Category: Healing Voices – Personal Stories

Being a Part of the Detroit SheTown Film Festival Family

JoAnne Tucker / / Healing Voices - Personal Stories

I am starting to write this blog on an airplane on the way home from the Detroit SheTown Film Festival.  I had planned to move on to writing about the early days of Avodah and life in Tallahassee in the 1970’s but that will have to wait until the following week.  Healing Voices – Personal Stories is the non-profit I founded (and am a part of) that makes films related to domestic violence.  We have been very honored to be in over seven film festivals.  Each one has its own unique character, and WOW is the only word I can use to express the SheTown Festival and how honored we are to have had “Jeannine’s Story” a part of it.

Over the past several weeks you have been reading about Jeannine and the role she played in Let My People Go and other Avodah Dance Ensemble activities.  During the years I was in New York City I never could have imagined that I would be co-directing and producing films or that Jeannine would be the focus of one of them.  How Healing Voices was formed and its history will have to wait until another blog.  For right now I want to share how we came to do a film on Jeannine and what this weekend was like.

Once or twice a year I get to New York City.  Planning my fall 2015 trip I noticed on Facebook that Jeannine and her partner Larry were doing a cabaret act at the same time I would be there. I shared this with my good friend Linda Kent, whom I enjoy spending time with in NYC, and we decided to catch the performance.  And what a wonderful evening it was.  Afterwards I had a few minutes to visit with Jeannine. She asked me what I was up to and I shared that I had formed a non-profit film company making films about domestic violence survivors.  Jeannine quietly said, “I have a story to tell you.”  My heart sank… that is not what I want to hear from a friend.

Jeannine shared her story with me and I knew we wanted to film it.  Our goal is to show how survivors have reshaped their lives overcoming abuse.  We arranged for Jeannine and Larry to come to Santa Fe.  They generously performed in a fundraising event which we filmed. Jeannine included two of her original songs as part of the evening and we were able to include them in the film. The next day we filmed Jeannine sharing her story. It is now a ten-minute film.  We have submitted it to a few festivals and were thrilled to receive news that it would be in the Detroit Shetown Film Festival which was held last week from September 13th– 16th.

Lindarose Berkley, a board member of Healing Voices and a co-producer, decided to go too. When we go, we do it at our own expense as we want to keep all the very generous donations strictly for filmmaking.  I was lucky to have frequent flyer miles to cover this trip.

I am thrilled to report this was an amazing experience filled with warmth, networking, outstanding films, and good audiences. This was the first year of the festival, under the excellent leadership of Mandy Looney and Mike Madigan. All of the entries had to meet at least one of the following criteria:

“A female lead actress/role
A Female-centric Story/Documentary Issue
Female Director, Director of Photography
Female Screenwriter, Editor
Female Producer or Co-Producer”
From Detroit SheTown Film Festival website.

We understand that there were over 300 films submitted from all over the world.  We were honored to be among the ones chosen. I decided to submit because we met their criteria and Jeannine grew up in Detroit.  When we got the email notifying us that our film had been selected, we were thrilled.  Of course, among the first things I did was to call Jeannine and see if she could join us.  Alas, it was a busy time for her in New York so she couldn’t

.

Filmmaker’s Badge for the Festival

From the touring days of Avodah, I learned to reach out to see if I could get more “bookings” in the area — in this case, chances to meet with people in the domestic violence community in the Detroit area.  Much to my surprise it took only one call to Michigan’s Coalition for Domestic and Sexual Violence.  Speaking with the Executive Director, Sarah Prout Rennie, I explained why we would be in Detroit and that we wanted to learn more about the services that the community offered as well as share a little about Healing Voices and how our films could be streamed or downloaded free of charge from the Internet. She immediately put us in touch with Scott Zochowski, Membership, Marketing and Fund Development Manager. He suggested a lunch on Friday to meet and learn about what services are available for victims/survivors in Detroit.  And what an outstanding group of dedicated individuals Scott brought together.  We learned about La Vida, an organization focused on serving the Hispanic Community.  The two young women from La Vida were filled with such enthusiasm it was indeed very refreshing. A new staff member of the Coalition had just left a job as director of the Michigan Asian Indian Family Services.  Another woman was on the staff of the Detroit Shelter and another person focused on diversity training in the field of Sexual Abuse. It was a very informative, lively lunch and Lindarose and I look forward to keeping in touch with those we met. They were thrilled to learn about “Jeannine’s Story” as well as the other films we made.

Poster for the film. Here’s a link where you can watch the film.

We had arrived Thursday, the night before, for the Festival’s Opening Night Party. Before we headed to the party I was a bit worried that Lindarose and I would feel like the grandmas there, many years older then the other filmmakers.  Much to our delight there was a lot of diversity, including in ages.  That evening we met three people in particular that we would hang out with the next several days.

