Category: Dance Midrash

Avodah Posts Audition Notice for a Tall Male Dancer

JoAnne Tucker / / Avodah's Early History, Dance Midrash, New York Company

Performances – whether in services or as concerts – were growing for both the New York and Florida companies now that bookings were arranged by the Jewish Welfare Board’s Lecture Bureau.  In Tallahassee, Michael Bush consistently danced with the company but in New York it seemed like every few months we were auditioning for a new male dancer.  In the fall of 1980 the company’s female dancers (Lynn Elliott, Beatrice Bogorad, Barbara Finder, and Nanette Josyln) were all tall.  So when I posted an audition notice I indicated that I was looking for a tall male dancer.

Continuing our relationship with Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) we were now rehearsing and working out of their new campus on West 4thStreet. The recently constructed five-story building took up the entire block from Mercer to Broadway. The chapel offered a lot of flexibility in how it could be set up and would prove to be an excellent performing space. In the lower level were several large rooms that worked for rehearsals (although as the repertory grew with more leaps and falls, we later rented rehearsal space in Chinatown that had beautiful, safer floors for dancers).  

I made several attempts to see how I might blend the two companies together.  For one tour in upstate New York, two Tallahassee dancers, Judith Blumberg and Michael Bush, joined Bea Bogorad, Barbara Finder, and Lynn Elliot for several performances.  At another time Lynn Elliott came to Tallahassee to rehearse and then perform in Savannah. Blending the companies didn’t really achieve the ensemble feeling that each group had independently and which I valued, so I chose to have the two companies operate separately but with similar repertory.

The New York company had a booking on a Friday night in the fall of 1980 as part of the Shabbat service, at a reform congregation on Long Island.  I had arrived in New York a week before and posted audition notices for a tall male dancer. Several men showed up but Rick Jacobs was the obvious choice. Rick is 6’4” and was then a fourth-year rabbinic student at the New York Campus.  In an article in The Chronicle  (a publication of HUC-JIR) two years later, Rick told the writer about this time in his life:

Rick was living what he described as a “very schizophrenic” life without much hope that he could integrate his commitment to the rabbinate and his love of dance.  It had been a constant struggle to continue the dance training he had begun as an undergraduate at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  He managed to find sympathetic dance instructors in Jerusalem and Los Angeles, and had taught dance in the Reform movement’s summer camps……

Rick auditioned on Tuesday and danced with the company on Friday.  He quickly learned the two pieces for Friday’s service, Sabbath Woman and In Praise.  

Three photos of Rick Jacobs and
Nanette Joslyn in the “Barechu” duet
from  In Praise
Lynn Elliott in the “May the Words” solo from  In Praise

While Rick only had to learn those two pieces for the Friday night service, Avodah’s repertory had grown to five regularly performed pieces and Rick soon learned two more pieces of the repertory, I Never Saw Another Butterfly and the part of Abraham in Sarah.  

With Rick joining the company, new ideas began to fly and it wasn’t long before Rick and I were collaborating on a new piece based on rituals of the Torah service.  Earlier that year I had met David Finko, a composer and recent immigrant from the Soviet Union. David had written symphonies and other major works that were performed in the Soviet Union and Europe.  I suggested to Rick that David might be a good choice to compose music for our new piece.  So one day we drove down to Philadelphia to meet with David and talk to him about our idea for the new piece.  I remember it as an inspiring day with very warm hospitality provided by David’s lovely wife who cooked a special meal for us.  We shared our ideas about a piece in five parts opening with a meditation section based on ritual movement.  I don’t remember much about three of the sections as they ended up being cut about a year later.

My scrapbook provides some useful information. The Temple Bulletin from Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, where the piece would receive its premiere having been commissioned by the 125thAnniversary Fund of the congregation, describes the new work, M’Vakshei Or (“Seekers of Light”) as blending words, dance and music “together to encourage modern Jews to search Torah for its wisdom.”  It continues describing the piece: “Establishing a prayerful mood, the dance cantata presents the ‘sacred weaving of tales’ and ‘laws that guide our lives.’”  

Helping to create M’Vakshei Or and dancing in the first performances of the piece were other company members.  Lynn Elliott, who was in the first New York City performances, continued working with the company, bringing her background from Interlocken Arts Academy, college training at SUNY at Purchase, studies with Alfredo Corvino and performing experience with the Dance Circle Company.  Joining her was Nanette Joslyn from Los Angeles where she performed at Disneyland and with the Santa Barbara Ballet.  Barbara Finder had an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and also studied dance at the Martha Graham Studio, and with both the Jose Limon Company and Anna Sokolow.  Dina McDermott grew up in New Jersey and had recently completed her BFA from Juilliard.  

Beatrice Bogorad was no longer working with the company, having begun work with Charlie Moulton, and then later with Susan Marshall. Luckily a few years later her schedule made it possible for her to again work with Avodah. 

Barbara Finder moved on and by the time the piece was performed in New York City  at the Emanu-El Midtown Y on 14thStreet, Roberta Behrendt had joined the company.  Roberta had attended the Alabama School of the Arts and had a BA in dance from Florida State University and I was of course aware of Florida State’s fine dance department.  I was thrilled to have so many excellent dancers to work with.

M’Vakshei Or,  performed at the 14thSt. Y. Dancers from L to R: Rick Jacobs, Lynn Elliott, Roberta Behrendt, and Nanette Joslyn. Photo by Amanda Kreglow.

Repertory performed on May 1 – 2, 1982 at the 14thStreet Y was Sabbath Woman, Sarah, Mother of the Bride, Noshing,and Kaddish.  I’ll have more to say about the two comic pieces Mother of the Bride and Noshing in later blogs, and Kaddish when I talk about more repertory created for Holocaust Programs.  But my thread for the next several blogs will relate to what we learned from M’Vakshei Or.

