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Dancing Up Close to Deborah Zall and Students of Talent Unlimited H.S.
By Trina Mannino/Follow @Trinamannino on Twitter
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Published on April 22, 2013
As Students Prepare for their Performances at the Julia Richman Education Complex
Dancing Up Close to Deborah Zall and Students of Talent Unlimited High School
As Students Prepare for their Performances at the Julia Richman Education Complex
April 19, 2013
Videos by Trina Mannino for The Dance Enthusiast
Kaddish by Anna Sokolow
Music by Maurice Ravel
Three Performances
Thursday April 25 at 3:30 PM
Friday April 26 at 3:30 PM & 7 PM
Talent Unlimited at the Julia Richman Education Complex, 317 East 67th Street (East of 2nd Avenue)
Tickets: 0
Reservations/Information: 212.737.1530 ext. 654
“You have to give it your all in rehearsal; that’s how you know how far you can go in performance,” says Deborah Zall as she rehearses ten freshmen and sophomore female students at Talent Unlimited High School on New York’s Upper East Side.
Among the several versions of Kaddish by the late choreographer Anna Sokolow, the Talent Unlimited students will soon perform the staging created especially for Zall. Previously, the former Martha Graham dancer staged the work at The Ailey School in New York, Middlesex University London and the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Students are being provided with a unique introduction to Sokolow’s work, and a deep understanding of the movements and the artistry behind them.
The Challenge
“[Anna Sokolow’s] works expressed life, humanity and the challenges of mankind,” says Zall. “There’s not many steps in this dance, but to me it’s about a sense of being. She [Sokolow] moved through the body to speak of what was going on in the world.”
Kaddish is Sokolow’s response to the pain and suffering of the Holocaust, and also refers to the mourning rituals of the Jewish faith. The choreography may appear simplistic, but there is more to it than meets the eye.
“The challenge of this work is the emotion,” says Zall. “Most of the students haven’t felt that type of struggle yet, but they are striving to find it in this piece.”
