Dance
The subject of the Holocaust has been dealt with in modern dance. Some dances illustrate the feeling of being trapped and having nowhere to go. In 1961 Anna Sokolow, a Jewish-American choreographer, created her piece "Dreams". It was an attempt to deal with her night terrors. Eventually it became a memoire to the horrors of the Holocaust. In this dance, the dancers stand still, each one clasping a balled fist with the other hand, trying to pull them apart but with no success.
This same feeling of being trapped and enslaved is illustrated also in one of Pilobolus dances, "Selection". In Selection, one of the dancers approaches a dancing couple, separating them by his cane and snatching the woman away from her partner’s arms.
In Rami Be’er’s "Aide Memoire" (Hebrew title: Zichron Dvarim), he tried to illustrate the feeling of being “trapped.” The dancers move ecstatically, trapped in their personal turmoil, spinning while swinging their arms and legs, and banging on the wall; some are crucified, unable to move freely on the stage. This piece is performed by KCDC (the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company)
Read more about this topic: Holocaust Literature
Famous quotes containing the word dance:
“It is no doubt possible to fly—but first you must know how to dance like an angel.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Navajo men and boys have an odd way of showing their friendship. When two young men meet at the trading post, a “Sing”, or a dance they greet each other, inquire about the health of their respective families, then stand silently some ten or fifteen minutes while one feels the other’s arms, shoulders, and chest.”
—Administration in the State of Ariz, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Listen, sister. I don’t dance and I can’t take time out now to learn.”
—Frank W. Wead (1895?–1947)