From L to R: Nanette Joslyn, Dina McDermott, and Lynn Elliott in Sabbath Woman. A favorite picture of mine from the 14thSt. concert.  Photo by Amanda Kreglow.
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An Exciting Outcome From Reworking Choreography

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash

Reading the description of the piece M’Vakshei Or (Seekers of Light) in publicity material for its first performance in Pittsburgh at Rodef Shalom, it is no surprise that it didn’t work.  We tried to do too much in one piece.  As I kept watching M’Vakshei Or in performance I knew that it wasn’t working the way we wanted it to.  Rick and I decided to rework the piece. Avodah’s fall 1982 Newsletter describes what we did. Instead of five parts, the piece was now three parts: Part 1 – Meditation; Part II – an  improvisation based on the weekly Torah portion; and Part III – Blessing. The first performance in the new format was at a lecture demonstration at the Hillel of the University of Texas in Austin and the second as part of a Friday evening service in Houston.

The Newsletter described:

JoAnne discussed how we create choreography on a Jewish theme. Each of the four dancers demonstrated a movement theme in Part 1 based on Jewish ritual.  The audience then participated in a discussion on the weekly Torah portion and gave suggestions to the dancers for a series of improvisations.  One improvisation was chosen and the work was performed.  Comments afterwards indicated that this approach was quite enlightening in understanding not only M’Vakshei Or but other pieces in the repertory.

Our process was also described in a review a few months later on January 24, 1983 following a concert at Temple Beth-Or in Montgomery:

A portion of the account from Exodus of the Israelites being led out of Egypt by Moses and escaping the Egyptians through the Red Sea was told by Jacobs, after which Dr. Tucker asked the audience to select a scene for the ensemble to dance and also to cast the characters.

One of the improvisational pieces became part of M’Vakshei Or, a dance based on the Torah Service.

The new format worked wonderfully with Rick summarizing a part of the Torah portion so that the congregation or audience had background they needed to become part of the process.  Sometimes Rick shared traditional commentaries on the portion as well as helping to come up with new ones.  As we performed the piece in many different settings over the next few years some of our dance midrash improvisations stand out.   One time in a concert at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion’s Los Angeles campus, one of the professors who knew Rick from his second and third year of rabbinic school at the LA campus insisted that we just be the ROCK that Jacob put his head on when he had the dream of the angels going up and down the ladder (Genesis 28:11).  So we explored in movement the energy that the rock might have had.

Another memorable moment was at a congregation in San Antonio, TX when the week’s Torah portion related to crossing the Red Sea and Rick drew upon a traditional commentary and became Naashon, the person who initiated crossing the Red Sea.  Rick boldly jumped off the bema and into the congregation! 

Rabbi Edwin N. Soslow, (of blessed memory) wrote in his Rabbi’s Message, December 1983 (Temple Emanuel, Cherry Hill, NJ):

The improvisation which members in the congregation suggested on the Torah portion will never be forgotten. Whenever I study or speak about the meaning of the story of Abraham welcoming the three angels with their message about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the birth of Isaac, I will always remember how that message was portrayed in dance.

In addition to the middle section of the piece providing an educational opportunity to introduce the Torah portion of the week, the choreography based on ritual movement in the opening and closing sections gave us another teaching moment.  As I mentioned earlier, each of the four dancers in the piece demonstrated a short phrase based on ritual movement prior to performing the piece. One dancer shared a phrase based on putting on the prayer shawl.  Another dancer demonstrated in movement how the Torah is lifted following the weekly reading and turned so all may see the writing inside.  A third dancer shared how the Torah is carried through the congregation and the fourth dancer shared a phrase of movement based on the letters in God’s name: yod, hay, vav, hay.    

As I reread the comments I’ve shared here and having just watched a very old tape done in rehearsal for reconstruction purposes, I am reminded that editing and revising a piece and paring it down to the basics ended up creating a successful piece that continued in the company for years.  It inspired a book (Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash with Rabbi Susan Freeman).  We were invited to teach in summer institutes. We were guests in Rabbi Norman Cohen’s modern midrash classes at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion.  We led dance midrash classes in religious schools.  We led workshops teaching others how to lead dance midrash based on Torah portions.  

We even adapted the piece for a special event at a congregation.   M’Vakshei Or was done at Westchester Reform Congregation honoring Rick on his 10thanniversary of service in June of 2001. I joined adult congregation members and danced in the opening and closing sections.  Children from the religious school interested in dance did improvisations based on the Torah portion.  The entire confirmation class (16-year olds) enthusiastically engaged in honoring their Rabbi. The following three photos are from the final rehearsal for the Friday night service.

JoAnne with Members of Westchester Reform Temple in M’Vakshei Or.
Young dancers from the Religious School of Westchester Reform Temple.
Part of the Confirmation Class of
Westchester Reform Congregation.

As I am writing this week’s blog I am deeply grateful for the contribution Rick made in collaborating on the creation of M’Vakshei Or.  As I watched the rehearsal video of the piece and then found myself looking at videos of other related repertory I am reminded of the incredibly talented dancers that have shared their gifts with Avodah.  I am so grateful for their contributions both in helping to create the work they performed in and their outstanding performances.  I extend a very deep bow of gratitude to these wonderfully talented individuals!  

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From Dance Midrash Improvisations to Co-Authoring A Book

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash

In 1986, with Rick no longer guiding us in the improvisational sections of M’Vakshei Or, I knew that I needed to get up to speed in providing leadership in this area.  I found myself studying the weekly Torah portion more seriously, whether we had a performance that week or not. I would also make it a point to attend Saturday morning Torah study groups at Temple Emanuel, the congregation we belonged to in Westfield, NJ where we then lived.  I went as often as I could and found the discussion quite lively and stimulating.  Slowly I began increasing my library of Jewish books.  

I also asked Rabbi Norman Cohen, Professor of Modern Midrash and Dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion if he could meet with the dancers and me and give us some guidelines.  He agreed and we had an excellent private seminar with him where he explained the process he uses in developing Midrash.

About this time I received a letter from A.R.E. (Alternatives in Religious Education) Publishing asking if I was interested in doing a book on the role that dance could play in Jewish education.  While that triggered my imagination a bit I knew I wasn’t ready and didn’t have a real direction on what to do.  I think I wrote back that I was interested but didn’t have any specific ideas at that time.

