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Tomorrow night, a historic restaging of Anna Solokow’s Kaddish,
created in 1945, takes place at the
92nd Street Y.
The story goes that when Anna Sokolow was a child growing up on
the Jewish Lower East Side, modern dance was considered so risqué
that her mother locked her in the bathroom when she declared her
intention of becoming a modern dancer. Undaunted, and
displaying the fiery spirit that marked her character throughout
her long career as a choreographer, Sokolow is said to have
escaped through a window. She danced for Martha Graham
through much of the 1930’s and later choreographed her own work
for almost half a century. Sokolow was a pioneer of
contemporary dance, challenging societal, religious, and gender
conventions — using dance to express ideas and to challenge,
as well as creating lovely, sensual pieces such as Prelude
and Rooms.
Sokolow choreographed the haunting solo Kaddish in 1945,
set to the beautiful melancholy violin of
Maurice Ravel's
piece of the same name,
one of his two mélodies hébraïques. Kaddish,
created just after the Holocaust, is a song of lament; its
power lies in its immense dignity as its draws one into its
hypnotic spell. Sokolow beat her breast, fell to the floor,
looked upwards as if imploring the heavens, depicting not only
loss but courage and strength as well. Sokolow appeared on stage
wearing a black strap wrapped around her arm to symbolize the
tefillin used in traditional Jewish prayer rituals which women
are forbidden to wear -- a rare artist capable of simultaneously
honoring a centuries-old tradition and challenging it with
aesthetic subtlety.
Tomorrow,
on Friday, December 11th at 8pm, Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble
member Lauren Naslund will recreate Kaddish at the 92nd Street Y
as part of a program that also includes Jannis Brenner presenting
choreography by Meredith Monk, Wendy Osserman, and Jody Oberfelder.
Sokolow passed away in 2000 at the age of 90.
See:
Kaddish at
the 92nd Street Y
Listen:
Maurice
Ravel, Kaddish and other Violin Sonatas
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