Category: Personal Life

A Trip to Bangkok and Reflections on The King and I

JoAnne Tucker / / Childhood, Musical Theater, Personal Life

A business trip back in the early 1990s, on which I was able to accompany my husband Murray, still has special significance to me.  Murray had a case in Singapore that required him to travel there for some onsite research.  We decided to begin our trip with a five-day visit to Thailand.  After a long day of flying, which included changing planes in Tokyo, we arrived around 1 AM in Bangkok. I still have a very vivid memory of our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel as traffic was bumper to bumper! And that is how it seemed all the time in Bangkok – never a time when there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads. A quick Google search as I am writing this post shows that traffic in Bangkok is still a major problem.  Murray and I soon learned that many of the tourist sites were close to one another along the river and that it was possible to take a water taxi on the Chao Phraya River that connected The Grand Palace, Temple of the Reclining Buddha and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  We also took a river trip to the old capital and another river trip in smaller canals to get a flavor of local life.  While we did not stay at a hotel on the river we determined that should we ever return, we would certainly do that, to radically limit our time on traffic-filled streets.

While the trip to the old capital was very interesting and I loved the various Buddha statues, my favorite part of the trip was the time in Bangkok at The Grand Palace.  Upon entering the grounds my immediate reaction was that I was on the set of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s play The King and I.  Everything felt so familiar to me, having been such a fan of the musical.  Of course I realized that this was where so many of the set ideas had come from.  And for choreographer Jerome Robbins, the position of the figures in many of the facades were woven into the dances.

My own history with The King and I goes back to shortly after the original production starring Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner opened on Broadway in March 1951. My good friend Regina had an original recording of the show.  We would dance to the songs in her living room.  In 1956 the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical came out, and what a dazzling production with amazing sets! Jerome Robbins recreated his ballet Small House of Uncle Thomas for the film, and I loved that ballet.  

In 1964, after returning to Pittsburgh following my two years at Juilliard, I was asked to choreograph a production of The King and I that was being done at Taylor Allderdice High School, the very high school that I had attended.  I had a wonderful time doing it. There are three wonderful dance moments in the musical:  of course, the sixteen-minute ballet Small House of Uncle Thomas; The March of the Children, when they are introduced to their new teacher; and the duet between Anna and the King.  Working with the two leads in the high school production was particularly fun and they were very appreciative of my help.

Over the years I have enjoyed watching the movie quite a few times and seeing revivals of the production. While I didn’t see the 2015 Broadway revival with Kelli O’Hara I was pleased when it won a Tony for best revival.  There is even talk right now of a remake of the film. What a great contribution Rodgers and Hammerstein have made to musical theater!  

I conclude this blog with a few pictures from our trip to Thailand and welcome your comments related to your connection to the award-winning The King and I.

Photograph taken of a Buddha during our tour to the
Old Capital
Images on a façade at The Grand Palace that might have inspired 
Jerome Robbins’ choreography.
Murray and me on the grounds of The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand.
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A Trip to Bali

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance Midrash, Multicultural Programs, Personal Life

Memories of a trip to Bali resonate strongly, even though it was nearly 30 years ago that I spent 6 amazing days exploring the island, totally fascinated with the different sites we visited.  Murray and his colleague had wandered into a tourist agency on a lunch break during their work trip to Singapore.  They saw a great package for 6 days in Bali with airfare and hotel.  Liked it and bought it.  A few days later we were on the plane for the 3-hour flight to Denpasar Airport.  We were met, part of the package, and driven to the resort hotel in Nusa Dua, by far one of the most beautiful hotels we had ever been to.  While the resort was very modern, it displayed the traditional beautiful sculpture and art work that the Island is famous for – a nice blending of traditional and modern styles. The rest of the first day we totally enjoyed hanging around and swimming in the very large pool!

The next morning we piled into our small van and the four of us were joined by one other couple.  Following a morning concert of traditional music and dance, our guide took us to Ubad (the cultural center) and we wandered in and out of lots of tourist type shops that were at least tasteful and did have some interesting things.  In one of them I found a percussive instrument, made of wood – a face with a wooden knocker as the tongue. It was similar to one of my favorite instruments on Newman’s accompaniment blanket, and I was very excited to find it.  (Newman, mentioned in other blogs, is the musician who accompanied many workshops and the piece “Let My People Go.”  He would set out his wide variety of instruments around him on the stage floor, on a piece of fabric which I came to call “Newman’s Blanket.”) I was thrilled to make the instrument my first purchase and enjoyed using it for many years!  There were quite a few Batik stores and I also purchased in one of them a round placemat that I still enjoy using.