The company successfully continued performing M’Vakshei Or regularly in Friday evening Reform Sabbath services over the next two years.  Then in the winter of 1988, another rabbinic student, Susan Freeman, joined Avodah and added a new level of enthusiasm to the process of creating dance midrash improvisations.  I shared with Susan that A.R.E. had inquired about my doing a book and I asked if she would she be interested in co-authoring it with me.  Susan had grown up in Denver where A.R.E. was based and in fact her mother was good friends with Audrey Friedman Marcus who along with Rabbi Raymond Zwerin  owned A.R.E.

We got back in touch with Audrey and began to formalize ideas for the book.  The preface of Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash describes how Susan and I “began pushing the improvisations further with the enthusiastic cooperation of Avodah dancers Kezia Gleckman, Deborah Hanna, and Beth Bardin who, in turn, also played an active role in developing ideas from which this book began to take form.”

Together we came up with an outline that could work for each of the different dance midrash exercises in the book.  First we shared the line of text we were exploring, followed by a brief description of its context. Next we provided ways to motivate movement, followed by ways to connect the text to real life experiences.  The instructions for the actual dance midrash followed, and an additional challenge concluded the exercise.  There are a total of 104 lines of text explored.  While some weekly portions have only one lesson, some have three or four.  

Audrey provided guidance with our outline and encouraged us to complete all the lessons before writing the introductory chapter. The introduction was the hardest for us to write and Audrey wonderfully edited for us.  The conclusion of the introduction shared our vision for the book and approach to exploring text:

Dance Midrash is a new and exciting way to approach the Bible.  As movement is merged with the structure and style of Midrash, participants will wrest new meaning from the biblical text.

By drawing on the material in this book, a leader can engage people of every age in an exciting and satisfying process.  Imaginations will be triggered and, in a playful and fun filled manner, participants will discover new insights into the Torah.  It won’t be long before such comments as the following are heard, “I never would have thought about the passage this way unless I danced it!” (Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash, p. xxii)

Rabbi Norman Cohen wrote a meaningful Foreword to the book, explaining the importance of the process of Midrash in finding meaning in the Bible related to contemporary life.  He continued by pointing out that many artistic forms – “writing, music, drama, visual art and dance” – can be and are being used to “bring life to the biblical text in new and creative Midrashic ways.” 

Audrey and Ray knew the importance of photographs for the book and we were given a budget to get photos that showed participants of all ages and levels of dance engaging in different Dance Midrash activities.  We asked Tom Brazil, who had regularly photographed The Avodah Dance Ensemble since 1985, to do the photographs for the book.  In the preface to Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash we thank and acknowledge the help we got with photographing:

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Brooklyn Heights Synagogue provided space for the photographic sessions.  The teachers and students in the preschool, Grade 5, Grade 8 and Senior Adult group from the synagogue contributed their time and energy through their participation in the photography sessions.  Ellen Robbins, an outstanding modern dance teacher, generously entrusted her talented students to us, helping us to illustrate a variety of Dance Midrashim.  Deborah Marcus (no relation to Audrey Friedman Marcus) brought several senior adults to one of the photography sessions.  A special thank you to all of these individuals.

I remember how thrilled I was when I saw the completed book.  The format, photos and overall look were done elegantly by Rabbi Raymond Zwerin and Audrey Friedman Marcus. I am so grateful for the care they took in guiding us through the process of writing it, formatting it and publishing it.  In the next blog I’ll write about a book signing and performance sponsored by A.R.E. at a Jewish education conference, reviews of the book and opportunities that grew out of the book.  While A.R.E. Publishing Company no longer exists, the book is still available as an ebook and here is a link to order it.

The cover of the book.  The photo features Ellen Robbins’ students exploring weaving movements inspired by Exodus 27:16:  “And for the gate of the enclosure[of the Tabernacle], a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine twisted linen, done in embroidery.”  Photo by Tom Brazil.
Avodah Company members (l-r) Deborah Hanna, Susan Freeman (co-author) and
 Kezia Gleckman exploring Genesis 22:1, 22:7 and 22:11 as 
Abraham said, “Here I am.” Photo by Tom Brazil.
Susan Freeman leading a group of 5thgraders from Brooklyn Heights Synagogue exploring Genesis 12:1 when God said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land…”
Photo by Tom Brazil.
JoAnne and Susan, co-authors of Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash, had a chance to catch up in person, December 1, 2018. 
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Book Signing at Jewish Education Conference

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash

We were thrilled when our publisher, A.R.E. Publishing Inc., arranged for Avodah to perform and lead a workshop at CAJE, a conference of Jewish educators.  Founded in 1976, The Coalition for the Alternatives in Jewish Education held its first conference with about 500 in attendance at Brown University.  By the time we appeared at the 15thConference at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio there were 2000 in attendance and the name had changed to The Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education.  The full company of four dancers (Kezia Gleckman Hayman, Deborah Hanna, Susan Freeman and Elizabeth McPherson) participated in a concert that combined a lecture demonstration as well as a performance. When Susan and I were not leading or attending a session we had fun being at the A.R.E. booth and signing copies of our book.  

It was very special to have the two owners of A.R.E. so actively involved in promoting our book and I was so glad to find the following two pictures in Avodah’s scrapbook. 

Rabbi Ray Zwerin introducing us at CAJE
Audrey Friedman Marcus selling our book at CAJE

Avodah had recently added a new piece to the repertory called Sisters which I will describe in detail in a later blog.  For the CAJE conference we used excerpts from the piece as part of the lecture demonstration

From l to r: Elizabeth McPherson, Susan Freeman, Kezia Gleckman Hayman, and Deborah Hanna showing moon shapes from the piece Sisters.
During the performance I could be found sometimes backstage and sometimes at the side of the auditorium running the sound.

The conference built a lot of momentum for Avodah with Jewish educators and we soon found ourselves leading regular sessions in dance midrash, particularly in Reform Congregations throughout the New York area, for the next 12 years.  I continued to attend CAJE conferences over the next several years and was often invited to do teacher-training programs in different parts of the country. 

Much to our surprise and delight, Torah in Motion: Creating Dance Midrash received quite a few reviews in different publications. In a review in Compass, a publication of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Nancy Weiner wrote,” What a revolutionary concept it is to blend proud academic analysis with the vibrancy of movement” (Vol. 13, No. 3, Spring– Summer 1991).  A review in the Sacred Dance Guild Journal in the Fall of 1990 pointed out that “this book not only contains introductory material to help the reader/teacher get into what it is about, but supplies beginnings for the creative teacher/dancer, on many sections of the Bible.

