Re: Fw: Dancing

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

At 11:28 AM -0500 1/4/02, Steve Weintraub wrote:
>  Again, it seems the key thing in this instance is to create for the
>participants an identifiably Jewish experience (as opposed to, say, the
>electric slide).
>

First of all, welcome to the list, Steve.  With the above sentence, 
you've identified what is for me the most important element of 
Yiddish dance.  But what makes it a "Jewish experience?"

At 11:28 AM -0500 1/4/02, Steve Weintraub wrote:
>Yiddish dance is more concerned with spatial figures (circles, snakes,
>pinwheels, etc) and details like who's dancing and with what (mitzvah tanz,
>bottle dance, koilich tanz) than with elaborate step patterns.  In a
>freylachs especially, adjacent people may be moving with differnt
>steps(prancing, walking, 2-step)  Body language is extremely important, tho-
>and communicates the "Jewishness" of the dancers.

Yiddish dance, like Yiddish song and even instrumental music, is at 
it's most Jewish, and in my opinion, its best, when it expresses the 
philosophy, emotions and values of Judaism and Jewish life. (How do 
you do that with instrumental music? Well, that's another topic.) 
Yiddish as a language developed as a bridge between loshn koydesh 
(the holy language--Hebrew) and the secular language of the people 
among whom Jews lived.  Watching old-timers doing Yiddish dance, I 
see a connection between the earth and the spiritual realm--watch how 
in a khusidl the dancers are simultaneously moving downward with 
their feet and upward with the rest of their bodies. There's a 
dignity in the way they hold themselves, and joy shining in their 
faces. The Chassidim have taught us that dance is a way of praising 
God with our whole bodies.  Yes, this is more important than 
hop-right-hop-left-hop-step-step.

Yiddish dance, at a wedding or at simkhas toyre, for example, can be 
an expression of mitzve (commandment). M'sameyekh khosn v'kale--To 
cause the bride and groom to rejoice; koved--honoring the bride and 
groom and their parents; bringing together a community to dance 
together rather than as isolated individuals or couples, dances in 
which guests demonstrate mitzves to the couple (works wonderfully for 
bar and bas mitzves too); and of course the above mentioned simkhas 
toyre--rejoicing (and especially dancing) with the Torah.  The Jewish 
gestures that Felix Fibich teaches in his dance workshops don't need 
to be done with choreographed precision unless you are performing for 
an audience--they are a vocabulary of movements that express those 
Jewish values in dance, and useful for any simkhe (Jewish 
celebration).

So, Steve, it was good to dance with you at Klez Kamp, if only 
briefly.  Next year I'll bring my hat.

(List members interested in more of what I have to say about Yiddish 
dancing for weddings and other simchas should visit the following 
links:
        http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com/wedding.html
        http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com/bmitzve.html
        http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com/workshops.html )

Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland, dance leader, badkhn
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com
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