Photos of Anna Sokolow:

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/ASokolow.html

http://www.americandancefestival.org/Archives/scripps/sokolow.html

Boston Conservatory Reception Tonight

Honors Anna Sokolow

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

Tonight at 6 p.m., a reception and lecture at the Boston Conservatory will honor American Jewish choreographer and Jewish Women’s Archive “Woman of Valor” (one of three for 2002) Anna Sokolow. Sokolow’s 1970 lyric theater piece “Magritte, Magritte,” which was inspired by the surrealist images of Belgian artist Rene Magritte, will be performed as part of TBC’s opening night of its Dance Gallery. Following its eight original movements will be premieres of Luis Fuente’s “La Verdad Nunca Muere (The Truth Never Dies),” based upon Eduardo Huertas Vazquez’s “Fantasia Goyesca Sobre Cuadros Negros,” which was influenced by the black paintings of Francisco Goya, and Donald Byrd’s “The Trial,” an excerpt from a piece on the exhibition “The Long Road to Justice: The African-American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts.”

The program, under the artistic direction of Yasuko Tokunaga at the Conservatory’s Theater at 31 Hemenway St., will run tonight through Saturday, Nov. 14-16, at 8 p.m., with a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.

Tonight’s reception and lecture, co-sponsored by TBC and the Jewish Women’s Archive, will feature historian and JWA Woman of Valor Program Director Jennifer Sartori, who will present “A Discussion of Sokolow's Artistic Journey and Life History,” on the research which resulted in the JWA's 2002 web exhibit and poster that honored Sokolow, who died in 2000.

The Jewish Women’s Archive chronicles and publicizes the community contributions and lives of notable Jewish women. Their programs include the compilation of American “Women of Valor,” the oral history project “Weaving Women’s Words,” and the on-line database of North American Jewish women “Virtual Archive.”

Sokolow’s bold theatrical images reveal lyrical, revelatory dimensions of the human experience and concurrent social issues. "I danced because I wanted to say something," she wrote for her JWA poster. "I'm not here to be polite. I'm here to tell the truth. I don't see anything wrong about showing the dark sadness of life; it can have beauty, too," she added.

Her vision lies within the basis of the universal human experience. "It's not the politics I feel, it's the struggle of humanity that has always touched me," she told archiver Barry Laine, and added that the answer for her stood within the realm of physical manifestation.

While she feels that there are no “final solutions to today’s problems,” she believed she could "simply provoke an audience into awareness. Movement,” she continued, “speaks to me the way words speak to an author. It's the least I can do - to say it my way."

"The artist should belong to his society,” she observed in her essay "The Modern Dance: Seven Statements of Belief,” “yet without feeling that he has to conform to it. He must see life fully, and then say what he feels about it. Then, although he belongs to his society, he changes it, presenting it with fresh feelings, fresh ideas. Art should be a reflection and a comment on contemporary life."

“Sokolow’s statements are especially powerful,” said Conservatory Dance Division Assistant Ruth Rosner. “They are words to inspire us in these times.”

One of the oldest national conservatories, the Boston Conservatory Dance Theater innovatively combines dance, music, and theater in its programming of over 200 annual performances.

The Nov. 14 pre-performance talk and reception will begin at 6 p.m. The performance of Magritte, Magritte will begin at 8 p.m. For more on Anna Sokolow, please visit the JWA website at www.jwa.org/exhibits/Sokolow.

Tickets for the reception, lecture and performance are $40; for the performance only, $16 for the general public, $5 for seniors and students. For more information, call 617-912-9202. For tickets, call the Boston Conservatory box office at 617-912-9222.