Celebrating the Avodah Dance Ensemble

In August 2004 I retired as founding artistic director of The Avodah Dance Ensemble.  It was a wonderful thirty years and I had pretty much reached a point where the dance muse was no longer a burning passion.  I knew it was time to move on.  Luckily at the same time a delightful and enthusiastic young woman expressed interest in Avodah and I was thrilled with the possibility that Avodah might have a future.  

This past Friday we had an Avodah board meeting where I participated via phone.  It was quite special for me to see that Avodah is  alive and growing in wonderful new directions under the guidance of Julie Gayer Kris.  For the first few years I was actively mentoring Julie.  I am still there for her when she wants it, but it is less often now.  It is exciting to see how Julie is developing her own voice and operation.  The Board composition is beginning to change to reflect the new perspective.  This year three new Board members became involved, bringing new ideas to the company.

 Avodah began as a modern dance company rooted in the Jewish tradition.  During the first fifteen years the program emphasis was in interpreting Biblical text and liturgy.  In 1989, Avodah created a piece called "Let My People Go" with Louis Johnson, outstanding Africian American choreographer, to explore the Exodus text from both a Jewish and African American point of view.  This piece successfully toured for over 10 years creating an new emphasis in Avodah and building bridges between communities.  Collaborations with Linda Kent introduced pieces presented at both Hebrew Union College and Union Theological Seminary.

In 2002 Avodah did a residency at York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only  facility for women.  It was an amazing experience for those of us involved. The program has grown to where Avodah is active in three different prisons.  

At the Board meeting on Friday Julie discussed the different programs that are on-going or being developed.  It is clear Avodah is growing.  The prison program is taking on new dimensions having added a performance with inmates for their families.  A collaboration with a new Board member/rabbinic student is being developed looking at Jewish text and body image especially for bat mitzvah age girls. A collaboration with the Mark Lamb Dance Company is in the works.  In a discussion of our mission statement there was a clear consensus on keeping the idea of Avodah working with diverse communities and building community energy, an important part of Avodah programming.   

After I got off the phone, I felt a wonderful sense of fulfillment and gratitude to see something that I began in 1972 continuing to have an exciting future.  I am grateful to the many dancers and collaborators who over the years gave so much of themselves.  And I am especially thankful to Julie Gayer Kris, the current dancers, collaborators and Board members who continue to give Avodah new vitality!!

Check out Avodah's website at:  www.avodahdance.org.  Avodah welcomes bookings and volunteers.  If you are interested in being involved please email me and I will pass the information along to Julie.    

Election Night

The election was three weeks ago-hard to believe the long wait is over. Finally I have time to write about my reactions. Right after the election I still had to wind up things as campaign manager for Ken Brenner. He along with two other local Dems were not successful in their races. While our county Routt did favor Obama and Udall (Democrat for Senate) by 62% the local candidates were not able to overcome the overabundance of Red in the surrounding counties. And then there was so much catch up to do in the house to prepare for this trip that writing on our blog has had to wait til now.

Both of us were busy the entire election day, volunteering. I was in the Obama office all day phoning to get out the vote, Murray was a poll watcher for over four hours. The snow managed to hold off in Steamboat until 7 pm exactly when the polls closed. We, along with Obama volunteers and supporters, headed to a local bar. It was packed. A mighty cheer went up as Pennsylvania was called for Obama. And the snow was really coming down. We stayed for just a short while longer and then headed back home.

When we got home, Ohio was called for Obama and it was clear that he would win! Somehow we needed to do something special so we found a bottle of champagne in the frig and as soon as Obama was announced we uncorked the bottle and enjoyed toasting our President Elect. And then the tears started. And in fact even writing brings the tears again. I had not anticipated that I would find myself so emotional but indeed it was. And then as I saw Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his cheek as Obama spoke at Grant Park I realized that we had indeed arrived at an amazing moment in our country's history.

The tears continued on and off for the next few days. It was comforting to read an article in the New York Times about how many people were emotionally impacted by the election. I found myself reflecting on my work as choreographer on multicultural projects particularly between the Black and Jewish communities. One performance particularly stood out. It took place in Chicago at the synagogue across the street from Obama's house. Avodah Dance Ensemble's performance of Let My People Go was shared with a gospel choir. The synagogue was packed. After the performance the entire audience stood and sang "We Shall Overcome". This happened back in 1990. At Grant Park on Election Night, someone had a sign that said "We Have Overcome." That said it all.