As we walked from store to store we were greeted by a number of vendors selling various handcrafted things.  Often they started by quoting a very high price, expecting us to bargain. When we walked away they would offer the item for a realistic price where the bargaining could begin. Murray and I saw some interesting small carvings and learned they were carved cow bones.  We were first quoted a price of $100 but didn’t counter it and just walked away.  Before we knew it, the vendor had said we could have each one for $10.  We ended up buying 3 of them, each for $1. The vendor was happy to have sold them, and we were happy to have bought them.

While the shopping was fun, what really fascinated me happened the next day as we were driving up in the mountains.  It was a festival day and many Balinese were dressed in traditional clothes.  A number of the women were carrying – balanced on their heads – baskets of fruits and flowers arranged in beautiful and intricate patterns.  Our tour guides explained that the women were on their way to a sacred site and the baskets were offerings.  

I vividly remember a visceral response in my body, and thinking this is exactly the kind of thing that is described in the Torah, and further explained in the Talmud, about how during the time of the Temple’s existence, the Jewish people made offerings. For example, Deuteronomy 26:2 says:  

you shall take of the first of every fruit of the ground that you bring in from your Land that your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that your God will choose.

If you would like to learn more about this ritual, here is a good link to check out: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/first-fruits/

I was seeing something similar in a totally different culture, and I was totally fascinated.   

Once back home, I would learn that 90% of the Balinese practice Balinese Hinduism which:

 is a mixture of years of contact with different cultures, most notably the Indian one. Traders introduced their faith to Bali between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago.

Apart from Hinduism, the Balinese have aspects of other beliefs in their religion: Buddhism; Malay ancestor cult or the reverence of dead ancestors; and animistic beliefs.  (“Lisa’s vivid writing” in Medium.com – see link below)

If you want to learn more about Balinese religious practices, rituals and festivals check out these websites:

https://medium.com/bali-in-a-few-words/balinese-hinduism-explained-e3316a16a535

https://www.villa-bali.com/guide/offerings-canangs

/https://theculturetrip.com/asia/indonesia/articles/traditional-rituals-in-bali-you-should-know-about/https://theculturetrip.com/asia/indonesia/articles/traditional-rituals-in-bali-you-should-know-about/

And then we visited a temple and saw a sign outside that said something like “Women:  If you are menstruating or pregnant please do not enter.”  When I asked our guide about it, he shared that women who are menstruating, pregnant or have just given birth are considered “ritually unclean.”  Here was another example of something that had been part of the Jewish tradition, well documented in Leviticus Chapter 15 beginning with verse 19:

If a woman has a discharge, her flesh discharging blood, she shall remain in her state of menstrual separation for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be come unclean until evening.

There are many others examples of times when someone or something is considered unclean in Leviticus and in other parts of the Torah.  Now, here I was, in another culture and religion seeing a similar practice in action. I was surprised to find this in Bali.  

The trip to Bali took on a whole new significance for me.  It was not just the beautiful scenery or tourist shops or sightseeing.  It was about seeing the rituals and culture in practice.  The similarity between the rituals I was seeing and the passages I was reading in the Torah (and using as a basis for leading “dance midrash” workshops in Jewish religious schools) was clear. It gave me new ideas for my teaching.  It was also an awareness of how similar cultures can be and a reminder that we may all be more alike than different.  

Here I am sightseeing in Bali and loving the rich greens of the rice fields.
Murray and me visiting Goa Gajah, the Elephant Cave.  To learn more about
this site check out this link:
https://www.tripsavvy.com/goa-gajah-eerie-elephant-cave-in-bali-1629094
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Agnes de Mille and The Dream Ballet in Oklahoma

JoAnne Tucker / / Dance History, Dance in Film, Musical Theater, Personal Life

Much to my surprise and delight I found that Disney+ was streaming the 1955 movie of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma (that duo’s first musical, created for the stage in 1943).  When the movie first came out I wasn’t a big fan, as I didn’t like the casting of the main leads. I loved the original Broadway cast album of Oklahoma that featured Joan Roberts, Alfred Drake and Celeste Holmes. None of them were in the movie so I did not see the movie until many years later.  What attracted me to watching the movie this month was that it is one of the few examples of Agnes de Mille’s choreography that we can see today.  Since I was a teenager and read Dance to the Piper (published 1952) I had always admired de Mille, who despite being discouraged by her parents from becoming a dancer, and facing numerous struggles as a dancer and choreographer, achieved success through her sheer determination.  

