Re: origin of the sher

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

If mixed dancing has only been around for 100 years in the observant Jewish 
community, do you suppose the sher wasn't done (by adults) prior to this, or 
might it have been a lady's only or men's only dance earlier on?
Helen


>From: Itzik Gottesman <itzik (at) mail(dot)utexas(dot)edu>
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>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: origin of the sher
>Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:41:00 -0500
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>       A gut yor -I would be wary of any "origin" of the sher. What have
>been mentioned are certainly interpretations or explanations after the sher
>had been danced for years or generations. It is a scissor form so the name
>"sher" makes sense.  I also doubt, at weddings, whether men and women
>danced together in the sher even if they did not touch hands. Not that it
>didn't happen, but generally speaking, as we know, men and women danced
>seperately, in different parts of the room or in different rooms. Of course
>I am talking about traditional circles, and not about more liberal people
>in the last hundred years.
>       Another source of Jewish dancing in Eastern Europe, other than
>weddings, were children and young adults.  And there, away from adult
>supervision, the genders mixed much more freely on Sabbath afternoons or
>Saturday evenings. There were no musicians, but the children sang a tune,
>or someone led them in the movements as they sang and clapped. A number of
>Yiddish songs are from these "sessions". See I.L.Cahan's "Shtudyes in
>yidisher folkshafung" published by YIVO, and his article on Jewish dances
>and songs. (I don't have it in front of me) -
>  - Itzik Gottesman
>
>

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