I found it interesting that the book was finding an audience with dancers in the Christian community. In a publication in 1992 called Phoenix Rising, which celebrated the Arts in Religion and Community, Kay Troxell, who had been active in sacred dance for 20 years, wrote:

Our dances so often reflect the New Testament that we miss the many rich opportunities offered in these books of the Torah (the Christians’ Old Testament). Moving from words to movement can bring a whole new perspective to the original words and this is what Torah in Motion does. The fact that it is designed to be suitable for children as well as adults, dancers, would-be-dancers, and those at all levels of experience, makes this book valuable to persons wanting to find dance in biblical verses and wanting to stretch their creativity as well as their bodies.  

Dance Magazine in the February 1991 issue had a nice mention of the book.  And then in 1999, Attitude: The Dancers’ Magazine did a very informative piece on the book:

..the movement improvisations of Torah in Motion are focused on community without a barrier or division of spectator and performer. Here everyone is a participant: a thinking body if you will, filled with both movement possibilities and thoughts of contemporary relevance.  Dance Midrash has wide application possibilities in summer camps, senior citizen homes, settlement houses, day camps and various adult education settings and schools.

In 2000 when A.R.E. decided not to reprint the book, Susan and I explored the possibility of making it available “on demand” through a company called “E-rights.” A.R.E gave us permission to use the cover they had designed, and the Photographer of the photos in the book, Tom Brazil, also gave us permission to use them in the “on-demand” version.  In 2014 the book became available through Open Road Media and may be purchased on Amazon. The almost 30-year journey of the book is fun for me to remember and I am delighted it is still available and being used.  

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Sisters: A Dance Piece on Rachel and Leah

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, Dances on Biblical Women

Thirty-one years ago. That is when this piece received its first performance,in a concertsponsored by the Corpus Christi Jewish Community Council in Texas. Sisters was a collaboration between Cantor Meredith Stone and myself.  Meredith’s brother Rabbi Warren Stone was a rabbi at a Reform congregation in Texas and he arranged the performance in Corpus Christi. Before I write about the specifics of the piece I want to say how grateful I am that I kept scrapbooks on Avodah. Not only do I have ten scrapbooks of Avodah history but also videotapes from many performances, and some of them include my narration which gives me an idea of what was important to me at the time.  For a few pieces I even have a file with notes and musical scores.  For Sisters,a piece about the Biblical sister wives, Rachel and Leah, I have a file, a video of the piece in November 1988 with my narration and another video in 1995 with some different performers and again my introduction to the piece.  I could not write these blogs without having these materials to refresh my memory.

Of the many pieces I choreographed over the 34 years I was artistic director of Avodah, this one was unusually meaningful to me.  In watching it again I am also particularly fond of the choreography. One of the main reasons I began Avodah and continued particularly in the later 70’s and on was to find the woman’s voice in the Torah, particularly the five books.  The importance of these five books (Genesis, Exodus, etc.) resonated strongly with me as a portion is read each Shabbat and by the end of the Jewish year the five books have been completely read.  The patriarchal tone is so strong that I found myself consistently looking for the female voices.

I was not alone.  The 1980’s was a time when there was a lot of feminist writing, art, dance and theatre happening in religious spheres. The first female rabbi, Rabbi Sally Priesand,had been ordained in 1972 by Hebrew Union College. Earlier in 1935 Regina Jones had received semicha (ordination) by a liberal rabbi in Berlin.  She had found work as a chaplain.  Remaining in Germany she died in Auschwitz in October of 1944 at the age of 42.  By the 1980’s Rabbi Sally Priesand had her own congregation in Tinton Falls, NJ having first been an Assistant and Associate Rabbi at Stephen Wise Synagogue in Manhattan, which she left when she realized she would never become their Senior Rabbi.  After a few years she became the Rabbi for Monmouth Reform Temple and was there until she retired in 2006.  I always felt a strong emotion on the several occasions when we performed at Monmouth Reform Temple, aware of the strong pioneering efforts it took her to be the first!

In writing about Sisters, I want to set the scene for the kind of energy that was going on among many women in religious communities at this time. New feminist prayers were being written.  The first women-only Passover Seder was held in 1976 co-hosted by Esther M. Broner and Phyllis Chesler and attended by 13 women including Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin.  By 1988 Feminist Passover Seders were gaining popularity and it was in 1988 that Debbie Friedman wrote Miriam’s Songand introduced it at a NYC Seder where the women grabbed tambourines and filled the room with dance. 

Rosh Chodesh groups had begun to form in the 1970’s.  While reference to the woman’s role in Rosh Chodesh (the holiday celebrating each new moon) goes all the way back to Talmudic times, women centered groups were gaining popularity throughout the United States in the 1980’s

As I began to focus on creating Sisters on the story of Rachel and Leah I was aware of this new energy and wanted to capture it in this new piece.  I found the perfect collaborator in Cantor Meredith Stone.  We played with ideas for the piece for well over a year.  

Susan Freeman, a rabbinic student at HUC-JIR, had also recently joined the company which meant she would also be able to recite prayers in Hebrew as accompaniment or counterpoint to Meredith’s chanting and singing.

As I watched both videos of the piece I was struck at how well developed the choreography was in each section.  Meredith and I had clearly defined each section. The choreography for each part had a distinctiveness and unique phrases that were developed.  At the same time I felt the piece held together as a whole.

The piece opens by setting the retelling of the story of the sister wives as if it is happening in the midst of a Rosh Chodesh ceremony.  The movements for this section are very circular and inspired by the shape of the new moon.  Meredith is humming a vocalization by composer Ron Nelson while Susan is chanting the Rosh Chodesh prayer from the Reform Gates of Prayerbook while she circles the three dancers in the center who are doing very circular and lyrical movement.  

As the music builds and the moon-like movement begins to fade, Susan and the dancer from the center who won’t be portraying one of the sisters begin wrapping the other two dancers with an imaginary thread.  

From the beginning of Sisters.Beth Bardin standing and Susan Freeman on the ground. Photo by Stanley Seligson.


