by Loui Tucker
This article appeared originally in the October 1999 issue of Let's Dance!
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A
group of us goes out to eat after dancing. We talk about dancing and dancers,
the history of dance, the meaning of dance, and the future of dance. We pose
questions. Sometimes the question is rhetorical. Some questions get asked by
each new generation of dancers, like a common prayer; some questions are being
asked only recently. Sometimes the asker sincerely wants an answer. Sometimes
the question is asked with tongue in cheek, to tease. Sometimes the same questions
gets asked over and over and there is never an answer, no matter how long we
discuss the issue. We thought The Grapevine readers might find the questions
thought-provoking.
(1) Why are some dances wildly popular
is Location A and the same dance is scorned in Location B? Is the population
that participates in Israeli dancing so diverse from locale to locale?
(2) How do teachers decide what to
teach from all the dances they learn? How do teachers get to be teachers in
the first place?
(3) With a few exceptions, the vast
majority of circle dances and couples dances in the Israeli dance repertoire
are danced to either a song with Hebrew lyrics (even though the original song
was French or Spanish or....) or to music without lyrics but everyone know the
lyrics anyway. In contrast, except for a few old individual dances like Sapri
Tama or Debka Lahat, the new trend in individual dances, usually done in lines
facing the music, are typically crafted around American pop tunes, or Turkish
or Spanish songs. Why is this??? What is it about these line dances that makes
choreographers pick non-Israeli music?
(4) Are the "debka jump"
and "debka kick" related movements? How did they get their names?
(5) What is a "classic"
dance and what makes it a classic? Is being of a certain age enough to qualify
or does it have to be popular or well-known or forgotten except by a few people
and also old? Who decides?
(6) Many English-speaking teachers
use the terms "Cherkassiya" and "Double Cherkassiya," but
these terms appear to be foreign to Israel-trained teachers. They say "Open-cross-from-side-to-side"
for double cherkassiya. Where did this term come from? Why does one population
use it and not another?
(7) What is it that brings non-Jews
and non-Israelis to an evening of Israeli dance?
(8) Where did teachers who teach beginners
get the idea that all beginner dances are slow dances, and all slow dances are
appropriate for beginners – and how can we change their minds on this?
(9) Do dance movements have to have
a meaning in order for a dance to be meaningful? If a dance isn't meaningful
to me should I be dancing it? Do I have to have a reason for not liking a dance
or not liking a piece of music or the lyrics – can't I just not like something
for no reason?
(10) Why are there no prominent female
choreographers today, especially since many of the founders of Israeli folk
dancing were women: Rivka Sturman, Raya Spivak, Gurit Kadman, Leah Bergstein,
Sara Levi-Tanai?
(11) Is this Israeli FOLK dance or
Israeli RECREATIONAL dance and what's the difference?
(12) If a dance leader uses a "request
sheet," could we also have an "unrequest sheet" as a way of saying,
"You've played this dance every week for 10 months and we're TIRED OF IT!"
(13) If a dance teacher doesn't use
a "request sheet" – how does he/she decide what to play?
(14) Is Israeli dancing going to be
around in 10, 15, 20 years? If so, who will be the teachers? How are they ever
going to master everything our current teachers know?
(15) What is styling exactly? Is it
the way the choreographer looked when first teaching or dancing the dance? If
so, how can you expect at dancer who is 4'11" and weighs 150 pounds to
mimic the style of a choreographer who is another gender, and a foot taller?
Is styling the way the best dancers do the dance.. or the way Israelis dancing
in Israel do the dance... or the way the choreographer originally intended the
dance to be done ... or the way the ethnic group the dance movements are based
on do this type of dance? Is styling the footwork or the arm positions or the
head movements or the curve of the back or all of the above or WHAT?? And why
is styling so important to some dancers and unimportant to others?
(16) Why is it so hard to get a dance
partner?
(17) Do you think we can we get the
beginners to all wear bright orange vests so we can spot them in the circle
and dance around them more easily and avoid running them over?
(18) What does syncopated mean anyway?
(19) How can you tell if a dance is
"Greek-style" or "Ashkenazi" or "Mizrahi" or "Kurdish"
or "plain old Israeli" (whatever that is)? What are the key features
to look for? Is it the music or the dance movements or both or something else?
Can you have Mizrahi dance movements to Ashkenazi music? What do you call the
result?
(20) [The one asked most often] How
did YOU get into folk dancing???