De Mille choreographed the movie just as she did the Broadway show. She was hired by Rodgers and Hammerstein following the 1942 success of the ballet Rodeo which she choreographed for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She asked Aaron Copeland to create the score for the piece.  It premiered in the fall of 1942 at the Met in New York City with deMille dancing the lead cowgirl.  She received 22 curtain calls, and the ballet’s success led to her choreographing the Broadway show which changed the use of dance in musicals.  For her, dance was not just an entertainment but rather a way to advance the emotions of the characters and the plot. 

The original lead dancers in the dream ballet were Marc Platt, Katherine Sergava and George Church.  They doubled for the leading actors, and John Martin in a review in The New York Times wrote that Ms. Sergava, dancing the alter ego of heroine Laurey, “with her strangely remote quality of beauty becomes the ideal heroine of a rather terrifying dream.” Neither Katherine Sergava nor George Church was in the movie.  Marc Platt was, but not in his original role of Curly.  Instead he had a role dancing and speaking as one of Curly’s pals.  The dance leads in the movie were Bambi Linn as Dream Laurey and James Mitchell as Dream Curly.  Bambi Lynn made her debut in Oklahoma as a dancer and later went on to a career as a ballroom dancer with her husband Rod Alexander.  James Mitchell began as a modern dancer and for 25 years was an assistant to de Mille.  

In the movie there is a very graceful transition from the actress Shirley Jones to the dancer Bambi Lynn where for just a moment they mirror each other and then the dream ballet really begins as Laurey runs into and is lifted by Curly and the two dance a very lovely duet.  A chorus of women soon joins in and it is a celebration with Laurey imagining her wedding, with a veil that floats down and is put on her head.  The scene builds as townspeople gather and an imaginary wedding is about to take place.  Curly begins to lift Laurey’s veil when suddenly instead of Curly it is Jud. Laurey flees from Jud and ends up running into a scene of women dancers (women of the night) doing the cancan as Jud watches and at times joins in with them.  Laurey continues to be a part of the scene, confused, sad and bewildered, and at times even trying to dance with them.  One of the dancers puts Laurey into Jud’s arms and Laurey flees from him and up an open stairway that dramatically is a dead end into open space. 

A transition within the ballet is then made with sound effects and lighting suggesting a thunderstorm or tornado, and a trio with Curly, Jud and Laurey begins.  Following their struggle, townspeople enter as the energy builds, ending with Jud killing Curly and lifting and carrying Laurey off.  This is where the dream ballet ends and the actor Jud appears ready to take the actress Laurey to the party as she awakens from her dream terrified!

As I watched the ballet several times I was struck by what a beautiful ballet de Mille created and what a wonderful score Richard Rogers created using melodies from all different songs in the musical.  The dancing is well executed and the way it was filmed added to the richness of the choreography.  I also

noted that it was danced on a good soundstage so the dancers could be at their best.  We are so lucky to have this available to watch, and I hope I have whet your appetite and you might watch this very well done sixteen minutes of dance.  I think that Disney+ still might have a 7-day free subscription trial.

There are other good dance moments in the movie too.  One comes about 24 minutes into the film, beginning with a kind of two-step which becomes a vigorous tap dance solo building into a full ensemble dance taking place at the train station. The ending is fun as three of the dancers end up on the roof of the train and two women dancers jump off the train into the arms of waiting men as the train leaves with the male dancer still dancing on the train’s roof!!  Another lovely moment is a women’s ballet to the song “Many A New Day.”  A square dance in Act II to the “Farmers and the Cowboys Should be Friends” is lively and is used to point out the tension that exists between the cowboys and the farmers, ending with a well choreographed full stage brawl!