In the 1995 video I shared with the audience that this section was inspired by the idea that red threads are given out at Rachel’s Tomb located at the northern entrance to Bethlehem.  Several years earlier I had been to the Tomb and gotten my red thread which I tied on my wrist and wore for quite a while.

Custom says that getting a red thread at Rachel’s Tomb goes back about 150 years.  Usually the small length of thread which is just enough to tie around one’s wrist comes from a much longer red thread that had been wound around the Tomb several times.  It is thought that the thread can protect a person.

While the wrapping has been going on Meredith has been singing Roitman’s Rachel Weeps for Her Children, a very strong and moving piece.  Susan also starts reciting a poem:

And the children struggled together
     Two nations
One stronger than the other
The elder… the younger
Brothers sisters

Meredith joins her saying the word “sisters.”

The scene is now set for totally focusing on Rachel and Leah.  They perform a lyrical, gentle duet with a lively and playful middle section accompanied by a piece of Bartok which Meredith played on a recorder.  Chanting continues telling the story of Leah and Rachel.

From l to r: Kezia Gleckman Hayman as Rachel, Deborah Hanna as Leah accompanied by Cantor Meredith Stone on the recorder.  Photo by Stanley Seligson.

There is a traditional midrash that says Rachel and Jacob had a secret sign, and that Rachel shared that sign with Leah so that Jacob could be deceived by having the older sister Leah under the wedding veil instead of his beloved Rachel.  The secret sign was for Rachel to touch her toe, thumb and ear.  This provided wonderful inspiration for movement with Rachel demonstrating the three gestures to Leah and then Leah following through with them in a short solo showing some of her anxiety.

Strong diagonal crosses have always been a favorite of mine and are used in the piece as Susan recites, to Meredith’s drumming, the names of “the children they bore.” Coming from opposite corners the two dancers come into the center and then circle around each other.  This is repeated several times until  they are in the center and  Benjamin’s name is repeated over and over as Kezia portraying Rachel is falling to the ground, using a traditional Graham contraction and ending in stillness to capture the idea that Rachel died during the childbirth of Benjamin. 

I remember having a hard time finding an ending to the piece.  I asked Deborah playing Leah to reach out and touch Rachel’s hair.  Kezia instinctively slowly sat up.  As if brought back to life, Rachel then rises and the other two dancers join the group with the Bartok melody coming back as well as some movement from the earlier duet as the following poem by the Israeli poet Rachel is recited:

Her blood is flowing in my veins
And in my song is heard another
The shepherdess of Laban’s sheep,
Rachel our mother

The very first time I saw a full dance run-through of the piece with the ending, I knew that it worked and I also felt an overwhelming emotion. In fact I excused myself from the room and spent several minutes alone in the hallway.  I realized how personal the piece was to me.  My youngest sister Suzanne at age 26 had committed suicide and the gesture of Leah bringing Rachel back to life was what I wished I could have done.  While that had happened about ten years before, the pain of losing her was still present.  

Kezia and Deborah played a strong role in creating the parts of Rachel and Leah and their performances were filled with intensity along with beautiful dancing. Susan brought her rabbinic studies into the dance studio chanting prayers, poetry and the names of the children along with her dancing.  When Susan left the company, Beth Millstein brought excellent Hebrew chanting skills to the company and was able to easily take on Susan’s role.  Elizabeth took over Deborah’s role as Leah when Deborah moved on.  The part of Rachel was only danced by Kezia, always with such beauty and tenderness. 

Hebrew Union College liked to coordinate programs and exhibits in the Joseph Gallery on the first floor.  While the first performances of Sistersoccurred in the spring of 1988 in Corpus Christi and then in Dallas, the first performance in New York City was at HUC in November as part of a series of programs related to an exhibit of the sculptor Chaim Gross.  In the photo below, we were honored to welcome one of the sculptures into the dance company temporarily.

From l to r: Cantor Meredith Stone, Deborah Hanna, Beth Bardin and Kezia Gleckman Hayman dancing with a Chaim Gross sculpture. Photo by Stanley Seligson.
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Cantor Meredith Stone on being a part of Sisters

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, Dances on Biblical Women

Meredith Stone has served as Cantor of Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye, New York for more than 30 years. Among her contributions to the congregation are many creative initiatives in worship, a vibrant women’s study group, and years of innovative musical programming.  She is an accomplished soprano with a broad range of professional credits. She graduated from Brown University, holds 2 Master’s degrees in music, and received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College.  She and her husband live in New York City and have 2 wonderful daughters now in college. She loves immersing herself in creative endeavors, especially making art, and hopes to one day get beyond Wednesday in the New York Times crossword puzzle. 

JoAnne: In writing the blog on Sisters I found I had some questions and I reached out to Meredith to ask if she had any information to share.  What follows are my questions, her answers and her reflections on being a part of the collaboration of Sisters.

JoAnne: We used quite a few poems in the piece. Do you know where we found them?

Meredith: Sadly, all I recall about the poems is that you and I went on a big scavenger hunt looking for anything related to Rachel and Leah.  Which was more challenging but perhaps more rewarding than today when you can find so much online without any effort at all.      

JoAnne: Opening vocalise is by Ron Nelson. What do we know about him?

Meredith:  Ron was a composer and beloved teacher of music theory at Brown University where he taught for many years. As a music major, I took several classes with him.  (He made music theory feel relevant: I remember one day he played us a Stevie Wonder recording then went to the piano and analyzed all the chords for us.) A terrific guy.  Looks like he’s now 89 and living out west. 

JoAnne: There is a piece we used called Rachel m’vakoh al Boneho.  Any information about this one?

Meredith: Yes, this is a classic piece of Chazzanut “Rachel weeps for her children” by David Roitman. 

Meredith continues sharing her thoughts about participating in Sisters:

As a young child my dreams of becoming a ballerina were shattered when I realized I’d never get to appear in The Nutcracker (which I saw every year) at the Boston Ballet since I didn’t study in their prep program.  But the real reason is that châiné turns made me dizzy and I couldn’t stand getting sweaty.  Singing required far less exertion!

I had always loved dance and was excited when JoAnne approached me with the opportunity to collaborate with Avodah.  I was intrigued by the idea of exploring together the complex relationship between siblings, especially sisters, and enjoyed tracking down music and poetry that could enrich the piece.  I couldn’t have been more honored to appear onstage as a “dancer” Ha!  JoAnne was great about integrating me into the group and making me look like I was one of them, sort of!  

