Re: Scarborough Fair tune/simkhe dissonance

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Shira, of course I totally agree with you.  With this in mind, I am 
currently (and extremely slowly) editing video of the dance workshop 
that was given here in February to make it available in VHS or DVD 
formats for people to learn from.  The Jewish world needs to take more 
pride in our traditional culture, not be embarrassed by it, as many seem 
to be.  As Helen has pointed out recently, look at the other European 
cultures who have strong identification with their traditional dance 
forms, as community expressions as well as refined performances:  Greek, 
Irish, Mexican, Polish, etc., etc.  There is no reason we shouldn't have 
the equivalent dance repetoire to call on, so we all know what we are 
doing, and can express pride and unity in this unifying activity.  Oy, I 
could go on forever, but I'll stop now...for a while.
Lorele

Susan Lerner wrote:

>Hoo-ha, does this ever play into some of the things I have been thinking since 
>recently attending a bas mitsve where I actually stayed through the DJ's 
>"performance" rather than escaping before the show really began.  This was a 
>fairly modest version of the famous LA Westside/Valley bar/bat mitzvah 
>extravaganza.  Meaning there was only 1 dj/dance leader accompanied by 2 
>dancers.  I was struck by several things: 1) How much the audience, 
>particularly the adults (mostly female, but a fair number of guys as well), 
>the young kids and the adolescent girls wanted to dance. (The 13-14 year old 
>boys - fugedaboudit.)  But they just didn't know how or what to do.  They were 
>all eager to get in a circle and have a "Jewish experience", whatever the dj 
>set that up to be. Just as eager for someone to give them permission to dance.
>
>So, the dj, armed with a Madonna-style radio mike, led a mock kazatsky for 
>pairs of men, a very pale echo of a handkerchief dance (for pairs of women!), 
>the obligatory running around with the celebrant precariously perched on a 
>chair, followed by that most simple of Israeli circle dances the name of which 
>I forget but whose melody I can always sing(you know, 4 steps right, step & 
>lean right clap, step & lean left clap, repeat, 4 steps into center, swaying 
>arms above head, etc.).  That's it.  End of Jewish content.  Follow-up with 
>YMCA, party games and dancing to contemporary rock.
>
>When you actually learn klezmer/simkhe dancing, one thing that is immediately 
>clear is that it is true folk and party dancing.  Most of the dances are not 
>complicated.  They were developed to be danced by everyone, young and old, for 
>hours at a time.  There are more virtuosic versions, there are easier 
>versions.  Until you get to some of the more complex versions of the sher, 
>it's all pretty straight forward. But that's just like most East European 
>party dancing. It's our lack of familirity with the rhythm patterns that make 
>Bulgarian wedding dancing a little confusing for the average American, not the 
>intricacies of most of the steps. If anything, those seeking the choreographed 
>complexity of Israeli folk dancing tend to be disappointed by the simplicity 
>of the true folk forms.  
>
>So I came away from the bas mitsve with the feeling that I had seen what is 
>Jewish culture here in America for many, many people.   Remember, the Jewish 
>Federation population surveys keep telling us that only 15-25% of American 
>Jewish are affiliated with religious or community organizations.  Most people 
>know they should be doing something Jewish at a celebration, but what they 
>accept to fill that need is surprisingly thin. 
>
>What can the musicians on this list do?  Well, they can offer a more authentic 
>Jewish musical and dance experience as one of the options they offer, but it 
>is really up to the celebrants to decide.  Remember the Yiddish song, 
>Batzhe-mir oys a finif-un-tsvantsiker? It's about the old party guest who 
>keeps requesting the same song to be played over and over and presumably gets 
>his wish because he keeps giving money to the band.  How much we are willing 
>to be educators and how much simply entertainers is something which I think 
>each group establishes for itself.
>
>Shira Lerner
>Yiddishkayt LA
>
>
>At 11:23 AM 7/16/02 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>If so, I will say that many of the b'nai mitzvah parties I've attended don't 
>>seem to be serious expressions of entry into adulthood, but rather more of a 
>>kids' party, with games and prizes, etc.  It's fun, but hard to take that 
>>kind of thing seriously, but musicians need to make a living and play what 
>>the client asks for.  Perhaps that attitude transfers over to all events of 
>>this ilk.
>>
>>Perhaps the parties are structured in this way because they don't know what 
>>else to do at them, not to speak of peer pressure--the kids want a party just 
>>like everyone else's party--which brings us back to the dance question.  I 
>>have found that young people enjoy doing the traditional dances when they 
>>have a leader who shows them how.  If they were taught to dance the Honga or 
>>Sher instead of the Hip-Hop Cha-Cha (I'm sorry, I don't know the name of that 
>>omnipresent recording), I'll bet they'd do it and like it.
>>
>
>
>

-- 
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