There have been many meaningful interfaith services that have happened following the Saturday, October 27th tragedy at Tree of Life Synagogue. The one in Pittsburgh at Soldiers and Sailors’ Hall stands out in particular: music and inspirational words coming from so many different faiths reaching out to comfort, mourn and remember the 11 who lost their lives, and to show support and affirmation that we care and stand for each other.
For some of us, dance/movement is our means of connecting, processing, and affirming. This week’s blog is an outline for a dance workshop that I would conduct for teens, adults and seniors in response to events such as the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue, Columbine, Charleston, the nightclub outside of Orlando or any one of the 297 mass shootings that have occurred just this year. That is nearly a shooting for each day of the year. (A mass shooting, according to the Gun Violence Archive, is defined as when 4 or more individuals are shot or killed in the same general time and location.)
The killing of 11 members of Tree of Life Synagogue was particularly close to home for me. Murray and I grew up in Squirrel Hill just a few miles from where it happened. I find myself filled with a deep sadness. With it has come an even greater empathy for all those closely affected by the many mass murders in recent years.
How can I take these feelings and design an appropriate “mending or healing” workshop? First, who are the participants? I imagine that the group is made up of different ages, economic backgrounds, religious beliefs, races and sexual preferences. I envision that we share the need to express our feelings and let each other know that we are united in wanting to overcome the violence that is increasing in the U.S. We realize that if it is violence to one of us it is to all of us. Our strength can come from our unity.
Usually when I am planning a workshop I research any inspirational text, paintings, music or poetry that I might want to weave into the workshop or to just be aware of, to have handy should the need arise. Always I keep in mind that the outline for the workshop is just that… an outline. The workshop is always building in response to those participating and the energy of the group.
I would probably begin in a circle with each member of the group sharing their name and a simple movement that matches the rhythm of their name. As each movement is done, the whole group repeats it. This immediately lets each person know they can make up a movement, teach it, and learn other movements. By the end of this activity a group energy, trust, and comfort has been formed. (This repetition of movement can be done either with the group copying only the newest movement shown, or with the group repeating all of the previous movements, in a cumulative chain – like “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”)
Mass murders trigger our emotions ranging from sadness to anger. Fear also plays a part – this might happen to me or someone close to me. So my outline begins with addressing these emotions by asking the group what emotions they are feeling right now. Each emotion is then expressed in movement. Some options for this are:
- Sculpt the emotion. One person comes into the center of the group and takes a pose (without speaking). The next person joins them, relating to the first person’s conveyed emotion in a complementary way. The first person leaves and a third person now enters taking another complementary emotional pose. This continues and at an appropriate time a different emotion is sculpted.
- Allow each sculpture to build until about 5 people have joined, one at a time (with no one leaving). Let the rest of group (those not sculpting) suggest a title for the sculpture that has been created.
- Make one giant sculpture with the whole group participating and then ask the group to move together in slow motion creating another shape conveying either the first emotion or another one.
- Ask the group to spread out through out the space. Each person is then to draw an imaginary circle around him/herself. This is now the space they have to move in. Ask everyone to express fear, anger or sadness in their own defined circle.
- Take each of the 3 predominant emotions of fear, anger and sadness and have the whole group move throughout space expressing it. They may relate to another person but they may not touch each other.
After expressing the emotion explore how that emotion could be changed into some kind of positive action. Divide the room into three parts, one area representing each of the three emotions. Ask the participants to go to the area that represents the strongest emotion that they are feeling.
Each group is to discuss how they can use the emotion in a positive way and then share that in dance. Some examples are: turning sadness into compassion by reaching out to comfort those in need; turning fear into providing protection; turning anger into a “march” or call to action (such as the Parkland students have done).
Each group should create a 16-count movement phrase showing their new response. When all of the groups have created a phrase, have each group show its phrase and teach it to everyone in the room. [This does not have to be perfect! Like the simple warm-up, the whole group, at this point, is trying together to copy movements, immediately, as closely as possible; sharing the general essence of the created movements is more important than capturing precise details.] Now the whole group has a phrase that everyone knows. Depending on the size of the group, timing and needs of the group, this could either be the conclusion or used to expand into a piece such as The Avodah Dance Ensemble did with direction from Louis Johnson and me in Make A Change. Here’s the link to the blog where I describe this.
Another totally different approach, rather than focusing directly on emotions, is taking an image from nature — such as water, trees or light — that finds expression in different religions, cultures and myths and building the workshop based on this.
Since the recent incident happened at Tree of Life Synagogue, right now the tree would be a natural image to explore. Quick research at Wikipedia got me started. Here is the opening paragraph:
Trees are significant in many of the world’s mythologies and religions, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth. Evergreen trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered symbols of the eternal, immortality or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or world tree occurs in many mythologies.
I probably would not read this to the group. I am only using this as a way to get started. Perhaps I would bring in lots of different paintings of trees from my collection of art magazines or from my favorite photographer (Murray!), and we would explore some of the trees in movement, paying attention at times to the roots of the tree, the strong trunk, branches that are reaching in different directions (straight or twisted) and leaves that bud, bloom and fall.
Tree at Lake Abiquiu, New Mexico. Photo by Murray Tucker.
Bent Tree, outside of Ushuaia, Argentina. Photo taken by Murray Tucker.
Winter, Bosque de Apache, New Mexico. Photo taken by Murray Tucker.
Oil Painting by JoAnne Tucker of a damaged Aspen Tree.
The image of the tree in seasons is also very powerful in the quote from Wikipedia – growth, death and rebirth. Depending on the group these three words as they relate to the tree could be very strong motivators for dance.
Wikipedia also mentions a world tree. This could be used to create a large group improvisation where everyone creates and dances this world tree. How can we support each other as part of this tree and move together helping each other to keep our balance and wholeness?
Going in another possible direction for the workshop (or to incorporate in the previous approaches), these quotes from Nelson Mandela have potential.
The greatest glory in living is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall.
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it.
No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.
If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important and you do that by being genuine and humble.
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Another quote that can be incorporated powerfully into the workshop is one that I first heard (a variation of) from Canon Lloyd Casson during a service at The Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, when The Avodah Dance Ensemble participated one Sunday morning in the 1990’s. The quote is by Matthew Fox.
Create harmony and healing together. Celebrate, praise, and thank together. Cease using religion to divide. Use it for its purpose, to reconnect to Mother Earth, to blessings, to the underground river that I am and that you all share. And cease scandalizing the young by your indifference to these awesome blessings, by your competition, and your boredom. Praise one another. Praise the earth. In doing so, you praise me.
Focusing on Mother Earth and/or the underground river can provide excellent motivation for movement.
To conclude, in planning this workshop as in many others, it has been helpful to have the collaborative input from Kezia. Finding someone to brainstorm with can make the planning of a workshop much easier and richer. In conducting a workshop, I find having the assistance of a trained dancer familiar with my approach builds momentum, especially for a large group. And I would also ask Newman to bring his collection of percussion instruments to accompany us. Having an accompanist such as Newman, who allows the participants’ movement to help motivate the sound, reinforces and further shapes the energy of the group.
Thinking about what I would do in dance at this time, in reaction to the Saturday, October 27th event, even if I don’t get to lead the workshop I’ve outlined, has had a calming and healing effect for me. For some of us, our connection is through the creative sphere. Thinking about dance, writing about dance, and of course dancing is my connection to the deep underground river.
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