In Music, Dance and Song

Explore the links between the Spanish Sephardim and the Sephardic Jewish culture with the Alborada Dance Theatre.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   Just around the same time Christopher Columbus was on the high seas, charting unexplored territories, a large group of people were on the road, but against their will. Sephardic Jewish families, entrenched in the Iberian Peninsula since the second century, were being purged from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the same royal couple who sponsored Columbus.
   The Sephardim were already in Spain when the Romans conquered the region. Even after the Moors took control of Southern Spain in the ninth century and their culture dominated the region, Sephardic Jews lived in harmony with them. In fact, in this time of religious, cultural and economic change in Spain, many of the Sephardim thrived because their abilities in medicine, mathematics, languages and international trading were valued, especially in Toledo and Cordoba.
   They were translators and diplomatic mediators between the King of Spain and the Muslim sultans, since most of them spoke Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew and Ladino, the Sephardic language.
   "They were working in prestigious positions and living harmoniously, but when Ferdinand and Isabella took the throne, they (forced) the Moors out of Granada and purged the country of Jews," says Eva Lucena, executive director of the Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre. "They had to convert to Catholicism or (undergo) the Inquisition. A lot of Jewish people who didn’t want to leave converted, or they pretended to convert."
   When the Sephardim did choose to leave Spain, many left with just the clothes on their backs. By the turn of the 16th century, they had scattered across the Mediterranean and Middle East. Their numbers sifted through Morocco, Greece, the Dardanelles off Turkey, as well as Syria and Yemen, according to Ms. Lucena.
   To reflect on the exodus of the Sephardic Jews as well as celebrate their multi-cultural musical influences, Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre will present The Sephardic Connection: The Story of the Spanish Jews at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick June 9. The Sephardic Connection brings together the traditions of the Sephardim with Spanish, Turkish and Moroccan dance and music to depict their lives prior to and after their departure from Spain.
   The first half of the program reflects the colorful architecture of Cordoba; the second act is set in a Sephardic locale outside of Spain. Alborada has invited a number of guests, including Sephardic music ensemble the Noga Group and cantatorial singer Laurie Fechter, singing traditional Ladino songs. Featured dancers include the Daughters of Sophia Tribal Dance Troupe and soloist Ramzi Edlibi. Other highlights include a fusion music and dance piece set by Ms. Lucena to the traditional Jewish dance "Misirlou" and a new composition, "Tangos de Oliva," by Alborada’s music director Carlos Revollar.
   "There are several fusion pieces, in fact," Ms. Lucena says. "The songs are sung in Ladino and in Hebrew, including ‘Addio,’ — goodbye to the homeland. I’ve had Jewish people cry all over me after the performances because they relate to this heritage. The whole show is a journey and we’ve had so many bookings. It seems like I’ve touched a nerve, touched this heritage. (People with Sephardic roots) just want to have their voices heard."
   She says the music has an Arabic, or more specifically, a Moorish beat to it and also has a flavor of the gypsies who migrated through Northern India and Egypt.
   "There are so many cultures in the mixture including the Phoenicians and the Castilians, but basically the influence is Moorish," Ms. Lucena says. "That’s what created the roots of flamenco, then built into that are the Sephardic influences, especially the singing traditions. If you listen, between the gypsies and Sephardic Jews, the cadence (of the cantor) is similar. Then once they got into Turkey and Greece, they picked up those rhythms as well.
   "But when they mixed with the gypsies, who were also refugees, they suffered together and that became part of flamenco song," she adds. "Flamenco is steeped in the roots of suppression, but also, of course, in love."
   Ms. Lucena says she has not delved into her own roots, but feels she has a connection to some of the most ancient cities in Spain, especially Toledo.
   "That’s where the oldest synagogue was to be found," she says. "When I go to Spain, I know the cities. I walk around and instinctively know which streets to take, what’s around each corner. It’s so old and nothing has changed in hundreds of years. I just feel that I lived there. My whole persona has always been in Spain."
   The costumes of The Sephardic Connection are also a sight to behold, meticulously researched and crafted.
   "It’s Alborada’s mission to bring exciting, beautifully costumed, yet educational programs to the public," Ms. Lucena says. "We don’t want to be just a flamenco company. We want to be a theatrical company that encompasses all dance forms from Spain and the outlying places the Spanish have visited. Whether it’s the Philippines or Mexico, there has been such an interchange of culture. Think of all the artforms that have been embraced and they’ve flowed back into Spain. It’s so interesting to put on the stage.
   "Many people in the audience leave with a feeling that they’ve seen something really different," she adds.
   At least one recent audience member was enlightened as well as entertained, maybe even healed a little.
   Ms. Lucena relates the story of a young woman who brought her 6-year-old to a December performance of The Sephardic Connection. He had been teased in school by his classmates who didn’t understand his traditions, and had come home crying. The woman decided to take him to the dance performance and the boy was enchanted.
   "’Mommy, I think I know who I am and I know what happened,’ is what he said," Ms. Lucena relates, describing a phone conversation with the boy’s mother. "’I saw that in the first half of the show, they were dancing with sad feet. But when they escaped to Turkey, after a while, they started dancing with happy feet. Now I can tell the kids at school that I saw people of my heritage.’
   "By this time I was crying as well," Ms. Lucena says. "It’s very fulfilling to know the impact of what we were trying to convey on stage. Many people have hugged me and thanked me with tears in their eyes about giving them back their heritage."
Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre presents The Sephardic Connection: the Story of the Spanish Jews at George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, June 9, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $23, $17 seniors/students. (732) 416-1647; www.alboradadance.org