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SESSIONS Reflection: Anna Sokolow’s Steps of Silence by Valarie Mockabee and Rachel Boggia, USA Paper “In 1968, the entire post-war order was challenged by a series of insurrections from Berkeley to London, from New York to Prague.” 1968 was a year of revolution, termed “the year of the barricades,” a moral revolt—a revolt of passion in the interests of humanity, from the Establishment, from ‘It’; a year of violence, both in the My Lai Massacre of the Vietnam War and on the home front with the assignations of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. John Lennon sang "Revolution" and Jefferson Airplane sang, "Now it's time for you and me to have a revolution." Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson shared near total responsibility for the Vietnam War as did Richard Nixon after 1968. (*1) It was during this time in Spring of 1968, that Anna Sokolow visited Salt Lake City, Utah to create a new work, Steps of Silence, for Repertory Dance Theatre. “The strong emotional content of Steps of Silence was able to communicate the concerns of a troubled generation and political oppression…” (*2). Inspired by writings of Franz Kafka and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, Steps of Silence examines individuals who must step quietly for “they know not who is watching—or listening—or reporting them to the authorities. The only end is death. They are as nothing—like paper being blown in the wind.” (*3) Relaying this time period, and the artwork that comes out of that era, to present day students and dancers presents challenges. We, today, live in a similarly volatile world wherein wars wage, people suffer, and we experience political unrest; thus the reconstruction and preservation of Sokolow’s 1968 work depicting the plight of political prisoners and social dissidents proved extremely timely. Linda Smith, Director of Repertory Dance Theatre, and Valarie Mockabee joined forces, and engaged the help of Rachel Boggia, to document the re-staging process, performance, and historical context surrounding Steps of Silence. We created a two-fold project: the first focusing on the performance of the 1968 masterpiece in February-March 2004, and the second creating a comprehensive DVD-Video of that process and relevant historical material. We propose to present a paper that outlines the process and as well to “walk the audience through” the final DVD-Video product that will be available for educational use in teaching Sokolow’s Steps of Silence. The DVD-Video will include: digital footage of rehearsals with Lorry May, Sokolow trust executor, digitized footage of Sokolow’s 1968 lecture demonstration, photos of Sokolow rehearsing the original cast from 1968, measures from Ray Cook’s 1975 Labanotation score, and curricular suggestions for teachers. Motion Captured Data will show key thematic phrases in a different light, interviews with original cast members Lynne Wimmer, Greg Lizenberry, and Linda Smith will provide antidotes to the original rehearsal process, and photos and text will describe the unique contributions of Sokolow to the dance world and her far-reaching commentaries on society which are still relevant today. *1.Steven Kreis, “Lecture 15” from The History Guide: Lectures on 20th Century Europe 2000 <http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture15.html>. *2. Linda C. Smith, “A Sense of Place: Time Zone,” Repertory Dance Theatre Program, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 7, 2004. *3. Anna Sokolow, Steps of Silence, trans. into Labanotation by Ray Cook (New York: Dance Notation Bureau Press, 1975) vi. Valarie Mockabee received her B.F.A. from The Juilliard School, her M.F.A. from Texas Woman’s University, and is a Certified Teacher of Labanotation. She toured with Lincoln Center Institute Touring Programs for four years serving as dance captain, and performed with The Dallas Opera and Sharir Dance in Austin, Texas. She has set works on the national companies of Peru and Ecuador, Repertory Dance Theater, and the Jakarta International School in Indonesia, as well as Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and University of Texas at Austin. Valarie has directed works from score by Taylor, Humphrey, Momix, Sokolow, and Petipa. She is a Candidate for Professional Notator Certification and has notated and designed content for CD-ROMs that documented works by William Forsythe, Bebe Miller, Yvonne Rainer, and Vicky Shick. At Ohio State Valarie is an Associate Professor who teaches repertory from score, technique, and Labanotation. Rachel Boggia teaches video editing, web design, and multimedia authoring in the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University. She is interested in exploring digital media as means of expression, experimentation, and educational communication. In June, 2003, she presented her DVD-based documentation and documentary on the internationally acclaimed performing artist Meredith Monk at the Society of Dance History Scholars Conference in Limerick, Ireland. She also recently collaborated with OSU Dance Professor Sheila Marion to create "Labanlab," a series of interactive internet-based Labanotation tutorials. In love with dancing, she and has performed in works by John Jasperse, David Dorfman, Bebe Miller, and Victoria Uris. She holds an MFA in dance from The Ohio State University and a BS in Biology from Cornell University.
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