Friday night began with an opening panel of four women film directors and they excellently covered a lot of ground focusing on the challenges of being a woman in an industry so dominated by men.  Following the panel, a selection called “Taste of the Festival” kept us laughing and crying.  From the first to the last film, we watched intently.  My favorite was a documentary about a group of women actors/comedians from Toronto called HerBeaver: Behind the Bush. We continued to meet more filmmakers and I loved how supportive each one was and interested in what others were doing.  We enthusiastically attended each other’s showing blocks.

The next day started with the documentary block, and how honored we were to be a part of it. Following the showing of 8 documentaries, the filmmakers who were in attendance were invited up for a Q and A. We each introduced ourselves. One of the questions we were asked was how long a documentary should be.  I answered by going back to composition classes at Juilliard, particularly with Louis Horst who so clearly insisted that each dance movement had to relate to the theme we had introduced at the beginning of the study.  That is one of the guiding things for me – that as we edit the transcripts of our films and build the storyline, we need to stay focused on the purpose of the film.  In Jeannine’s case it was really important to make sure that the arts, and in particular music were clearly woven throughout as that is so much a part of her healing.

As we attended more sessions we continued to be held spellbound at the incredible films and deepen our friendship with other filmmakers.

I look forward to following the careers of two young filmmakers.  Kennikki Jones just completed her MFA in Film from Florida State University and her film Help Wanted was included in the Opening Night: Taste of SheTown.  A Call to Action directed by Krisilyn Frazier struck a strong note for me in her use of modern dance movement interwoven between the speaking of a Holocaust survivor and a professor from the University of Michigan.

And then there were two seasoned professionals that we look forward to keeping in touch with too. Lynda Reiss has been a TV prop master best known for her work on shows such as Stranger Things and True Detective.  She is now transitioning into the role of Director and what a great start she is off to with Ready to Go, about a man on his way to put his cat down.  Eileen Kearny won best actress in the festival for her role in House Rules which she wrote, produced and starred in.

Thank you Mindy and Mike for putting together such an outstanding women’s film festival. And we very much cherish being a part of the Detroit SheTown Film Festival family.  And to Jeannine, thank you for sharing your story so that it can help others to heal.

Print This Post Print This Post

 

Guest Blog: Today is International Women’s Day

JoAnne Tucker / / Guest Posts, Healing Voices - Personal Stories

JoAnne: Today is International Women’s Day and I am pleased to welcome Guest Blogger Georgellen Burnett to Mostly Dance.  I met Georgellen when she signed up to volunteer for Healing Voices – Personal Stories, the film company I founded to increase social awareness of domestic violence.  A survivor/thriver of domestic violence she has been very active in publicizing Healing Voices and raising money in our local community of Santa Fe.

Georgellen Burnett is a native New Mexican and a women’s historian.  She devotes her time to women’s history, women’s political advocacy, and domestic violence issues. You can reach Georgellen by email at: georgellen.burnett@comcast.net

Georgellen’s Blog

On March 1, 2019, Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham and Mayor Alan Webber issued proclamations designating March as Women’s History Month in New Mexico and Santa Fe. President Donald J. Trump also issued a proclamation designating March as Women’s History Month in the United States.

Santa Fe NOW and the New Mexico League of Women Voters are collaborating on a celebration for 2020 of the 100thAnniversary of the Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 in which women achieved the vote.

In 1977, when the women who would establish the National Women’s History Alliance began planning a women’s history week, March 8th, International Women’s Day, was chosen as the focal date.

The selection was based on wanting to ensure that the celebration of women’s history would include a multicultural perspective, an international connection between and among all women, and the recognition of women as significant in the paid workforce.

United States women’s history became the primary focus of the curriculum and resources developed. At that time, there were no school districts in the country teaching women’s history. The goal, although it most often seemed a dream, was to first impact the local schools, then the nation, and finally the world. It is a dream that is becoming a reality.

Women’s History Week, always the week that included March 8th, became National Women’s History Week in 1981 and in 1987 National Women’s History Week became National Women’s History Month. The expansion from local to national and from week to month was the result of a lobbying effort that included hundreds of individuals and dozens of women’s, educational, and historical organizations. It was an effort mobilized and spearheaded by the National Women’s History Alliance.

National Women’s History Month is now recognized throughout the world. Women from Germany, China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, Russia, the Ukraine, and diverse African nations have visited the National Women’s History Alliance’s office or attended their events. One result from this contact has been the establishment of a women’s history program and museum in the Ukraine. In 1989, The National Women’s History Alliance accepted an invitation from the government of Spain to address an international women’s conference on the importance of women’s history and the impact of National Women’s History Month. In 2001 a sistership with the Working Women’s Institute of Japan was established resulting in the National Women’s History’s posters and display sets being featured in the organizations first exhibit.

The National Women’s History Alliance’s websitereaches the global community. They receive emails from individuals throughout the world. Each year hundreds of National Women’s History Month posters are distributed to military bases and Department of Defense schools throughout the world for special programs and events that celebrate and recognize women’s accomplishments. It is the hope of the National Women’s History Alliance that the celebrations at these different venues will ignite a sense of celebration and recognition that honors women of all nations.

