ANNA SOKOLOW. THE LYRIC THEATRE AND ISRAEL BY NATHAN MISHORI when she THE UNDERSTANDING HEART ,1953 תEver since 1 first met Anna Sokolow i d When Anna Sokolow is creating for a dance group, her ת came 10 Israel at the instigation of Jerome Robbins a with the help of the America-Jsrael Culture Foundation , work revea1s two eJements that are actually one and the - today, innumerable voices same, as far as she is concerned - human va1ues and choreo ו i ו then the Norman Fund), un ) he name 'Anna'. Those that graphic values. At the core of her compositions stands ו have reached me - all uttering - g voices of the early days of modern m3n - without theatrical embellishment or affecת come 10 mind are the you nbal', of students of drama and dance who studied with tations which diminish 3nd distort ms true image. Historical ן' ot genera1Jy part of her subject מ ogical figures 3re נ d the United States. Inter- or mytho ת her in various courses in Israel a mingled with these, are the voices of choreographers and matter . dancers Jerome Robbins, Glenn Tetley, John Butler, Alvin ey. Martha Hill - of ו Ailey, Norman Morrice, Jane Dud actors Aharon Meskin, Hanna Rovina, Fania Lubitsch and , Sokolow's work מ Truth and beauty are bound together i ת many, many others from the theatre and dance world i but it is essentially the truth which detennines the quality There are .ו ited States, England, Holland and Israe תthe U of beauty as (ar as she is concerned. Ugly attracts no limits to the profusion of feelings expressed in these behaviouf and evokes her choreographic reactions with תher attentio gמ na's presence or not, or when recalli מvoices, whether in A m dancerס regard 10 mankind today. From the individual, fr d the !arger part of these expression were מher name. A and. spectator alike, she demands an emotional response - always love , appreciation and admiration for the .artist and g thatת the prompting of one's conscience, an understandi fluence מ se i מperson, the teacher Ind choreographer ofimme justifies the term ' human being' . and individuality, for a figure which symbolised an unques - . d between humanity and the art of movement מionable bo ו here and there amidst the rich harmony of ו is true tha ון her work, apart from that for the מstory line i םמ There is otes. There were legitimate theatre. Poetry is the rule. Her poelry suffers theמ voices there were also some dissonant a's ממts of joy. Aמ d recaUs his few momeמ of man a מ of course, criticised pai ,ו the name of ar מthose who, speaking i dividuals מg technical approach and serious choreographic song weaves, forcefully, the coming together of iמ di מ her dema aste and for whom, it who, in their fusion, may possibly arrive at the meaning of ו to their ו themes, which were nO appeared, she lacked respect and underrated them. There life . were a!so those youngsters who had dropped out of her h the roug.h side of her ו classes as they could not put up wi er hands. But even those who were ןtongue, or at timcs, I Eve ~ y creative work, including choreography, needs c]early d all agreeמ dispIeased or disquieted by her, discovered a to define the opposite po]es of its material. These out]ine that Anna Sokolow and her close Iinks with Israel, served the living space in which the work moves and develops. Of O, that her personality, her values ן as a challenge to live up and artistic activities changed the landscape and opencd up these contrasts, or opposite poles, we find a number which , a Sokolow's work in particular מ are characteristic of An ce inמ he art of da ו the development of מnew avenues i and of modem art in general. We find the 'choreographic Israel . clustec' - a body of closely-knit dancers, as well as its op- l around the ו posite, a widespread dispersal of dancers a ; e straig.ht line and a brpken series of dots ו stage; a sing cersת the da [ו ed by a ן from an article which appeared in ' unisond' - the same movements enaC מ Translatio ) ts ת dependent moveme תIsrael Dance " 78/79) at the same time , and varied and i " 37 al of her wo rk has an express.ive motivationנ of each dancer, as in polyphonic music. in which the l.imits Every fonnal det מ d every movement derives from a מ d the source of each aמ ts . a מ t icipaזthe number of p a מof choreographic lines l.ie only i t מ er spirituaJ emotion. In other workds, the moveme מ In various choreographies, Anna gives these basic contrasts in diverse fonns. Th.e attraction of opposite poles she