Hadassah (dancer)
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Hadassah Spira Epstein (December 30, 1909November 18, 1992), professional name Hadassah, was a
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
-born American dancer, choreographer, and instructor specializing in Indian, Javanese, Balinese, and Jewish dance. Credited as a pioneer of Indian and Israeli dance in the United States, her choreography reflected both aspects and styles of ethnic and folk culture and her own deeply-held spiritual beliefs. Her signature dance, "''Shuvi Nafshi''" ("Return O My Soul") (1947) was based on a verse in Psalm 116. Hadassah began performing in New York City in 1938 and made her professional debut as a solo artist in 1945. She performed through the mid-1970s. She was widely praised for her choreography and performance; an obituary in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described her as "a performer of special eloquence". She opened her own dance company in 1950. Later she taught many students in the United States, and was a faculty member, board member, and chairperson of the Ethnic Division of the New Dance Group, the largest school of dance in New York.


Early life

Hadassah Spira was born in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Ottoman Palestine The region of Palestine (region), Palestine is part of the wider region of the Levant, which represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia.Steiner & Killebrew, p9: "The general limits ..., as defined here, begin at the Plain of ' ...
, on December 30, 1909. She was the eldest of five children of Rabbi Isaac Spira and Menucha Landau Spira. She had three brothers and a sister. Her ancestors on both sides were rabbis. Her maternal grandfather co-founded the School of Mysticism in Jerusalem, and she herself was "trained in the mysticism of
Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...
". From an early age, Spira was interested in
chants A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of not ...
and dances. She was first exposed to Hebrew chants and cantillation, as well as Hebrew dance, in the context of her family's religious practice; she recalled watching her grandfather dancing with the
Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...
. She was also exposed to Hindu chants and dances through contact with Indian soldiers in service of the British Mandate. Both she and her father, a ''
hazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' (, plural ; ; ) is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term al ...
'' (cantor), were struck by the similarities between Hebrew and Hindu chants. Spira later said: "I came to the conclusion that if the chants of the Hindus and the Hasidic are similar, and if the music is the handmaiden of the dance, Indian dance must be similar to ancient Hebrew dance". Spira's family was forced to leave Jerusalem due to a misstatement by one of their relatives working in the diplomatic service. The family lived in
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and
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during their two-year sojourn, finally reaching the United States in 1924. According to Long, Spira viewed at least one performance of the Denishawn Dancers at
Lewisohn Stadium Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY). It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973. History The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Conv ...
before 1931, and was particularly impressed with Ted Shawn, who was known for his Whirling Dervish. After her marriage in 1933, Spira's husband, Milton Epstein, encouraged her to familiarize herself with New York's theatre and dance culture. Spira Epstein began studying dance under
Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...
and Jack Cole, who both incorporated eastern ideas in their works. She also studied with La Meri, founder of the Ethnologic Dance Center of New York, and Nala Najan, the leading Hindu dance scholar in the United States. During the
1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...
, she studied with Javanese dancers who were performing there. She studied dances from the Court of
Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...
and received a teacher's diploma in Javanese dance from Radem Mas Kodrat and Radem Mas Wiradat. She also studied Japanese expressional dance with Kenji Hinoki.


Career

Hadassah decided to use her first name only for her professional career. She was first affiliated with the Kenji Hinoke Japanese Dance Company, with whom she made her New York debut in 1938. On January 11, 1945, she made her professional debut as a solo artist at New York City's
Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
with her dance "''Golek''", described as "a ceremonial court dance of Java". She went on to perform at "
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
, the Ziegfeld Theatre, the
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...
, many Broadway theaters, every major dance series in New York, the Habibi nightclub and
Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. History The site of Jacob's Pi ...
in New England". Hadassah was a featured performer at four Jacob's Pillow Dance Festivals in
Becket, Massachusetts Becket is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,931 ...
, during the 1950s and 1960s. She was credited with introducing Jewish dance to the United States beginning with the first Congress on Jewish Dance in 1949 in New York City.


Hadassah and Company

Hadassah started her own dance company, Hadassah and Company, which staged its first performance at the
92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the You ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
on June 4, 1950. Hadassah received good notices from critics; John Martin, dance critic for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', called her an "exceptionally gifted artist...One of the best!" In 1952, she choreographed an "Indonesian Suite" for the company, featuring "a trance section based on Balinese
Sanghyang () is a traditional sacred Balinese dance originated from the Indonesian island of Bali. It is based on the premise that an unseen force enters the body of an entranced performer. The force, identified as '' hyang'', is an important type of ...
". Hadassah toured India and Israel in 1959–1960 on a
Rockefeller Brothers Fund The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...
grant. She expanded her knowledge of
classical Indian dance Indian classical dance, or ''Shastriya Nritya'', is an umbrella term for different regionally-specific Indian classical dance traditions, rooted in predominantly Hindu musical theatre performance,, Quote: All of the dances considered to be part ...
by studying
Manipuri dance Manipuri dance, sometimes also referred to as the Manipuri Raas Leela (), is a jagoi and is one of the major Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance forms, originating from the state of Manipur. It is one of the Meitei intangible cult ...
with Ritha Devi,
Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...
with Damayanti Joshi, and
Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...
with Raghavan Nair and Ram Gopal. The celebrated Indian dancer Balasaraswati gave her a private performance of the latter style. Hadassah also undertook research on the
Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Teli, Shanivar Teli" () or "History of the Jews in India, Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via t ...
and
Cochin Jews Cochin Jews (also known as Malabar Jews or Kochinim from ) are one of the oldest groups of History of the Jews in India, Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the King ...
of India. In Israel, she visited the
Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
village of Daliyat al-Karmel to observe "ancient ritual dancing and chanting". She performed on the
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
stage and before thousands of spectators in the
Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...
amphitheater. She was asked to stay in Israel to teach dance, but wanted to return to the United States. Hadassah continued performing into the mid-1970s, displaying almost the same vigor in her senior years as she had in her prime.