While I have to point out that the story doesn’t really work for me anymore the dances sure do, along with the songs!  I grew up listening to the music and also remember my Mom mentioning how she had seen the show shortly after it opened with my Dad, who was in the army about to be shipped overseas. She had loved it and talked about the enthusiasm of the audience.  I wanted to know more about Oklahoma’s impact at the time related to World War II and found two excellent pieces online related to this.  In a blog written by Ryan Raul Banagale he points out that “Oklahoma can be seen as a work that captures an optimistic vision of America at a moment when its future remained very much up in the air.”  (https://theconversation.com/oklahoma-at-75-has-the-musical-withstood-the-test-of-time-94110 )

In an article in The New York Times, Todd S. Purdum mentions that “at every performance, there were rows of men in uniform, sitting in seats especially reserved for them, or taking standing room before shipping out overseas. 

Both of these articles clearly point out how Oklahoma changed musicals and how the show remains relevant today. I am thrilled we have this example of de Mille’s choreography to watch today.  Reading her book, and learning about her, strongly impacted my decision to be a dancer.  

In searching for a picture to include I found this wonderful interview of Agnes de Mille talking about the stage version of Oklahoma.  While it was uploaded to YouTube in 2013 it is actually from a PBS series done in 1979.  We see excerpts from the stage version.  It is curious that she never mentions the movie.  While the choreography in this clip is similar to the movie I think the movie is actually more interesting and stronger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW35nQUZdk4&list=RDiW35nQUZdk4&index=1
Screenshot from YouTube interview of de Mille in 1979 PBS program
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Lessons Learned from the 2020 Olympics

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

Delayed a year, the “2020” Olympics in 2021 were different than past Olympics, with no visitors in the stands, COVID testing regularly for the athletes and the chance to see family members of the athletes watching from home.  They were also very different for me on a personal level.  This was the first year that I watched alone without Murray, my husband who died in October 2020 and who dearly loved the swimming.  And it was the first time I ever had a family member competing (a distant cousin on my father’s side).  I also was very proud that Simone Biles chose to take care of her own mental health rather than risk injury. That’s an important lesson for all of us to learn.

Let me begin by sharing a few of my reactions to Simone Biles’s decision to withdraw from the team competition. Surprised, of course, but once that reaction passed I thought how wise she was and also how wise it was that she was not pressured into changing her mind.  Gymnastics has come a long way in respecting her decision. Too often with dancers and athletes the emphasis is on having to stay the course without taking into account both the physical and mental damage done. And her teammates stepped up to the plate.  They competed well that evening, not dwelling on anything other than the job they needed to do, as she cheered them on!!  The result was that they won the silver medal.  As the week continued and Biles cheered from the stands for the individual events, some of her teammates went on to win gold medals. And then she came back to compete on the balance beam winning a bronze medal.  She simplified her routine dismount and yet it still earned her the bronze!  There is no question about her talent as a gymnast, and now she is showing us a courage and talent way beyond that, by causing us to stop and think about the importance of mental health in athletics and beyond. Certainly there is a strong lesson for the world of dance in this too, and teachers of dancers at all levels should please take this to heart!

An excellent piece of journalism by Dan Rather and his team at Steady, published by the website SUBSTACK.com, provides insight and commentary on this, and I strongly urge readers to check it out. I end this section of the blog with the following quote from the article:

Simone Biles forced us to pause to think about sports and life, at least for a moment, through a different lens. And for that we should all be thankful. If she has courage to stand up, we should have the courage to stand with her.  https://steady.substack.com/p/a-profile-in-courage?fbclid=IwAR341pTQVPnPvvtutJlDeRLY8vJwzi1sZUzPpoAv_OfDMaxDoSfOA9VWjcM

Up until this year I enjoyed watching the Olympics with Murray.  Since he passed I wondered how it would be watching without him.  His main interest was always the swimming and I went along watching it with him.  This year I didn’t have to watch it but found that I wanted to.  For one thing I just found it fun and interesting to watch.  The other reason was that it just plain felt good to do something that I knew was important to Murray and that we had shared together. I felt his energy present and it brought back so many good memories.  Murray loved to swim and he swam three times a week for as long as I knew him.  During the time we lived in Tallahassee, Florida he was a part of a Masters Swim Team and Program and even traveled to different parts of the state to compete.  I loved watching his body move rhythmically and powerfully through the water, even toward the end, when due to heart problems he didn’t have his usual energy. I am so glad to have this video of him enjoying our pool here in Costa Rica and that he got to enjoy a little bit of swimming here.

