Series: Dance for Camera
Program: Tzaddik
Episode: 102
Date: 1976-01-01
Subject: Modern dance; Customs and practices
Copyright Holder: Copyright status is unidentified.

Clip Description
A short documentary about the filming of "Tzaddik" at WGBH precedes the completed work. This was filmed in black and white and shows the behind-the-scenes happenings in the studio. Voiceover commentary is provided by director Rick Hauser and Dance Workshop Coordinator Nancy Mason, by Eliot Feld, and by members of his company. In the completed color work, Feld dances the role of the Tzaddik, a Jewish holy man. Two young male dancers perform with him. The movements range from spirited partnering work to more serious and contemplative gestures. A scroll-like banner is unfurled and the three slowly roll themselves into its folds at the completion of the work. Hebrew text is projected onto the floor and backdrop of the studio through lighting.

Music is by Aaron Copland and is performed by Gladys Celeste Mercader (Piano), Marc Ginsberg (Violin), and Ruth Glasser (Cello). The piece featured is "Vitebsk." The voice of Cantor Gregor Shelkan is incorporated.

This piece was created with the Dance Workshop at WGBH and broadcast as part of the "Dance for Camera" series. Multiple WGBH and Workshop personnel, including Rick Hauser and Nancy Mason, are credited with its production.

"Dance for Camera" was the earliest series created by the Dance Workshop, which was coordinated at the time by Nancy Mason. The series was broadcast in 1976. Carmen De Lavallade, a former dancer with Lester Horton, John Butler and others, recorded introductions for the shows. The series appears to have been broadcast nationally. Some of the works were rebroadcast as part of the "Frames of Reference" series.

Program Description
A short documentary about the filming of "Tzaddik" at WGBH precedes the completed work. This was filmed in black and white and shows the behind-the-scenes happenings in the studio. Voiceover commentary is provided by director Rick Hauser and Dance Workshop Coordinator Nancy Mason, by Eliot Feld, and by members of his company. In the completed color work, Feld dances the role of the Tzaddik, a Jewish holy man. Two young male dancers perform with him. The movements range from spirited partnering work to more serious and contemplative gestures. A scroll-like banner is unfurled and the three slowly roll themselves into its folds at the completion of the work. Hebrew text is projected onto the floor and backdrop of the studio through lighting.

Music is by Aaron Copland and is performed by Gladys Celeste Mercader (Piano), Marc Ginsberg (Violin), and Ruth Glasser (Cello). The piece featured is "Vitebsk." The voice of Cantor Gregor Shelkan is incorporated.

This piece was created with the Dance Workshop at WGBH and broadcast as part of the "Dance for Camera" series. Multiple WGBH and Workshop personnel, including Rick Hauser and Nancy Mason, are credited with its production.

"Dance for Camera" was the earliest series created by the Dance Workshop, which was coordinated at the time by Nancy Mason. The series was broadcast in 1976. Carmen De Lavallade, a former dancer with Lester Horton, John Butler and others, recorded introductions for the shows. The series appears to have been broadcast nationally. Some of the works were rebroadcast as part of the "Frames of Reference" series.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Tzaddik200.HTML