I loved combining different aspects of artistic expression with dance – singing, Hebrew chant, instrumental music, spoken word. 

I also enjoyed seeing the creative process unfold.  I had had no idea that dancers helped choreograph pieces, experimenting with different ways of moving, actively participating in the development of the work.  I was more accustomed to the world of opera in which you were expected to interpret a musical score and follow the stage director.  The dancers were so integral to the process, motivated, intelligent and fun!  We had such a good time when we travelled.  I recall we even participated at an American Conference of Cantors convention in Florida when we were asked to create a worship service in movement and dance.  

Rehearsing in Chinatown had some nice side benefits – really cheap noodles at Bo Ky on the corner of Mulberry and Bayard, and great buys on exotic vegetables and cool knock-offs along Canal Street. 

Looking back, the unique opportunity of working with JoAnne and Avodah gave me so much- igniting my creativity, which I’ve cultivated ever since and which has sustained me through my last 30 years in the cantorate.  

Thank you, Avodah.  Thank you, JoAnne!

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More on Sisters: A Peek into the Rehearsal Studio and Some Dancers’ Reflections

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, Dances on Biblical Women

In the Summer 1992 issue of Outlook (the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism’s magazine), Kezia and I wrote an article entitled “Midrash in Motion” which shared more about our process of creating Sisters, including some of the dancers’ thoughts and conversations in the rehearsal studio.

            “Maybe Leah’s eyes were weak from crying,” Deborah suggests.

            “Maybe,” muses Kezia. I don’t think she really had weak eyes. Other people just called them weak because she was thoughtful and withdrawn, especially compared to Rachel, and sensitive in a way people would not see.” 

            “Deborah, your interpretation matches a traditional midrash,” interjects JoAnne. “However, I want to focus on Rachel and Leah’s reactions when they were described as the beautiful Rachel and the weak-eyed Leah.”

            This snatch of conversations did not take place in an ordinary midrash class. Deborah Hanna and Kezia Gleckman Hayman, professional modern dancers of the Avodah Dance Ensemble, are rehearsing….

            Focusing on the initial question, two dancers improvised as [Cantor] Stone repeatedly chanted, “Rachel was beautiful, Leah had weak eyes.”  Coached by Tucker, Stone moved closer and closer to each dancer, first shouting the text in their ears, and then whispering.  The dancers reacted, their movements altered by the forceful suggestions of the intruder.  It was immediately clear that such chanting would be powerful.

Since the article was written and published several years after the piece was created, it ended with some reflections by Deborah and Kezia about performing the piece.

In mentioning the company’s community of performers, we must mention that when Sisters (and other works) toured over the years, if the original cantor could not travel with the company, exceptional local cantors occasionally agreed to take on the role in the piece – not an easy task, since it meant learning the role mainly by studying a video and then having usually only one quick rehearsal both to coordinate with the dancers and to master the staging.  And staging was complicated – for everyone – because it required customizing the choreography to fit most safely and dramatically into each unique performance space, which often included features such as stairs.  We are grateful to all the local cantors who performed so artistically and soulfully with us over the years, for Sisters and other company repertoire.

The form of the piece has remained substantially the same. Kezia and Deborah are still stepping into the sisters’ lives.  And yet, they still ponder the meaning of Leah’s weak eyes – in discussions and in dance.  In each performance, Leah discovers a new element of her feelings toward Rachel.  In each performance, Rachel feels a bit differently when she chooses to reveal the secret sign, thereby surrendering her bridal veil.  Each time, the cantor’svoice reveals new shades of emotion.  Each time, the company’s community [of performers] creates a bond distinct from the previous performance.  Each time, new midrash is created.

In 2004 when I was getting ready to leave the New York area I invited dancers and company collaborators to a Sunday afternoon gathering.  I asked both those that attended and those that couldn’t make it to write an Avodah Memory.  Rabbi Susan Freeman shared this one:

            Besides all the laughing and intense improvising…. I often think of the awe-inspiring moments of holding a pose in “Sisters” at a synagogue in suburban Detroit – with the sanctuary in the style of an enormous tent.  Any gaze extended into the “folds” of this amazing architecture.  I felt so alive – spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially, aesthetically.  It was one of those unique experiences of being wholly present – when the immediate moment becomes aligned with the eternal moment. 

The performance Susan is describing took place at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, outside of Detroit.  The cantor’s role there was beautifully performed by Cantor Gail Hirschenfang. With a satisfying sense of life’s circles, Kezia is delighted to note that Cantor Hirschenfang is now the cantor of the temple to which Kezia belongs in Poughkeepsie. 

The photograph of the building’s outside is by Rob Yallop from the website MichiganModern.org.  A photo of the soaring inside of the temple, with the “folds” described by Susan, can be found at the following link.

Here is a link to see a video of the first performance of Sisters.

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The Beginnings of a New Piece Based on the Akedah and Terna’s Paintings

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Dance Midrash, New York Company

Shortly after the creation of Sisters, Rabbi Norman Cohen suggested Avodah create another dance midrash piece based on the Akedah portion of Genesis (22: 1–19) where God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  The Joseph Gallery of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion was planning an exhibit of paintings by Frederick Terna called  “Articulation of Hope: The Binding of Isaac.”  Norman thought an Avodah concert featuring a new piece based on Terna’s paintings would be excellent to include in the series of programs related to the Exhibition. I had mixed feelings about focusing on these lines of text as they were very difficult for me to relate to. I agreed and we set the date for December 13th, the last of the programs so I could wait until the paintings arrived at the college and I could see Terna’s visual interpretation.

About a week before the opening, Norman called to let me know that the paintings had arrived and suggested I walk through the gallery with him to look at them.  This would also give me an opportunity to discuss the text with him and gain some more insight into these critical lines that play such a strong role in Jewish life… not only read when that portion of the Torah is read but also read on the High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). 

As I walked through the gallery, studying each painting carefully I was struck by the strong role of the angels and the ram that is finally sacrificed instead of Isaac. A painting entitled An Offering Set Aside shows the ram as an egg in a womb of perhaps an angel.  Once I saw that painting I thought I might have a place to begin.

