JoAnne Tucker shares her experiences in dance from directly a modern dance company to leading movement activities for women in prison and domestic violence survivors.
When I saw that the National Dance Education Organization was having a panel discussion entitled “Celebrating Jewish American Contributions to the Field of Dance,” I marked the date (May 24th) on my calendar to make sure to zoom in! I missed the actual time, but it was recorded, so I watched a day later. I was half listening when one of the panel members, Danny Lewis, mentioned being a part of the Yiddish Theatre and said how much he enjoyed working with Felix Fibich! Wow… I had worked with Fibich too and hadn’t thought about that experience in years!
In the fall of 1961, a friend from Juilliard, Margaret Gettleman, recommended me to Fibich because she was participating in a children’s theatre production he was choreographing, and he needed another dancer. That’s how I became a wood sprite named Yok Tan in the Jewish Theatre for Children’s production of “To Wake the King.” Each Sunday from November to April we performed for a large audience of nearly 1,000 children between the ages of 8 to 14 at a theater on the Upper East Side.
The Jewish Theatre for Children was founded and directed by Samuel J. Citron. I have a vague memory of his role as director of “To Wake the King” and found it interesting to Google and learn a little bit about him. Born in Poland in 1908, he immigrated to the United States when he was thirteen. He became a lawyer in New York and then earned a Hebrew Teacher’s License and transitioned into Jewish Education full time. Employed by the Jewish Education Committee, he directed its School Dramatics Department and was chair of the Audio-Visual Materials Committee. For twenty years the theatre he founded presented programs for children each Sunday. He was also often the author of the plays, as was the case with “To Wake the King” which was based on an old legend that says King David is really not dead but asleep in a cave!
I must admit I don’t remember much about Felix Fibich’s choreography other than an emphasis on how we used our arms and hands as wood sprites, and I think some of it might have been improvised. I do remember it was great fun to put on the makeup and costume each Sunday and to receive payment for the performance! I seem to remember that we received $25 for each performance. That was pretty good considering it was 1961-62. We also received reviews in New York City papers.
Program that I saved in my scrapbook!Photo from my scrapbook taken by the photographer of the Jewish Theatre for Children, November 1961. Can you find me in the picture??
In my next blog I will share more about Felix Fibich. Danny’s presentation as part of the panel “Celebrating Jewish Americans Contributions to the Field of Dance” is motivation to learn more about the person I worked with 60 years ago.
About a month ago I saw a sponsored post on Facebook that Beyond Van Gogh would be here in Costa Rica, and I immediately made plans to attend. I was delighted for several reasons. First of all, since moving to Costa Rica at the beginning of 2020 I had not been to a cultural event here, in large part due to COVID. Now things were opening up. I also have always been a fan of Van Gogh and the period in which he painted. And third, I had seen some favorable posts of friends of mine in the US who had gone to the exhibit. Here it was in Costa Rica, and I definitely wanted to go. It was scheduled to be held in a large convention center that was about 45 minutes away so it was definitely doable. Tickets were already selling and some weekend dates were already sold out. I made arrangements to go during a weekday with two friends.
Tickets were spaced 15 minutes apart and we got there a little early and had fun taking some pictures outside.
Outside Beyond Van Gogh. Photo taken by my friend.
Soon it was time for us to enter, and I loved the experience from the moment we officially entered. Slowly we walked through a path filled with quotes exchanged between Van Gogh and his brother Theo, giving us information about Van Gogh’s life. We zigzagged along the quotes separated by empty picture frames and it definitely was setting a mood.
Photo I took of one of the panels. I love that the quotes were in both Spanish and English, as it gives me a good opportunity to practice my Spanish. I took lots of pictures so I would have lots of quotes to practice.
I knew some things about Van Gogh’s life from reading Irving Stone’s book Lust for Life, published in 1934 and based on the letters between the two brothers. And I also was aware of how many people have been fascinated with Van Gogh’s life. The movie Lust for Life starring Kirk Douglas, based on Stone’s book, was released in 1957. It won Douglas a Golden Globe for Best Actor as well as an Oscar nomination for his role as Van Gogh. Anthony Quinn, who played his friend Paul Gauguin, received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. That is not the only movie about Van Gogh. In a blog posted by Molli in Discover Walks Blog, she shares four other worthwhile films about Van Gogh: Vincent and Theo (1990); The Eyes of Vincent (2005) about his time in a mental asylum; Loving Vincent (2017), an Oscar nominated film which features a lot of animation and raised the idea that his death was an accident and not suicide; and At Eternity’s Gate (2018) which looks at the final years of his life. Here’s the link where you can learn more and see some trailers of the films.
