Re: Odp: dyngus /was--- Jankowski Tsimbls/

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

If you would like to read a very positive story of Polish/Jewish interaction 
in the arts, there is an article by Judith Brin Ingber (of course it's about 
dancing).  She describes how in the 1970s she was surprised to receive a 
letter from Poland from a non-Jewish, Polish ballet dancer, named Jacek 
Luminski.  He worked in the Yiddish Theatre in Poland and had become very 
interested in learning about Jewish culture, particularly dance culture.  
Judith travelled to Poland and together she and Jacek visited many elderly 
Jewish people and collected dance information from them.

Here is the reference and an abstract:

Ingber, Judith Brin. "Jewish Dance in Poland Between World War I and World 
War II,"  in proceedings of Society of Dance History Scholars (US) 
Conference, University of Minnesota, 1996.
This article summarizes fieldwork conducted by Jacek Luminski, and Judith 
Brin Ingber  among elderly Jews in Poland. It explains the various 
processionals which were part of  Jewish weddings in Poland between the two 
world wars. Interestingly, many different
regional meanings of the term Mitzve Tanzl are described. The term might 
refer to  dances that were obligated to be danced at a wedding like the 
Broiges Tanz or the Koilitch  Tanz. The mitzve tanzl might also refer to a 
sort of line dance that is started by the
mother of the bride, with guests joining the line until all are dancing. In 
yet another  version, the dance had 3 sections: 1)Bride and groom dance 
together separated by a scarf 2) All the guests snaking around the room 
3)All the guests circling the bride and groom
who continue to dance in the middle of the circle. Other dances done by Jews 
in different parts of Poland retained the "flavour" of the dances done by 
their non-Jewish neighbours, yet were danced differently by the Jews. Such 
dances included the czardas, the Cozak and serba.

Helen



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