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ECHAD (One)
Artist’s Statement
ECHAD (the Hebrew word for “One”) is a work for eight dancers that incorporates an eight-foot in diameter aluminum freestanding wheel. ECHAD is set to a commissioned electronic and vocal score by composer Greg Wall. This is my second collaboration with Mr. Wall following the critically acclaimed MAYNE MENTSHN (My People).
The creation of this work was inspired by writings and description of pre-biblical life, the Jewish liturgy and the ultimate evolution of human theology and philosophy. The need to create this work now was fueled by my recent visit to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland last summer and the horrific events of September 11th. All have led me to the conclusion that our humanity lies in the recognition of the uniqueness and value of each individual. Regardless of whether embraced by a particular community, when one forgets the “human umbrella” under which we all live, life is threatened.
The work begins by celebrating early, cyclical, anonymous and predetermined life cycles and circumstances. It celebrates the strength, safety and predictability of the community as well as the work and rituals by which communities remained whole. It continues exploring rituals, including human sacrifice, that subordinated the value of each member to the “greater good or gods”. From my history as a child of survivors and as an American grappling with the terror of September 11th, I recognize the danger when community members consider each other or outsiders so subordinate to the view or issues of The Group that they lose values as human beings. For me, that is the essence of the evil that emerges out of groups taken to an extreme, such as cults, fanaticism and gang violence.
Growing up in American society, where individualism is a guiding principal, I have always tried to emphasize the importance of community in my life and artistic work, while recognizing the delicate and necessary balance that must exist between them both. In Echad, I explore the evolution of pre-monotheistic society to the beginning of new individual thought, direction, belief and action. Echad (One) refers to the power of one community, the shift and uniqueness of belief in one God that ultimately empowered the reverence for the uniqueness or oneness of each individual.
At the center of the work is The Wheel. Both abstract and metaphorical, The Wheel represents many things. First and foremost it signifies the circle of life and community. This circle can embrace, imprison, give birth, cause death, create conflict or support, separate or join, burden or free. Through group and individual discovery it transforms into an umbrella under which the members of the community can feel supported, can support, leave freely and return; a shifting, changing image of human/community equilibrium.
The Celebration of ECHAD or ONE.
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