Clearly Vincent Van Gogh’s life and work have fascinated and served as inspiration for many other people in their artistic expression, including the creators of Beyond Van Gogh.
Now back to our experience at the exhibit. Following the space filled with quotes, we wandered into a dark space with a bit of animation and two black boxes which turned out to be the entrance into the main room. It was a bit disorienting until we realized the black boxes were actually the entrance. We must have stood there for several minutes with quite a few other people until someone walked through the boxes and then of course we all followed and were treated to a very spacious room filled with animation on the walls, floors and panels that were placed in central areas. Animation inspired by Starry Night paintings filled the space and then shifted into a number of Van Gogh’s self-portraits. For the next 35 minutes we were dazzled with over 300 hundred of his paintings appropriately grouped. As a choreographer I was fascinated by the movement and energy that was created, as well as the unique way one set of images transitioned into another. Sometimes the walls faded and new images appeared… other times it was like a large wave swept through the room.
Some people sat on the floor, others stood in place or wandered around, and some of us were able to sit on the few benches or beanbag-like chairs. I was pleased to see how many young people attended. Lots of Ticos in their twenties, thirties and forties. We found two beanbag chairs to sit on and our third person sat on the floor. We stayed there totally fascinated and in wonderment at the way Van Gogh’s images were being presented until the program began to repeat. Then as we stood and began walking we realized that the experience was a bit different in each place and so we stayed for nearly the full next set moving about the large room!
Photo I took shortly after entering the large room.
It was indeed an immersion into a world creatively inspired by Van Gogh’s painting and as the title suggested,beyond just the images. It was very different than going to an exhibition of his actual paintings in a museum, which itself is an outstanding experience. For me it was a different kind of creative adventure inspired by his work — animation (inspired by an artist) with its unique timing, spacing and invitation to step into a new dimension. I knew that as soon as I got home I wanted to learn about the people who created it!
A quick Google search led me to all the information I wanted to know. Beyond Van Gogh was created by Mathieu St-Arnaud and his team at the Normal Studio. St-Arnaud and a partner founded Normal Studio in 2009, and a trip to the website provided lots more information. The home page describes their mission to “transform urban spaces into full-on immersive experiences…. 360 projection and architectural mapping, we spark wonder into people’s everyday lives.” They are a multi-disciplinary team of 30 professionals combining creativity and tech.
They describe their aim in creating Beyond Van Gogh:
Expanding Vincent’s universe to a sharable and lively 360 projection environment requires a different way of thinking, like Vincent himself. While certain paintings are presented in all their simplicity, others have been enhanced, expanded, enlarged and juxtaposed in order to fill the space with life, texture and colour. (https://normal.studio/en/)
Other projects include: another artist-inspired project – Beyond Monet; a corporate creation for a Toyota Dealer Meeting; the set for La Traviata for the Icelandic Opera; and a stage production of Diary of Anne Frank created by Lorraine Pintal for a theatre in Montreal.
Of course it is still very meaningful for me to have the “classic” experience of seeing the original paintings in the museum setting, but I also adore and am inspired by the blending of the classical with the latest technology. Thank you, Normal Studio, for creating a wonderful experience, and I joyfully celebrate being able to see it here in Costa Rica with two delightful friends!!
The Labyrinth was completed on a Saturday afternoon and of course I was excited to take my first walk that very afternoon. As I walked it this first time, I saw the garden and the surrounding property in a new way. For the next few mornings, I followed a pattern of walking the labyrinth first thing in the morning. Again, I was surprised at how I saw things differently. A new flower that had opened or a bird sitting on a nearby tree stump delighted me. When our garden crew came on Monday, the “head” of the team walked it himself and shared that it wasn’t so easy. Yes, it was filled with turns and curves. I found it challenging and helpful in working on my balance.
A flower that just opened and only lasts for a day. Picture taken on one of my morning walks!
My thoughts soon turned to what kind of ceremony to have to honor the designer, Ronald Esquivel, and Jan Hurwitch, who had selected crystals to be buried in the labyrinth. My good friend and very talented musician Newman Taylor Baker was coming with his daughter to spend some time, and I thought, “How perfect. Let’s do the ceremony when he is here and maybe he will be willing to play his washboard.” While Newman has toured around the world as a jazz percussionist, he now has been working on solo programs and small ensembles with the washboard. He mentioned he would be bringing it.