Murray swimming in our pool in Costa Rica, April 2020. Video by JoAnne

What also kept me glued to the Olympics was watching Alix Klineman compete in beach volleyball.  My Dad and her father, Michael, were cousins.  Michael and I have kept in contact and I was aware of Alix’s talent. When she was on the Stanford indoor volleyball team and they came to play the University of New Mexico, Michael came to see her play and invited Murray and me to the game.  It was great fun to watch and afterwards Michael introduced us.

Since then Michael has kept me up to date on her career, specifically playing for a professional team in Italy and then later in Brazil.  I was also aware when she transitioned to beach volleyball and I knew that she and April Ross were doing well as a team.  So it was with much enthusiasm that I started watching the first match they played in the Olympics and then of course continued watching all the matches through to the last one where they won the Gold medal.

As I watched interviews of the two women there were several things that resonated with me and which I want to keep in mind for myself.  First of all Alix shared that when she was younger she was uncomfortable or self conscious about her height.  Now of course it is a major asset.  So important for all of us to keep in mind that some of our natural physical nature that we are uncomfortable with may prove to be an asset.

For me personally, I have loved to watch and to work with tall dancers.  When they are wonderfully coordinated and know how to use their body there is nothing more beautiful.  I am reminded right now of Judith Jamison and in particular the beautiful solo that Alvin Ailey choreographed for her called Cry.  There was a point when Rick Jacobs was a part of the Avodah Dance Ensemble which I directed for over 30 years, and he is about 6’4”. Sometimes when he was in the company all of the women were 5’10” and over.  It was a challenge to keep up with them when we walked down the street.

Another important thing that Alix shared was that when she wasn’t selected for the 2016 indoor volleyball team she was able to realize her goal of going to the Olympics by moving into beach volleyball.  A recent New York Times article pointed out:

In 2017, Klineman envisioned a future in beach volleyball and dreamed of the Olympics. She began to study the craft.

Ross, a two-time Olympic medalist, was watching. She saw potential with Klineman, 31, citing a list of attributes: her physicality, work ethic, intelligence and intensity, to start.

“Alix did study the game more than anyone else I’ve ever known,” said Ross, 39. “She’d go home and watch a ton of video, and I’d be like, ‘Well, I’ve got to go home and watch video, too.’”  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/sports/olympics/olympics-beach-volleyball-alix-klineman-april-ross.html

A good reminder for all of us is that if one way isn’t working out figure out another. Once you have a new plan it is important to learn as much as you can to accomplish what you want.

Ross is quoted in the same New York Times article as saying, “Our communication and respect for each other is off the charts.”

One of the most important things I learned directing a dance company and also in working in film is that putting together the right team is all important.  When there is mutual respect and the chemistry is right between colleagues so much more can happen.  “The A-Team,” as April and Alix like to be called, provides us with an excellent example of how this works at the highest level!! Congratulations to April and Alix.  Thank you, Michael, for keeping me up to date on your daughter’s  career and for introducing me to volleyball on your trip to New Mexico.

If you watched this year’s Olympics did you have a favorite moment or something that resonated with you?  Please feel free to share it in the comments!

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Dance Therapy, Permission Workshops and More

JoAnne Tucker / / Movement Workshops, Personal Life

During the time I was in New York City in the early 60’s I welcomed the opportunity to explore a variety of ways that one could have a profession in dance.  Of course, most of my energy was focused on performing and choreographing, especially when I was at Juilliard and studying at the Martha Graham Studio.  But I was curious about two other possible options. One was related to reconstructing and preserving dance using Labanotation (a system of dance notation recording movements, directions, timing, etc.) which we were required to take at Juilliard, and the other was the new field of dance therapy.  Most likely I learned about dance therapy through attending an American Dance Guild conference at the 92ndStreet YM&YWHA in NYC.  I particularly remember a workshop led by Anna Halpern, and while I didn’t relate to it very well I was fascinated with the use of dance to bring people together.  I also have a vague memory of being introduced to the work of Marian Chace perhaps at the same conference.

Marian Chace is considered the founder of dance therapy in the United States.  She began her dance career as a dancer, performer, and choreographer.  She opened a school in Washington, DC and it was while teaching that she noticed the benefits to her students.

