Anna Sokolow & the Reimagined Roots of Anti-fascist Dance

Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble’s Artistic Director Samantha Géracht introduced the story of restoring early activist dances of American choreographer Anna Sokolow in a program of performances, panel discussion and movement as demonstration. When the Library of Congress Music Division made the extraordinary discovery of handwritten scores composed by Alex North for two of Sokolow’s dances, Géracht reimagined the dances using archival evidence and the music. Ballad in a Popular Style is a wistful lyrical excursion into jazz first performed in 1936. Slaughter of the Innocents is Sokolow’s 1937 lament for Basque women suffering under Nazi aerial bombing. Both were performed by members of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble to the original scores for the first time in 80 years, showing that the creative collaboration of Anna Sokolow (1910-2000) and Alex North (1910-1991) remains fresh, compelling, and relevant for today’s audiences. A panel discussion of the revival of the music and dance and the lives of North and Sokolow was followed by an audience Q&A session
Participants
Samantha Géracht, Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
James May, Founding Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
Eleanor Bunker, Associate Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
Lauren Naslund, Associate Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
Ilana Ruth Cohen, Erin Gottwald, & Margherita Tisato, Dancers
Lakey Evans-Peña, Associate Director, Ailey School Horton Pedagogy
Abby North, Music Rights ad Publishing Professional, Unchained Melody Publishing LLC
& North Music Group LLC
Libby Smigel, Music Division
Program:
[0:00] Introduction
Libby Smigel
[8:27] Slaughter of the Innocents, solo version
Choreography: Samantha Géracht (after Anna Sokolow)
Music: Alex North/Kevin Kaska
Dancer: Margherita Tisato
[15:29] Building the Choreography for Slaughter of the Innocents
Samantha Géracht
Erin Gottwald, dancer
[24:42] Discovering the Scores and Working with Abby North to Record Them
[30:44] Slaughter of the Innocents, trio version
Choreography: Samantha Géracht (after Anna Sokolow)
Music: Alex North/Kevin Kaska
Dancers: Ilana Ruth Cohen, Erin Gottwald, & Margherita Tisato
[37:39] Introduction to Rebuilding Ballad in a Popular Style
Samantha Géracht
[42:48] Ballad in a Popular Style
Choreography: Eleanor Bunker & Samantha Géracht (after Anna Sokolow)
Music: Alex North/Kevin Kaska
Dancer: Ilana Ruth Cohen
[47:56] Panel Discussion
Credits:
Slaughter of the Innocents, solo and trio versions
Choreography: Samantha Géracht
Based upon Barbara Morgan’s photographs of Anna Sokolow dancing her Slaughter of the Innocents
(premiered 1937, retitled Madrid and revised in 1943)
Music: Alex North (original score)
Arrangement: Kevin Kaska, performed by the Los Angeles Chamber Artists under the direction of Andrew Schulman (2020). Grateful acknowledgement to Dylan North.
Costume: Epperson, an interpretationof the original by Anna Sokolow and Rose Bank
Dancers: Ilana Ruth Cohen, Erin Gottwald, & Margherita Tisato
Ballad in a Popular Style
Choreography: Eleanor Bunker and Samantha Géracht, based upon Anna Sokolow’s As I Remember: Ballad in a Popular Style (1982)
Music: Alex North (original score)
Arrangement: Kevin Kaska, performed by the Los Angeles Chamber Artists under the direction of Andrew Schulman (2020). Grateful acknowledgement to Dylan North.
Costume: Epperson
Dancer: Ilana Ruth Cohen
For transcript and more information, visit www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11277