From The National Women’s History Alliance.  They have an excellent website.
Please check it out.
www.nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org.
 

A Half Parachute and a Large Living Room

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Challenging Film Project

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance in Film, Healing Voices - Personal Stories

What a joy it is to now have Healing Voices-Personal Stories’s new film Out of the Shadow: Shining Light on Domestic Violence posted on Vimeo and our website.  This project and resulting film were more complicated than our earlier films. The idea for the film was brought to us by HV-PS’s board member Leona Stucky-Abbott and grew into a Day of Action Against Domestic Violence held on October 5, 2019.  Check out this website to see where events were held.  In this blog I write about the role that movement and dance played in the Day and in the film.   

One of the things we recommended for the Day of Action was a Die-In to remember and acknowledge the large number of women who have lost their lives to an intimate partner. As we began to share our idea with people, it became clear we needed to establish some basic guidelines for what we meant as a Die-In.  It was not to be a protest but rather a time to remember those women who have lost their lives!!  We gave a basic movement outline…. to have those women who were representing the victims enter first and lie down on the ground.  Other women (who did not want to lie down) and men then made a protective circle around them.  Once everyone was in place, all observed a minute of silence with no movement.  After the minute, with the cue of a chime, one woman began to get up, then help another person up, with the two acknowledging each other before moving on to help another woman up.  Once everyone was up, they affirmed, with dance and gestures, the celebration of life and the message that the violence has to stop.  

We did a demonstration film of our model and provided it to groups so they could get an idea of what to do.  We of course also suggested that they come up with their own ideas too.  You can watch the demonstration film here.  It was exciting to get the videos from the different groups and see what they came up with for October 5th.

We also suggested that each event plan something special to call attention to domestic violence.  I was thrilled that we ended up with three specific dances that play an important role in the film.  Two of the dance pieces were a part of the New York Day of Action held at St. Mark’s Church.  Regina Ress, who organized the NYC event, describes them beautifully in the film and I strongly urge you to watch it.  Briefly, one of the dances was performed and choreographed by Sonali Skandan, who has an East Indian dance company. It is about a courtesan who is trapped and longs to be free. The second dance, Ni Una Carmen Mas (“Not One More Carmen”), was performed by Ivanka Figueroa and choreographed by Gabriela Estrada who enthusiastically signed up to be a part of our Day of Action when we first announced it. 

Screenshot of Sonali Skandan taken from Out of the Shadow
Screenshot of Ni Una Carmen Mas, performed by Ivanka Figueroa 
and choreographed by Gabriela Estrada from Out of the Shadow

Trapped is the third dance piece featured in our film and its history is very interesting.  It is performed by Tiana Lovett with choreography by Lynne Wimmer.  Lynne Wimmer is the co-director and editor of Out of the Shadow and a longtime friend.  We have collaborated on lots of different projects. I suggested she read Leona Stucky-Abbott’s book The Fog of Faith.  Leona is a board member of Healing Voices – Personal Stories, which produced the film.  Leona also brought to us the idea of making a film related to how many women have died from domestic violence –  nearly double the number of men who died in combat from 2001 – 2012. (6,500 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan while 11,700 women were murdered by intimate partners.)

Screenshot  of Trapped performed by Tiana Lovett with choreography by Lynne Wimmer

In a recent email, Lynne Wimmer wrote:

Leona, your brave, blunt autobiography of your terrifying experiences was what directed me to paw through a collection of old (and I mean old – reel to reel 1 inch tapes) videotapes and discover that the first dance I’d ever choreographed had some purpose besides history. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a talented, willing creature as Tiana. So, working on this project also sent me back into the dance studio as a choreographer for the first time in six years. I don’t know if I’ll ever venture there again, but it was a nice, short return visit to my former life.

Last year I visited Lynne and loved seeing her work with Tiana and how this very first piece she choreographed could have a wonderful place in the Day of Action or on its own.  As it turned out, Lynne beautifully staged a Die-In in a church as part of a Day of Action event organized by the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Salt Lake City, and later filmed Trapped. 

At some point as Lynne was editing she experimented with seeing how the Grimms’ tale “Old Rink Rank,” which Regina had told in NYC and which we had included (in a shortened version) in the interview we taped at Northern New Mexico College with filmmaker David Lindblom’s students, would work with her dance.  When she shared it with me, I thought, “Wow did that work!” and so it became part of the film.  Regina and Lynne are now thinking of developing this into a film of its own, and I hope they will do that.   It is always very special and fun to see things come together that were not necessarily planned.

To conclude, I honor Lynne Wimmer and the amazing job she did to take a series of photos and video clips from many different groups and edit it into this film.  Her artistic sensitivity, film editing skills, understanding of dance and the choreographic process took this film to a higher level than we imagined!!  THANK YOU, LYNNE.  

Print This Post Print This Post