The reported feelings of wellbeing from her students began to attract the attention of the medical community, and some local doctors began sending patients to her classes. She was soon asked to work at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. once psychiatrists too realized the benefits their patients were receiving from attending Chace’s dance classes.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_therapy

She began working at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in 1942. She developed a program called “Dance for Communication,” and that was really the start of a new mental health profession called dance/movement therapy. In 1947 she was employed full time at St. Elizabeth’s as a dance therapist.  In 1966 she was one of the founding members of the American Dance Therapy Association which continues to play an active role with a strong membership of dance therapists.  Here’s a link for more information about her life:  https://www.adta.org/marian-chace-biography.

I remember reading a book and some articles Chace wrote, and being totally fascinated.  I was also aware of the American Dance Therapy Association that she founded in 1966.  In the 1970’s, living in Tallahassee, Florida I found myself in need of therapy and sought out both individual and group therapy in the then popular Transactional Analysis.  The therapists that I worked with also offered training in Transactional Analysis and soon I was attending workshops and training to be a Permission Educator using movement as the main tool.  Some of these workshops were held at the Creative Dance Center Studio that I build in the mid-70’s.  At some point I also began leading movement workshops in the psychiatrist floor of Tallahassee’s main hospital.  At the same time, The Avodah Dance Ensemble was growing, and I realized that being a choreographer and director of the dance company was much more satisfying, so I eventually stopped leading workshops and focused on just the dance company.

When we began working with women in prison, some 15 years later, some of the training in Transactional Analysis came in handy but mainly in an indirect way. The concept of a nurturing parent giving permission to the creative child was at the core of what I had learned and begun practicing when leading workshops. However, as a dance company, and as myself as director, I clearly did not view what we were doing as therapy in any kind of traditional sense.  Instead we had a clear agreement with the women participating that the goal was for them to join the dance company in a performance and to share what they had learned and experienced with other inmates.  Feedback from teachers and the participants themselves indicate that they had a great sense of pride and accomplishment that they had stayed with the week-long workshops and followed through in the performance.  For many of them that was a major achievement.

Later when I worked with women from a domestic violence shelter I found that there were two different ways I approached the work.   When I went into group sessions it was to give permission to express one’s feelings through movement and to relate to another person in a safe non-verbal way (i.e. mirroring with a partner).  Alternatively, we offered the option for some of the women to participate in a more intense way and become part of a film project using movement and meditation for healing.  Each participant was required to sign an agreement that they would attend a certain number of rehearsals and that they would be performing for an invited audience, and that both rehearsals and performances would be filmed.  Again there was feedback from the women expressing satisfaction and enthusiasm for having followed through. And when the film was accepted into film festivals, there was additional pleasure.

While working with a therapist in a private setting or as part of a group is important in growing, healing and recovery, for some people the participation in being part of a performing group, when led with the right approach, can be very beneficial!  This was clearly apparent to me and, based on feedback, to the participants too. Observations included gaining new skills in teamwork, completing an agreed on task, having fun and as one woman remarked, “getting high in a legal way.”

When directing a performance piece with a group of non-dancers, particularly when they have experienced physical abuse in their lives, I am glad that I had the Transactional Analysis training as it guides me in how I lead.  I am aware that I am giving the participants permission to use their body in a new way, to be creative, to be part of a team and to share what they are learning with others.  I also strive to help them do their very best.  In leading groups with the assistance of well trained dancers we are able to guide them in a short amount of time to reach a pleasing performance level.  I have found this very rewarding work.  I have a lot of respect for those who go into dance therapy and a keen awareness that while I was glad to have had the training that I had, I needed to follow a different path.

Nine women from Esperanza Shelter join four dancers in the finale of “Through the Door,” an example of building a team and sharing for an invited performance.  Photo by Judy Naumburg.  Here’s a link to view the film: (https://vimeo.com/259920776).

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Reminiscing – A Trip to Tazacorte, La Palma

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

In 2007 Murray (my husband who passed away in October 2020) and I spent a month in the small village of Tazacorte on La Palma Island, part of the Canary Islands.  In disbelief I have watched recent videos of the Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption which began on September 19.  The eruption continues and a recent BBC article describes what has happened:

Lava flowed down the mountain and through villages after the crack opened in the Cumbre Vieja volcano on 19 September, throwing jets of lava and ash into the air.

The red-hot liquid rock destroyed everything in its path – empty villages, schools and hundreds of homes – before reaching the sea 10 days later.

