Re: origin of the sher

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

What I learned (sorry I don't have an authoritative source for this
information) is that the Sher was developed by rabbis as a kosher
alternative to popular square dances.  Whereas square dances involve a lot
of dancing with people of the opposite sex who are not your partner, the
sher is so arranged that when married couples dance it, each person dances
and touches hands only with his or her spouse, or with people of the same
sex.  This is accomplished by having head couples have man on left and
woman on right and while side couples have man on right and woman on the
left.  Thus, your corner is always the same sex as you.  While the very
religious might find even this unacceptably immodest, the practical rabbis
who wanted to make an accomodation to modernity and popular culture and
keep their flock in a Jewish social scene invented a popular and enduring
diversion.

The idea of a tailor's dance seems likely because of all the threading the
needle or stitching type movements.

I've heard the story of head shaving as a foil to the "droit de seigneur"
before, but I don't know of it's accuracy or of any connection with this
dance.  In modern times religious women in some communities still cut their
hair short and wear a wig or always cover their hair in public so as not to
be attractive to anyone other than their own husbands.  The irony is how
stylish some of those wigs are.

As for the music, like a square dance, the music needs to be of a medium
tempo and go on for a long, long time so as to allow everyone a chance to
finish all the figures, so typical sher melodies have lots of sections.


Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn

At 12:42 PM -0400 9/13/99, Helen Winkler wrote:
>
>
>I have been reading about the origins of the sher and have found 2
>explanations
>1)     It is a tailorís dance with the figures representing the shears and
>the
>backstitch/removal of the stitches without breaking the thread.
>2)     It is a wedding dance, representing the shearing of the brideís
>hair at
>the time of marriage.
>
>On another web site, I read that it was customary for the king/other rulers
>to have the right to have his way with any bride in the kingdom on her
>wedding night.
>http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/hasid1.html
>The head was shaved to make the bride as unattractive as possible to avoid
>this fate.
>
>In the opinion of this group, is there any truth to the last statement and
>are there other explanations for the origin of this dance and its music?
>
>Helen


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