uses in a does not only represent its outward aspect but aJso the feel · it does not suffice to ,מ in order to develop movement ings that prompted it. For this reaso מ 10gicaJ and conscious fashio - ing of her choreo מ tire mea מ e's eyes to grasp the e מ to and from pole to pole, by establishing different inter - use o g heart. Theמ s of grouping and dispersaJ, lines and dots, in graphy, one must also have an understandiחת mediary fO d the unisono, therefore, symbol.ise for meמ t. Incidentally, the choreo - cluster, the l.ine a מ multi-moveme מunison and i ot only the striving for fratemity, equaJity andמ , aIly מ graphic cluster was to be found in Anna's work, before its perso - t ( the'tone cluster') became an important social hannony, but a1s0 the growing threat to man's inזmusicaJ couterp a ature מ t in modem music. Needless to add that today the dividuality - while the contrasts stand for the duaJ מ eleme choreographic cluster can be found in the work of many of the ind.ividual who is fighting for the right to express his - ves toward his inte זtity while at the same time st i מ choreographers of both modem dance and classicaJ ballet . own ide gration jnto society as a whoJe . - choreo םמ d מ na Sokolow's identity as a creative artist, a מA .identity. is ex - LIGHTING THE SPARK מ grapher worthy of the name lacks such a erome Robbins evidently knew exactly what he was doingנ pressed not only in her overall approach to the structure of single movement when he approached Anna in the winter of 1953 with the זeve y מ the work. One finds her signature i , ng the Christmasholidays זd question: "What are you doing du i מ of movement a מ of each dancer, in the generaJ selectio a? Nothing? Th.en come to Israel with me. There you מ to the An מi מ d its integratio מ line, in the choice of mus.ic a usualמ d uמ original group of people, fascinating a מ choreography. The body of the dancer is the field wherein will find a With your נf 'InbaJ' and Sarah Levi-Tan .a !כ trasts of round l.ines versus - the members מ Anna creates significant CQ ts מ e מ become the expo מ es, they can SQOמ g discipliמ a niנtr מ angular and stmght ones. She develops transitions betwee contrasts and even presents contrasts simultaneously. But of israel ". these are never arbitrary contrasts or movements, but dif- ferent aspects of the same concept. The overaJ1 choice of movement is actually simple and perhaps closer to a person's It was clear to Robbins that this fighting artist, who at the aJ dance . time had aJready twenty years -of work to her credit - as a מ to traditio מ movements in everyday life, rather tha ofrhythm, tempo solo dancer and choreographer to dance groups, the theatre מ t nitioו But the clear artistic and metric de d energy of every movement and the particular nuances and musical comedies - could contribute cons.iderable to מ a cre2ted by the direction of the eyes, the position of the head Inbal and to the dance in Israel in general.·He knew, too, of • d fingers of her experience in education. in establishing dance groups מ d shoulders and the placing of the palms aמ a ce andמ the hands. give the movements an unmistakeable character . her knowledge of the techniques of both modem da מ the classical ballet. He was aJso aware of the appreciatio afforded her by Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera, Carlos g up theמ setti מmostly from the best Chavez and others, who had assisted .her i מ d expressive music, take מ Great a He realised .1939 מdance of Mexico i מ d of jazz (she was one of the first group of moaer מ repertoire of modern music a - ce which prompted her to apמ fist to use jazz fo r seriou5 dance compositions) is a charac - that the same sociaJ conscie -d to create choreo מ the thirties a מwo rkers' clubs i מteristic of most of Anna's works. But because she possesses pear i cept of choreographic graphies on such sl.j.bjects as juvenile delinquency , •A Strange מ scious co מ an independent and co the obvious formal aspects of American Funeral' ( about a worker killed by a stream of מס form, she does not depend music, as do many other choreographers. Her profound molten copper), 'The Murder of the Innocent' (about the מes Civil War in Spain), 'War is Beautiful' (the rise of Fascism i מ musical sense enables her to blend the choreographic li to a single pattern , Italy - 1937) would also make her react sympathetically מwith those ofthe musical composition i ergetically to the new society in Israel.