Farmers have been racing to save crops of bananas, avocados and grapes before the lava reaches plantations – which are rich with volcanic, fertile soil – on which many islanders depend for their livelihoods.

The Canary Islands Volcano Institute has suggested the eruption could last between 24 and 84 days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58681233

It appears that over 1,100 buildings were destroyed and in the small village of Tazacorte, which we got to know and adore, a resident was quoted in one of the papers saying, “The lava ploughed through on its way to the sea, wrecking houses and farms.”

The black sand beach of Tazacorte makes a nice curve along the shoreline and along with the rocks, it let us know that volcanos created the island and eruptions had happened as recently as 1949 and  1971. We often walked alongside the beach which was really like walking three or four blocks in New York City and we would sit and watch the display of splashes as the waves hit the crop of rocks jutting out into the Atlantic. I don’t remember going swimming or even sitting on the sand nor seeing many people venture into the water.  It may have been because it was February or that it just wasn’t an ideal place to swim.  I do clearly remember many of us walking along  the beach.

We had rented a modestly furnished one-bedroom apartment in a bright blue three-story building about one block from the main street and just another block to the beach.  I spent a good deal of time doing pastel paintings while Murray reviewed Spanish for an upcoming few weeks in Spanish school in Granada.

Sometimes we would go sightseeing by picking up the nearby bus that made a circle of the island.  One time we took it to the overlook of the Cumbre Vieja volcano and wandered around the National Park before taking the bus back.  Another time we took the bus in the opposite direction and took a delightful hike that led us to a different bus stop for our return to Tazacorte.  (Before we had departed for what was becoming an annual two-and-a-half months spent in Spanish-speaking countries, I had discovered a wonderful book describing hikes on La Palma including how to begin and end using buses. It came in very handy!)

After reading about the recent volcanic eruption and deciding that I wanted to write a blog remembering our time on La Palma I wondered if I could find any of the pictures that Murray had taken while we were there.  Much to my delight when I went to a hard drive that he had prepared before leaving Santa Fe in January 2020, I discovered all of our trips neatly organized in folders with four folders featuring La Palma.  I also had kept one of the pastel paintings I did in the winter of 2007 and I just had it framed.  It is now hanging in one of the bedrooms here in Costa Rica.

As I end with photos I feel a deep gratitude for having shared this adventure with Murray, and appreciation that he so neatly organized the pictures so I could find them in just a few minutes.  And deep prayers to the citizens of La Palma and particularly Tazacorte that they may be able to rebuild their lives on this beautiful island.

Tazacorte from above. We slowly hiked up this hill, some of it through a banana plantation. Photo by Murray Tucker.

Tazacorte from a boat trip we took. Photo by Murray Tucker.

Waves splashing on the rocks and beach. Photo by Murray Tucker.

Banana flower. Pastel painting done in 2007.

Pastel painting, 2007, recently framed and decorating a bedroom here in Costa Rica.

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Spanish School in Costa Rica and a Time for me to Paint

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Costa Rica, Personal Life

On the top of my husband Murray’s wish list when he retired from his job as an economist was to spend time in a Spanish-speaking country, living with a host family and studying Spanish in a school.  At that time I had no interest in learning Spanish, as I am not good at learning languages and had had some Spanish in college.  In fact, it was one of my languages for my Ph.D.  All that meant was that we read a book in our field and took it into a professor and he opened it to a page and we translated.  That wasn’t hard, as those of us in the theatre department passed around a book on theater history in Latin America.  Anyway, I liked the idea for a different reason.  While Murray was in school I could spend the time working in pastels.

After much research we selected two schools for what was to be the first of five winters spent in different Spanish-speaking countries.  For our first month of our first year, 2005, we selected a school in Costa Rica in the Monteverdi rainforest area.  Then for the second month we would travel to Antigua, Guatemala.

I carefully researched the best way to travel with pastels and purchased a box to carry them in that fit in my backpack.  I also cut paper the size that would fit in my medium-size suitcase along with enough glassine paper to protect my paintings and bring them home.

Our departure to San Jose did not go smoothly.  Leaving from Tucson, Arizona we were supposed to make a connection in Los Angeles. The plane was late but the United ticket agent thought we would still have a chance to make it.  We had to transfer from one terminal to another for the international flight. I remember a crazy mad dash with a porter across the airport and by the time we got to the counter the airplane doors were closed.  They decided the best option was to fly us to Chicago where we could then get a flight early the next morning to San Jose.  While it was a long trip going north to then go south it ended up being relaxing from that point on.