A date was set, and then it was frustrating that I wanted to invite lots of people but knew with COVID and the limited parking at the house it was important to keep it to a very small number. In the end we did two celebrations, one that was in English and included eight of my ex-pat friends in the community… that ended up being fourteen people in all when you counted Ronald, Jan, myself, Newman and his daughter, and Manrique the house manager. The second one was for Manrique’s family who speaks very limited English.
When Ronald and Jan arrived, we discussed how to proceed. I thought that Newman would play while we walked the labyrinth for the first time, but Ronald said no, we should just focus on walking first and then later Newman could play. Our focus would not be divided, and Newman would have the option of walking with us! Before we walked, Jan led us in a beautiful ceremony of planting each of the crystals. As you remember from an earlier blog, she had selected five different crystals.
I must admit that I was a bit nervous about this part. While I liked the idea of planting the crystals, I didn’t want this part to get too touchy-feely. Jan led it perfectly. She guided us starting with the black onyx which was planted at the point where we “show up.” We haven’t entered the actual labyrinth yet, and the onyx is symbolic of releasing negative energy. Its purpose is both to help the walker let go of any negative energy, and to protect the labyrinth from negative energy. When Jan asked for a volunteer to plant it, Katy quickly responded, and we handed her the large spoon to use. The black onyx was planted with the purpose of repelling negativity.
Newman volunteered to plant the next crystal, the aquamarine, which represents courage. It was planted at the most private place, giving an individual the opportunity to go inward and think about what they might want to create or to just be still for a few minutes with their personal thoughts! The next crystal was planted at the opposite end. It’s a point where one can look outward beyond the property. The orange agate was planted here by Raquel for the purpose of reducing stress!
Next the whole group moved to the entrance of the labyrinth. Paul planted the crystal quartz, which promotes healing and spirituality. We didn’t follow the actual path at this point but rather just went to the places where the crystals would be planted.
Jan asked me to plant the last agate, the rose quartz, in the center of the labyrinth to represent love and compassion. She reminded us that love and compassion must always start with oneself!
JoAnne finishing planting the rose quartz. After each crystal was planted, the person who planted it blessed the ground. Other individuals joined in by placing their hands on the person’s back to be part of the blessing. Photo by Stefani Baker
Now that all the crystals were planted, we regathered at the “showing up” place. A few people had taken off their shoes to walk barefoot which is the most beneficial way. Some places were ready for us to walk barefoot with lush grass. Others lacked grass and had stones, so I did mention that and some of us kept our shoes on.
Ronald led us and we followed the path into the center. Ronald gave us the option of following the path back out, which is the traditional way and how I do it as much as possible. A few took that option.
Ronald guiding us as we walked the labyrinth as a group for the first time. Photo by Stefani Baker.We made a circle in the center when we completed the walk in. Photo by Stefani Baker.
We celebrated with some refreshments and then enjoyed a wonderful intimate concert with Newman playing the washboard. Everyone was totally mesmerized by his playing and the variety of sound that he could made from just one instrument.
Newman playing. Photo by Stefani Baker Link to a short excerpt from Newman’s playing. https://vimeo.com/712620130
Our smaller celebration with Manrique’s family challenged Newman’s daughter Stefani and I to describe the labyrinth in Spanish. We both worked with our teacher Raquel to be able to do this. It was another wonderful experience that ended with each of the four women spending a minute or two playing the washboard.
I am amazed at how each day my walk on Camino del Artista is different. Sometimes I am filled with a new idea and at other times I am seeing new things in the garden or far off landscape. If I am off balance I know it and as I slowly follow the path, I regain my balance. A deep bow of gratitude to Ronald Esquivel for creating this special labyrinth and to Jan for selecting the crystals. I look forward to sharing it with others.
Thank you, Stefani, for documenting the event, and I had to close with this fun selfie you took with your “Daddy” in the background!
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 beginsOne section is close to done.Making progress in another section.One of the corners is now completePart 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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
And of course, there is the center which the path reaches. I view that as the first draft!
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:
A black Onyx to repel negativity
Aquamarine for courage
An Orange Agate to reduce stress
Crystal Quartz for healing and spirituality
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!!
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.”
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 TuckerTwo penguins along our walk. Photo by Murray TuckerA 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.
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.
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.
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!
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:
Live in the moment, responding to what is happening
“Yes and,” not “No but”! Be positive
Listen
Meet the needs of your partner, team or situation rather than your ego
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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