Thoughts from Editor-in-Chief
Ruth Eshel
When I received the program for the “Jews and Jewishness in the Dance World” international conference to take place in October 2018 at the University of Arizona, I realized that we here in Israel know very little about the Diaspora Jews’ prodigious activity in the field of dance, nor of the genres and concerns that occupy them. These were the sparks that gave rise to the decision to devote Issue no. 36 of Mahol Akhshav (Dance Today) with chosen articles from the conference. Also, I wanted to strengthen the connection between dance scholars in Israel with those from around the world that focus on the subject of Jews and Jewishness in dance.
After receiving permission from the Dance Department of the Ministry of Education, which supports the publication, to bring out an extraordinary issue wholly in English and dedicated not to dance in Israel but to Jewish dance abroad, I turned to Naomi Jackson (who co-directed the conference with Liz Lerman); she was enthusiastic about the idea.
I also invited Judith Brin Ingber to be the guest editor of this issue, and I’m delighted that she agreed. Without her knowledge, her faith in the project’s importance, and the vast amount of work she put into it, this issue would not have been published. She and Giora Manor had put out the first two issues of Shnaton Mahol beIsrae (The Israel Dance Annual – 1975, 1976), and after Judith returned to the US, Giora edited the annual by himself with Judith still contributing valuable articles, and kept up to date with dance made in Israel.
Giora had two “daughters”, Judith in the US, and myself in Israel. Once he had decided that the time had come for the annual to become a quarterly, he established with me the Revon Mahol beIsrael (the Israel Dance Quarterly – 1993-99), and after this closed I founded Mahol Akhshav in 2000. Accordingly, Mahol Akhshav is the “grandchild” of the Israel Dance Annual so that the invitation to Judith, and her acceptance to edit, have closed a historic circle. The Annual, the Quarterly and Mahol Akhshav may be found at https://www.israeldance-diaries.co.il. The titles and portions of the articles are translated into English.
Usually I don’t post the latest two issues of Mahol Akhshav on to the website so as not to pre-empt their sales of the printed magazines in Israel. In this case, however, Issue no.36 will be posted on the website as soon as it is published.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Thoughts from Editor-in-Chief/ Ruth Eshel
Preface/ Naomi Jackson
Guest Editor’s Notes/ Judith Brin Ingber
Then in What Sense Are You Jewish?/ Marion Kant
Dancers Under Duress: The Forgotten Resistance of Fireflies/ Laure Guilbert
Correcting a Published Error: “Kamila Rosenbaumová, the choreographer of Terezin’s Broučci and Brundibár died in Auschwitz” and other Quandaries/ Judith Brin Ingber
Jew in the Pool/ Yehuda Hyman
Ghosts of the Past: The Creation of Pola Nirenska’s Holocaust Tetralogy/ Rima Faber
Hilde Holger: Legacy of an Expressionist, Emigrant, Innovator/ Jacqueline Waltz
Ida Rubinstein Faded into Oblivion, Why? (1883-1960)/ Judith Chazin-Bennahum
An Exploration of the Life and Work of Helen Tamiris (1902-1966)/ Elizabeth McPherson and JoAnne Tucker
?The Case of David Allan’s 1987 Ballet Masada: Did it Matter that the Topic was Jewish?/ Jennifer Fisher
Daniel Nagrin: On ‘This and That’ and Choreographic Methods as Jewishness/ Diane Wawrejko
Is all that Jazzy Modern Dance Jewish?/ Merilyn Jackson
Jewish Argentine Princess (The Sequel); A Possible Point of View about Jewish Choreographers
and Dance Teachers in Argentina/ Silvina Szperling
Theologies of Modern Dance/ Alexander H. Schwan
Dance as Therapy: A Jewish Perspective/ Miriam Roskin Berger with Joanna Gewertz Harris, Marsha Perlmutter Kalina and Johanna Climenko
An Israeli Reflects on the Series of Articles on the Subject of Diasproa Jews and Jewishness in Dance / Ruth Eshel
Table of Contents – Hebrew