Re: Har Nof women's conservatory

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

Well, restricting one sense (e.g, sadly, among the blind; but also in 
experiments among the sighted) appears to heighten awareness of other 
senses; do you find that hard to believe?  (And sorry, but does it matter if 
you do, if it's so?)  What was said about the girls' dancing, and their 
relationship to their bodies, their clothing, etc., struck me as quite 
lovely, really, and quite graceful--though I'm not really in a position to 
evaluate whether it is so.  But then, neither is Glenn.  We'd have to ask 
the girls themselves--and/or ask them after they've grown some and had a 
chance to take in the experience.  I, obviously, don't know what they'd say.


Since the school appears to teach both music and dance, a "100% focus on 
music" would appear not to be appropriate.   And in a religious Jewish 
school, where music, dance, and everything else are presumably cultivated 
(not necessarily in a stifling or oppressive way) as vehicles of serving the 
Ribbono Shel Olam, what Glenn calls "other issues" are not distractions.  
They're relevant to the central, defining task of the institution and the 
vocation(s) of its students.


And by the way, rightly or wrongly, wisely or otherwise, Orthodox girls are 
not restricted, in a kol isha sense, w/ respect to what they can listen to.

--Robert Cohen


>It's a shame that there can't be a 100% focus on the
>music without the distractions of worrying about these
>other non-musical issues.
>
>It says in the article:
>
>At the conservatory, religious restrictions are not
>seen as obstacles to artistic expression. Ballet
>teacher Minah Nahmani, who also teaches at the Rubin
>Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, said that the
>girls' modesty brings a new dimension of grace to
>their dancing: "Their high level of awareness of their
>bodies allows them to know what to express outwardly
>and what to keep inside. It is expression through
>hiding."
>
>Is one supposed to infer that covering up one's body
>or resticting what one listens to (kol isha) enhances
>awareness?  I find that to be hard to believe.  The
>reverse is probably true.
>
>--- Judith R Cohen <judithc (at) YorkU(dot)CA> wrote:
> > hi, check this out in Ha-aretz:
> >
> > http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat28_2.htm
> >
> > Interesting write-up of an Orthodox women's music
> > conservatory -
> > comments by the ballet teacher about how the women
> > and girl's "natural
> > modesty"gives them more grace, "expression through
> > hiding".... and how
> > hard it is to design a ballet costume which allows
> > for both modesty and
> > freedom of movement. Judith
> >
> > ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
> > ---------------------+
> >