I remember a very bumpy ride from San Jose to our host family in the town of Santa Elena.  Our host was a teacher in the school and we would be provided with breakfast and dinner each day.  The school was a short car ride away or about a 20-minute walk.  It was a very comfortable house and a lovely family. Our room with its own bath was small with a typical Costa Rican matrimonial bed (a double bed), which was a bit of a surprise for us as we were used to sleeping in a king-size bed.  Our motivation was high to enjoy this experience so we made up our minds to make it work… which we did.  While many of the family members knew English, the goal was to speak only Spanish around us.  That was a big challenge for Murray and me but somehow we managed to communicate what we needed.  While they pushed Murray to use correct grammar they were very forgiving with me, and if I came up with the right infinitive of a verb it was accepted.

Each morning we rode with the teacher to school.  Murray would go off to class for the next several hours and I would have a wonderful time painting in the school’s garden.  They also arranged a place for me to leave my easel, pastels and paper so I didn’t have to carry them with me each day.  At lunchtime when Murray was finished, we would walk to a place to have lunch.  There were quite a few choices along what was then a dirt road into town.  There were also some fun places to sightsee nearby and one of our favorites was the Monteverdi Butterfly Garden.  Murray took some wonderful pictures and when I got home I did a painting from one of his pictures which is still one of my favorites.

Pastel Painting from a photograph that Murray took at the Butterfly Garden.

One weekend day we hired a guide to take us through the famous Monteverdi Cloud Forest Biological Preserve.  Of course the highlight was getting to see the Quetzals.  Our guide knew where there was a nest and sure enough we saw both the female and the amazing resplendent male!  What a treat.  While pictures didn’t come out too well as they were high up in a tree, my memory is very clear of seeing them.  Following our time with the guide we wandered on some paths and were awed by the abundance of trees and flowers, including a huge number of orchids.   While waiting for our taxi back, we sat in an outdoor patio area where there were many hummingbird feeders and the most hummingbirds I have ever seen in one place, with a unique jewel-like appearance.

Photo taken by Murray Tucker while waiting for a taxi and admiring the hummingbirds!

Another weekend we left on a Friday afternoon and went with a small group to the hot springs and Arenal Volcano area where we spent two nights.  Although it was fun, the ride was much too long and we were happy to just keep exploring locally after that!

View of Arenal Volcano. Picture taken by Murray Tucker

By the end of the month our love for the country of Costa Rica had grown.  We had visited once before in the 90’s spending a week at Rara Avis, one of the first eco tourism lodges, and loved it.  At that small resort with individual cottages and communal dining we had met mostly tourists from Europe.  The long tractor ride up a muddy trail and back down was particularly challenging to Murray although we were both glad to have had the experience.  I remember so well the beautiful blue butterflies at a waterfall!!  We also had our first experience with learning about how clever ants are, as we watched various parades of ants carrying leaves to the queen ant!  Following the week at Rara Avis we traveled south to the Osa Peninsula and stayed in a resort with a beautiful view of the ocean, where we enjoyed hiking down to the beach below and being amused by the various antics of the monkeys.  From a very positive impression of the country during that first trip and then again during the month in Monteverdi it is no wonder that when we decided to move from Santa Fe in 2019 and strongly considered moving out of the United States, Costa Rica was at the top of our list.  And move we did, at the end of January 2020, to Atenas in the Central Valley of Costa Rica.  And that is where I now call home.

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Second Spanish School – A Month in Antigua, Guatemala

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Personal Life

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

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

Pastel painting of Lucretia’s birds

Pastel painting of the three rabbits in the atrium with their lovely little blankets.

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

Photo by Murray Tucker

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

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

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

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

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

JoAnne Tucker / / Arts in Education, Personal Life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

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

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

Picture taken by Murray when we visited the cemetery.

Picture taken by Murray when we visited the cemetery.

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

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

View of the Beagle Channel. Pastel Painting by JoAnne Tucker.

Pastel painting of lupine flowers by JoAnne.

Mountain peaks with snow and clouds.  The days were often cloudy and grey yet still very beautiful. Pastel painting by JoAnne.

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

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

http://www.scc2ush.com

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

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

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

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

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

Picture taken by Murray of a typical lupine garden in Ushuaia

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

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