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Proceedings at the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, NC July 6-9, 2006. Screendance conference directed by Douglas Rosenberg. Proceedings edited by Jessica Vokoun.
"... Jewish artists, either secular or otherwise, entering post-war arts culture at mid-century, brought with them a deeply embodied commitment to tikkun olam. Tikkun olam is an aspect of Tzedakah, derived from the Hebrew root Tzade-Dalet-Qof, meaning righteousness, justice or fairness. Engaging in acts of tikkun olam is a primary means of satisfying the need to create a sense of Jewish community and identity, however, this paper posits that for post-war Jews, engaging in acts of tikkun olam, was a way of repairing the world at large, healing the gaping wounds of WWII, and instantiating righteousness through art practice."
"The line between dance for the theater and dance made for the camera is becoming increasingly blurred in this age of digital reproduction. Digital media has created a non-linear, decentralized culture which renders the "original" moot. In other words, one copy of digitally reproduced data is as valuable as any other copy. As dance lives in the body, both the dancer's and the viewer's, it resists digital reproduction."
"Four (questionable) myths:
-New technologies are better than old technologies
-New technologies will solve cultural problems such as inclusion, communication, etc.
-New technologies are an unstoppable force, i.e., there is a foregone conclusion that one must adapt or be left out/behind.
-The body is obsolete. "
"There are two histories of dance for the camera to tell. One, autonomous and free floating without any theoretical or historical tethers, and the other an invisible history in which film dance and later video dance are a part of the investigations undertaken by artists from the Íbirth of cinema through modernism and into the post modern era. "
"Video space as a site for choreography is a malleable space for the exploration of dance as subject, object and metaphor, a meeting place for ideas about time, space and movement. The practice of articulating this site is one in which, through experimentation with camera angles, shot composition, location and post-production techniques, the very nature of choreography and the action of dance may be questioned, deconstructed and re-presented as an entirely new and viable construct. The result of this activity is what has come to be known as video dance, the practice of creating choreography for the camera..."
"2 days later..
Eulogy Efroiem Ben Jacob June 2nd 1922-December 29, 1994
Age: 72 years.. father.. lithographer, retired, United States Navy,
World War II, married four times.
Mother Helen
Sons Steven and Douglas
Acute Myocardial Infarction, interval between onset and death.. 10 minutes ..."
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"This colloquium is about interrogating issues of Jewish identity and practice, about beginning to open a dialog around Jewishness and art and above all, about askingquestions. It is about experimentation with both art practice and the practice of Judaismas well. The speakers today represent a kind of new diasporic Jew; we are straight, gay, practicing, non-practicing, out-married, secular and or otherwise identified. This newdiaspora is a metaphoric one. One that is not so much a geographical diaspora, but moreso a conceptual one."