In my file I found a brochure that HUC-JIR created for the exhibit that includes a biography of Terna and a scholarly essay written by Norman on Frederick Terna and the exhibition.  Norman notes:

Drawn to the piercing questions of the Akedah, Frederick Terna has wrestled with this text for many years. As a Holocaust survivor he has found in this story one vehicle to deal with his own life experiences and to express deep-seated emotions in a most creative manner.  

Norman also refers to the one painting that had the most poignancy for me in beginning the creative work on the piece.

An Offering Set Aside reminds us that from the very outset of creation, the ram, the salvational vehicle and through its horns, the symbol of the messianic, is waiting.  Programmed into human existence from its inception is the potential for redemption.

When I left Norman that day after seeing the paintings, I had a hunch where the new piece on the Akedah would begin.  I also was impressed with Terna’s paintings which while sometimes showing the pain and suffering of the text also had a softness and nurturing quality to them using feminine colors.  Perhaps that could calm my uncomfortable feeling of creating a piece on text that I found extremely puzzling and which did not have a woman’s voice in it at all.  It was a story of a father and son with Sarah, the mother, not even mentioned.

In reflecting back on developing this new piece on just nineteen lines of text from Genesis I realized it brought together elements that both challenged and inspired me.  It required that I do research and make sure I was aware of traditional midrashim as well as contemporary thought.  It involved collaboration with Rabbi Norman Cohen, an outstanding scholar; Mark Childs, a cantor I had just worked with in creating “Let My People Go,” and a wonderful group of dancers.  And then there were the paintings of Frederick Terna to inspire and point me in new directions.

When I looked at traditional midrashim on the nineteen lines it was fascinating to me to see that the phrase “after these things,” which is part of the opening line of text,  had lots of midrashim. Hum… we could work with this in dance… indeed what were “these things” that might have caused God to put Abraham to such a test as to sacrifice his son?  

I had also recently read a book called The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Beliefby Adin Steinsaltz.  In the book he talks about angels in Jewish text, suggesting that each is a manifestation of a single emotional response or essence.  Angels were an important part of Frederick Terna’s paintings and so Steinsaltz’s words became particularly meaningful for me as I prepared to meet with the dancers and begin work on the new piece.

It would be an interesting journey working with the four dancers to create the piece, and both Norman Cohen and Mark Childs had agreed to collaborate and even perform in the first performance.  Luckily I have a video of the final rehearsal for the performance, which I will refer to in the next blog on this piece. I also have two other videos of the piece:  one that is done five years later and a third that was done eight or nine years later.  As I watched all three videos one evening I was struck by how a piece evolves over time  — from when Norman Cohen and Mark Childs were part of the piece,  actually moving on stage with the dancers; to a performance with a cantor alone singing and narrating the story;  to the dancers handling singing, chanting text and narrating as they move. I will share more about this over the next several blogs.

Before closing this blog I want to share more about the painter Frederick Terna.  The program for the exhibition of his paintings on the Akedah includes a section that he wrote:

About twenty years ago, leafing through one of my old sketchbooks, I came upon a drawing that resembled a person wielding a knife over a smaller figure. It made me pause and I wondered who I feared or who I had wanted to kill.  Searching for an answer and not finding one, I wondered about the prototype, the archetype.  Abraham and Isaac came to mind.  I opened a new sketchbook, put aside the old one, and proceeded to play with the idea.


He continued to explain the relationship of his paintings to the Holocaust:

During World War II, I spent more than three years in German concentration camps.  Painting around the theme of the Akedah has become one of my ways, though not the exclusive one, of dealing with those years.  

I was curious if Frederick Terna was still alive; since he was born in 1923 he would be 96 now.  I Googled and found that he is indeed alive and he had an exhibit at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, NY in the winter of 2017.

On a website called The Ripple Project there is a wonderful interview of him that is called “A Lesson in Civility” and I quote from it. Here’s a link to read more and see some recent photos which I hunch are from about 2017: 

A writer from the Ripple Project asked Fred what he thought of the Presidential election.  His response is described:

He closed his eyes for [a] second, as he often does before he begins to speak, as if to enhance the drama. Tilting his head right and with a wry smile said: “I’m disappointed, confused, and surprised but not worried. Dictators don’t last, it’s against human nature. We just need to keep our civility.” 

As the discussion continued:

Fred responded in a deeper tone, the smile was gone: “When we were in the camps, facing death, humiliation, starvation, anger, not knowing if we will live another 10 minutes… we still kept our civility. We always knew the Nazis wouldn’t last, it’s against human nature. It doesn’t matter what the Nazis did to us, how much they screamed and yelled at us. When we were alone in the room, at night, we were civilized. We knew that our civility is the key to survival, our humanity and civility will outlast the Nazis. It might take a month, a year or ten, but it will outlast them.”

I am indeed very humbled and inspired by both the paintings and words of Fred Terna.  Civility is something for all of us to keep in mind each and every day.

Postcard announcing the Exhibit at HUC-JIR
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Rehearsals Begin for Binding

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, New York Company

Rehearsals began with four collaborating dancers.  Deborah, Kezia, Susan and Beth (Bardin) had all helped to create Sisters.  There was an ease and comfort of working together that I really appreciated with a text like the Akedah which is challenging and disturbing.  I knew where I wanted to begin and that was opening with an angel ballet.  Having been introduced to a wide variety of percussion instruments by Newman Taylor Baker I also had decided that we would use text, chanting and percussion to accompany the movement.  That gives a certain freedom to choreographing as there is no music we need to follow.  It also means we don’t have any form to follow or any musical drive to motivate the piece.

I asked Mark Childs, the cantor we had worked with in Let My People Go, to help create the cantorial score of the piece and to be in at least the first performance in December 1989.  I was very grateful that Rabbi Norman Cohen had indicated his willingness to both speak before the piece was performed and to be part of the performance as well.

