Judith Berg | |
|---|---|
 Judith Berg in a Jewish dance position, arms and right knee stretched to the sky with one foot on the ground. | |
| Born | 1912 Lodz, Poland |
| Died | August 19, 1992 (aged 79–80) New York, New York, United States |
| Known for | Choreographer for the film adaptation of Sh. An-sky’s Der dibek (The Dybbuk). |
Judith Berg (1912–1992) was a Polish born choreographer, teacher and dancer. Berg ran a dance school in Warsaw, choreographed the famous Yiddish dance scenes of The Dybbuk, performed around the world, and ran the Jaffa Dance Ensemble of New York.
Biography
editJudith Berg came from a cosmopolitan family in Warsaw.[1] She received university education, and then a dance pedagogy degree after studying with the German Expressionist dance pioneer Mary Wigman at her famous dance school in Berlin, Germany.[2]
With her degree from Wigman's school, Berg was able to open her own government approved dance studio in Warsaw, where she developed Hasidic-influenced works and danced in drag in the years leading up to World War II.[3][4]
Berg married Felix Fibich, one of her students. Felix was sent with his parents to the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation. His parents died in the Holocaust, but Mr. Fibich escaped in 1940 while on a work detail and traveled to Soviet-controlled Bialystok where Berg was working for a Yiddish comic revue. Felix and Judith toured the Soviet Union with that Yiddish comic revue troupe and married in Turkmenistan. Judith changed her name to Judith Berg Fibich (pronounced FEE-bish), before returning to Poland in 1946. [5]
Back in Poland, Judith and Felix worked with Jewish orphans in hiding. Fibich was quoted by Judith Brin Ingber saying:
"The children knew from the war years that to be a Jew meant you would be killed. We had to change their minds and carefully work with them. We introduced them to Jewish tradition and holidays through authentic Jewish folk songs and tales which I choreographed. In this way, they came to love our traditions and we could implant a positive identity through dance. The children began to find new joy and hope."[6]
Some of the children later performed at the unveiling of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw.[6]
New York City years
editJudith and Felix performed in Paris before they moved to New York City the next year in 1950. [7] Judith and Felix performed Jewish modern dance around the world together after moving to New York. They also choreographed musicals with and created dance for the television programs Look Up and Live and Lamp Unto My Feet.
From 1978 to 1988, Judith directed and choreographed for the Jaffa Dance Ensemble of New York, "a group of dancing grandmothers that performed locally and on national tour"[8].
Berg was a 1987 Centennial Honoree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Berg's life story is included in the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Ingber, Judith Brin. "Identity Peddlers and the Influence of Gertrud Kraus." Congress on Research in Dance Conference Proceedings, 39(S1), 2007: 100-105" (PDF).
- ^ "Ingber, Judith Brin. "Identity Peddlers and the Influence of Gertrud Kraus." Congress on Research in Dance Conference Proceedings, 39(S1), 2007: 100-105" (PDF).
- ^ Rossen, Rebecca (2011). "Hasidic Drag: Jewishness and Transvestism in the Modern Dances of Pauline Koner and Hadassah by Rebecca Rossen". Feminist Studies. 37 (2): 334–364. doi:10.1353/fem.2011.0038.
- ^ "Identity Peddlers by Judith Brin Ingber" (PDF).
- ^ "New York Times Obituary for Felix Fibich". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Dancing Despite the Scourge: Jewish Dancers During the Holocaust by Judith Brin Ingber" (PDF).
- ^ "New York Times Obituary for Felix Fibich". The New York Times.
- ^ "New York Times Obituary for Judith Berg Fibich". The New York Times.
- ^ "Identity Peddlers by Judith Brin Ingber" (PDF).