way to open the evening, seeing Miss Hill and other dancers reminding us of the roots of modern dance!.  (I just discovered that Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter is available to rent or buy at iTunes and I look forward to getting it very soon.) Next were two short films summarizing each of the honorees.

I was particularly thrilled that Jawole was being honored.  I knew Jawole from the time she was a graduate student at Florida State University in Tallahassee in the late 1970’s when I was living there and often attending dance classes at FSU.  I have a very vivid memory of seeing an early piece of hers in an evening concert of student works and thinking, “Wow… that woman has something important to say.”  It stood out and stayed in my memory to this very day. Perhaps that piece for women provided a beginning for what has become one of her most well-known pieces, Shelter.  Shelter officially premiered in 1988 and is set for 6 women. It was first performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1992 and then revised in 2017.   The Ailey website describes it as “a passionate statement about the physical and emotional deprivation of homeless people . . .  the compelling message that the poverty of individuals will inevitably lead to the destitution of all humanity.”  It has been performed by both an all-female and all-male cast.

The other honoree was Heidi Latsky.  I was not familiar with her work at all and look forward to knowing more about her.  What was very fascinating was the video section showing her work with bilateral amputee Lisa Bufano.  She began doing this work in 2006 and refers to this time as an intensive period of creation.  To learn more about Heidi and Jawole I suggest going to the Martha Hill Dance Fund site that tells about the evening and gives full bios:  https://www.marthahilldance.org/martha-hill-virtual-celebration-2021

Danni Gee led an excellent discussion with Heidi and Jawole.   Then, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Jose Limon Dance Company, the Vimeo portion ended with a section from There is A Time, choreographed by Jose Limon in 1956.

Following the formal presentation, many of the 80 attendees from the Vimeo section stayed to visit with each other via Zoom.  There were four breakout rooms, and once one figured out the technology it was possible to move from room to room.  It was great fun to see faces that I haven’t seen for years and say a quick hello!  The main topic of conversation was about what live dance events people had attended.  The occasion was a delightful event in the true spirit of The Martha Hill Dance Fund, which was founded to honor, perpetuate and reward Martha Hill’s commitment to dance education and performance internationally.

Screen shot of invitation to the event.

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Second Spanish School – A Month in Antigua, Guatemala

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Personal Life

Six of us to share one bathroom and two of them were teenage girls.  Murray and I looked at each other and wondered how this was going to work out.  It certainly was a lot different than the experience we’d had with our host family in Costa Rica just a few days before, where we had our own private bath.  OK, we thought, let’s give it a try.  However, after a very sparse dinner and hardly a breakfast the next morning, when Murray was asked by his Spanish school about our host family, he had no hesitation in asking if we could be switched, as he didn’t think it would work out.  By the end of the morning class session, during which time I was enjoying painting in the school garden, the school administrator had arranged new housing for us.   Soon we were settling into a totally different situation with our lovely hostess, Lucretia, who had several bedrooms that opened to a beautiful atrium.  There was already another student there and while we didn’t have a private bathroom in our room there was one nearby which no one else was sharing at the time.  Dinner that evening was very lovely.  This was an excellent situation and we were so glad we had said something after just the first night in the other situation.

On one side of the atrium was a very large bird cage and quite a collection of tropical birds, and nearby was another large cage with several rabbits.  Occasionally I would stay at the house and just paint in the atrium.  I loved painting the birds and rabbits.

Pastel painting of Lucretia’s birds
Pastel painting of the three rabbits in the atrium with their lovely little blankets.

Antigua was a very different environment than the experience in Costa Rica had been.  While Antigua wasn’t very large it had a city feeling and we enjoyed walking in the streets and eating lunch out in the restaurants.  A large volcano was behind this colonial city and I love this picture Murray caught of a famous landmark with the volcano behind.

Photo by Murray Tucker

We were there during the month of Easter and learned a lot about how the holiday was celebrated.  Antigua is actually known for the beautiful floral carpets that adorn the street prior to Easter, and while I know Murray took pictures of them I haven’t been able to find them.  This article gives some pictures and explains how they are made! https://www.viaventure.com/easter-antigua-alfombra-carpet/

Among other highlights of our time in Guatemala was visiting one of our daughter’s friends, who was stationed there in the Peace Corps.  We visited her village and learned about the projects she was doing with the local community.

After Murray was finished with school we journeyed to Lake Atitlan and spent five relaxing days at a resort.  Sometimes we just hung out by the lake’s edge to watch local residents with their fishing boats or toured some of the towns surrounding the lake.  The best way to get around was by boat and one highlight was visiting the “hippie” town of San Marcos since many expats from the 60’s lived there.  There were a lot of yoga and meditation classes offered, although we didn’t take any.  Shopping in another village filled with local crafts was a lot of fun and we bought a large bed covering made up of woven ponchos sewn together.

Our first winter adventure of 2005, spending over two months in two Central America countries, was great fun and motivated us to begin planning for the next year.  Altogether we spent four winters in different places. Murray attended Spanish school for some of the time and I loved working in pastels.  Today quite a few of those paintings are on the walls in my home in Costa Rica.

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