So we began with the angel ballet and played around with movement that might reflect a surreal appearance.  This included the dancers walking on tiptoe backwards, making diagonal crossing paths. Ritual movement from the Kedusha prayer would be incorporated.  The Kedusha is part of the Amidah, “the standing prayer which is central to every Jewish service.”  The Kedusha “calls us to imitate the choirs of angels singing ‘Holy, holy, holy.’ There is a custom of rising on our tiptoes with every repetition of the word kadosh, holy.” (https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2015/08/shabbat-morning-gratitude.html) 

We would take it a step further by turning the rising on the tiptoes to three jumps!  And toward the end of the opening angel ballet which is accompanied by a triangle percussion instrument, Mark would elegantly and boldly chant the traditional prayer.  Following that, the angels would birth the ram, inspired by Frederick Terna’s painting,  to the accompaniment of the traditional sounds of the shofar.

Costumes can sometimes help create a mood.  Somehow I wanted to have a very simple look to the piece and yet have the dancers have fabric that could indicate angel wings.  I loved the pants we had for performing the piece M’Vakshei Or and thought they could work with a black leotard.  The pants had a wrap-around design that gave a perfect place for fabric to be added.  Sometimes when I don’t know what to do for costumes I wander in department stores, particularly in designer areas.  As I was wandering around a store I came across a very simple and elegant chiffon poncho.  It had an irregular cut to it.  The price was over $200 and definitely out of our budget.  I drew a quick sketch of how it was constructed and realized it would be simple to make.  Next stop was the fabric store to pick out four different pastel colors in chiffon and enough extra to add some fabric to the pants.  The costumes worked and gave just the effect I wanted.


The Angels birthing the ram. From l. to r. Beth Bardin, Susan Freeman (as the ram), Deborah Hanna, and Kezia Gleckman Hayman in the chapel at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, NYC.  Much to my disappointment we have neither formal professional pictures of this piece, nor any taken in dress rehearsal.  Luckily we have a video of the dress rehearsal.  So I have copied the VHS to a DVD and then to an MP4 file.  Using a screen shot I have captured some moments from the piece that I will be sharing in the blog. 

The next section of the piece is based on exploring this line of text: “After these things, God put Abraham to the test.” What were these things?  A duet begins between Deborah and Susan inspired by this poem:

Ishmael the older brother, boasted of his
Blood and brayed: My blood was drained when I was thirteen:

The younger Isaac whispered: if God
Wishes to take me, let God take all of me.


Deborah (standing) and Susan in the forefront as the brothers

At one of the early rehearsals Susan arrived with two poems she had written that she offered for the piece.  With her permission I share these poems which became part of the piece (with slight variations) and inspired choreography.

Abraham’s Trial
 
Hagar is crying – –
Banished and weary – –
In the wilderness.
The desert horizon is
Thirst and starvation.
Collapsing to her knees
She buries her face – –
Not to watch as Death’s path
Unwinds its parched fingers
Ready to take her son
In its suffocating embrace.
 
Hagar is crying in the  – –
After these things
Abraham was put on trial. Abraham is crying,
Forced to turn,
Return to the place
Familiar in his dreams – –
Wilderness.
(written by Rabbi Susan Freeman)
 

Beth and Kezia (l-r) as Hagar interpreting this poem in dance.

The piece continues using the second poem that Susan wrote:

The Birth of Isaac
 
Before these things
Sarah lay breathless.
Her eyes full, her cheeks damp,
Abraham holding their newborn son,
Joyous astonishment – –
And Sarah laughed.
Amazing is the One
Who creates life and death,
Laughter and tears.
And they called the child Isaac.
 
After these things
Sarah lay breathless,
Her eyes full, her cheeks damp.

A dance follows with Deborah as Sarah holding her new son and the three other dancers giggling and laughing in movement until the movement changes to a more hysterical, crying tone.

As the story unfolds Norman and Mark join the dancers on stage portraying Abraham and Isaac.

I could go on describing how the piece continues but instead let me invite you to click this link and see the final rehearsal for yourself.

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How Binding Evolved Over Time, and a Fun Casting Story

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, New York Company

It was very insightful to view three videos of Binding and see how the piece evolved from its first performance in 1989.  The premiere performance that I wrote about in last week’s blog featured two guest performers integrated into the piece.  Cantor Mark Childs and Rabbi Norman Cohen were an important part of the performance.  Mark sang, narrated and was part of the stage action.  Norman also narrated and participated onstage.  In a video of a performance done five years later with Cantor Bruce Ruben, he was very visible but never interacted directly with the dancers.  The choreography of the dancers remained basically the same.  As with the first performance the dancers gave strong and dramatic performances.

For me, in all three videos the strongest moment in the piece is when one of the dancers who has been associated with the character of Sarah dramatically screams “No” instead of “Hineni” (“Here I am”). 

This occurs after the following narration:

And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son.  Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ and he answered…

Three dancers respond with the traditional “Hineni.” The fourth dancer, her arms held as if cradling a child, screams “No!”

Carla Norwood Armstrong, in writing an Avodah memory, remembered that during a rehearsal of Binding, “when I let out the scream a security guard came running into the room to make sure that we were okay.”

In the third video,  the dancers handled the whole piece, while I played thetriangle and the drum at appropriate places.  I remember a particularly strong rehearsal when I had just added much more for the dancers to do, and one of the dancers, Tanya Alexander, made me stop and think to myself, “Wow she is a strong actress.” It wasn’t just the scream… it was the whole way she was developing her character and making the lines she was saying so believable.

I told Tanya about my call and asked her if she wanted to read for Julie that afternoon.  Of course she said she did.  We continued rehearsing without Tanya and a little while later I got a call from Julie asking if I would mind if Tanya missed rehearsal the next day, as Julie wanted to cast her.  I agreed.  

At that time my daughter Julie was casting the show Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. At a break in rehearsal I impulsively picked up my cell phone and called her.  I mentioned that one of the dancers was a particularly strong actress.  Julie asked me a few questions about her and I described Tanya to her.  Julie said she was actually looking for an actor for a young single mom role that might be just right for Tanya.  The next thing out of her mouth was a request that I send Tanya over to read for her.  

Tanya and I used to laugh about the fact that her actor friends were surprised that she had gotten that part on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit because she had been in a modern dance company directed by the mother of the casting director.  

While I don’t have a photo of Tanya in Binding I do have this photo of her in Kaddish in a performance at Smith College taken by a student in 2000.
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