JoAnne Tucker shares her experiences in dance from directly a modern dance company to leading movement activities for women in prison and domestic violence survivors.
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 Other people just called them weak because she was thoughtful and withdrawn, especially compared to Rachel, and sensitive in a way people would not see.”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.
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 SistersI 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.
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.