Dance instructor

Hadassah taught Indian and Israeli dance at many locations in the United States through the mid-1980s. Her workshops included "classical Hindu, Moroccan, Persian and East Indian folk dance". She served as a faculty member, board member and chairperson of the Ethnic Division of the New Dance Group, the largest school of dance in New York. She also taught students at Dance Masters of America, The Dance Congress, Pennsylvania Association of Dance Teachers, Columbia University Teachers College,
Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. History The site of Jacob's Pi ...
, and Henry Street Playhouse. Her classes extended to Jewish community centers and residents at the Menorah Home for the Aged.


Artistic style

Hadassah's dances reflected many aspects and styles of ethnic and folk culture, including Hindu, Indian, Indonesian, Israeli, Balinese, and Korean. At the same time, her choreography expressed her deeply held spiritual beliefs, and what she perceived as a universal desire to connect to God. She specifically incorporated movements and gestures that were common to a variety of cultures to convey "a spiritual longing to connect with and honor the Source". These included the
mudra A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual ges ...
hand gesture from Hindu culture; "a certain movement" which she had seen used by
Punjabis The Punjabis (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Pañjābī) are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Paki ...
, North Indian Muslims, and
Dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...
es; "an ecstatic
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
movement"; and the positioning of the hands in Judaism's
Priestly Blessing The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction (; translit. ''birkat kohanim''), also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands (Hebrew ''nesiat kapayim''), rising to the platform (Hebrew ''aliyah ledukhan''), ''dukhenen'' (Yiddish fro ...
. Her concerts stressed the commonality and continuum of Hindu and Jewish dance forms as she first performed Indian dances and concluded the program with Jewish dances. In her Jewish interpretative dances, Hadassah freely incorporated traditional religious iconography. For example, her performance of the hora, set to vocals of a cantorial by Cantor Leibele Waldman, saw her garbed in "a stylized version of the four-cornered prayer shawl with fringes ( zizit) at each corner". Combining her Eastern European ancestry with fluency in eastern dance forms, Hadassah projected ambiguity in nationality and ethnicity which defied attempts at categorization. One reviewer for ''Dance Observer'' perceived her as an "exotic" who performed Oriental dances, while another viewed her as a modern dancer who elevated "the authentic materials of the east into a contemporary theatre form". During her tours of India and Israel, critics in India referred to Hadassah as "a 'Jewish American' who had a feel for Indian movement, but was at her best when performing Jewish dances"; while critics in Israel depicted her as "an Israeli native returning to her homeland" or as "quintessentially American". Hadassah rejected her
Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
upbringing by dancing in public, which is frowned upon by religious Jews. Her rejection of the religious laws "caused her great emotional turmoil". In response to her decision to pursue a career in dance, her father reportedly disowned her. However, one night after she had performed "''Shuvi Nafshi''", her parents visited her backstage and she felt they understood her need to express her spiritual beliefs through dance.


Notable works

Hadassah's signature dance was "''Shuvi Nafshi''" ("Return O My Soul"), a composition based on a verse in Psalm 116. The solo dance was performed to the Hebrew words of the verse sung by Cantor Waldman. Hadassah debuted the piece at the
92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the You ...
on February 12, 1947, and performed it many times thereafter. Her final performance of the dance in 1974, honoring the Y's 100th anniversary, was preserved on videotape. Hadassah explained the meaning of the psalm as follows: "Man is not alone when he is ecstatically aware that his soul, albeit an infinitesimal spark, is part and parcel of the Universal Flame". Walter Terry of the ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
'' described "''Shuvi Nafshi''" as "a dance of Biblical power in its projection of ecstatic reverence for the divine...powerful and beautiful, tis not only of interest because of its emotional communications but also because of its absorbing fusion of modern dance’s expressional qualities with oriental movement idioms". Marilyn Danitz critiqued "''Shuvi Nafshi''" as not a purely Jewish dance, but " hundreds of gestures drawn from numerous religions and a variety of folk forms", including motifs from Hinduism and Indian dance forms. Hadassah's ''Broadway Hindu'' (1949) was a parody of Hindu dances seen in American films and those that were popularly performed to jazz music in nightclubs. For the centennial celebration of
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
in 1961, the Tagore Centenary Committee commissioned Hadassah to choreograph the "Tagore Suite", which included a narration of Tagore's poetry by Saeed Jaffrey. After the death of
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, Hadassah choreographed "Chant" to Gandhi's favorite hymn, '' Vaishnava Jana To''. For the Gandhi centenary celebration in 1969, Hadassah choreographed
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
's "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...
" speech as a dance/theatre work, reflecting the influence of Gandhi's philosophy on King.


Personal life

Hadassah married Milton Epstein, a painter and bookstore owner, in New York in October 1933. Besides encouraging her to study Asian dance, Epstein managed Hadassah's career and often lectured at her performances. Hadassah died from
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
on November 18, 1992, in New York. In 1995, Milton Epstein donated her papers from 1938 to 1988 to the
Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...
Dance Collection at the
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.


References


Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadassah 1909 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American dancers Manipuri classical Indian dance exponents Bharatanatyam exponents Jewish dancers People from Jerusalem Dancers from New York (state) Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States