The basic story behind this dance is that Noel read about a Science Magazine “Dance Your Dissertation”
challenge to graduate students (in the sciences) to choreograph dance versions of their dissertations, which they could then video record and submit to the magazine to compete for a prize. Ethnomusicology is not one of the eligible disciplines (too much humanities, not enough social science), but Noel challenged both me and Xiaowen to Dance Our Dissertations anyway. “Braided Voices” is basically the dance re-mix of my dissertation, “Braided Voices: Women Cantors in Non-Orthodox Judaism.” Up until the 1970s, Jewish cantors were almost universally men. Women began to trickle into the profession, slowly at first, but now have achieved at least 50% representation in the non-Orthodox cantorate. For the most part, they work easily and well with their male counterparts, and with their male and female rabbis, and their congregations have accepted them with enthusiasm.
Bars 1 - 8
shows Jewish liturgical practice up until the middle of the twentieth century. The men get all the action, and the women sit on the sidelines and watch.
Bars 9 - 16
shows women beginning to get involved in the cantorate. At first, it’s just one or two, but the movement picks up steam, and women cantors begin to work with (often) male rabbis.
Bars 17 - 24
refer to the title. I loved the very feminine, yet very practical, image of hair braids, which is why I chose it for the title of my dissertation. And reels of three kind of remind me of three-stranded braiding.
Bars 25 - 32
depicts the kind of aesthetic that you see in a lot of liberal synagogues today, in which
worship is designed to be very participatory and to involve the rabbi, the cantor, the congregation, men, women, children, as many people as possible. It’s a worship aesthetic largely pioneered by women rabbis and women cantors, and American congregations really seem to like it.