Simchat Torah in the Key of Blue

In the Talmud (Meg. 31b) this day is called Shemini Atzeret. The Darchei Moshe (OC 669:3) cites a responsum from R' Joseph Colon (#26) who found a Geonic responsa mentioning the custom of dancing on Simhat Torah, dating the current practice of dancing on Simhat Torah to the 1st century CE.
In the 9th century, some European Jewish communities assigned a special reading from the Prophets to be read on this day. In the 14th century, the reading of Genesis was added immediately upon the completion of Deuteronomy and the Shulhan Arukh (written about 1565) only mentions this without mentioning the presumably later custom of southern European countries to remove all the Torah scrolls from the ark and to sing a separate hymn for each one. In northern European countries, those who had finished the reading of Deuteronomy made donations to the synagogue, after which the wealthier members of the community would give a dinner for friends and acquaintances. By the end of the 15th century, it was a common though not universal practice for the children to tear down and burn the sukkahs on Simhat Torah.

In the 16th century, the practice of taking out the scrolls and filing solemnly around the bimah on the night of the 23rd of Tishri became customary; and on the same evening, after the procession, a number of passages from the Torah were read.
In the 17th century, Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner of Prague composed a poem about Simhat Torah. She was a Jewish educator of women. Her book of ethics, Meneket Rivkah (Rebecca’s nursemaid), was the first book written in Yiddish by a woman, and its main purpose was to teach ethical behavior.

"In the 20th century, Simhat Torah came to symbolize the public assertion of Jewish identity."
Zenner, Walter P. Persistence and Flexibility: Anthropological Perspectives on the American Jewish Experience. SUNY Press, 1988. p.85
"The Jews of the Soviet Union, in particular, would celebrate the festival en masse in the streets of Moscow. On October 14, 1973, more than 100,000 Jews took part in a post–Simhat Torah rally in New York city on behalf of refuseniks and Soviet Jewry."
Dancing in the street with the Torah has become part of the holiday's ritual.
Soviet Jewry. 1973-10-14. Retrieved 2013-09-25.

"In Chabad Hasidic thought, the traditional dancing with the Torah allows the Jew to act as the "feet" of the Torah, taking the Torah where it wishes to go, as feet transport the head. This is thought as an act of submission to the will of God as expressed in the dictates of the Torah. It is an act that causes the Jew to inherently and naturally observe the Jewish faith. And just as the head benefits from the mobility of the feet, so does the Torah become exalted by the commitment of the Jew."

Metzger, Alter B. Chasidic Perspectives: A Festival Anthology. Kehot Publication Society. 2002. Pages 120–121.

"The Gaon of Vilna said that ve-samachta be-chagekha (You shall rejoice in your festival; Deuteronomy 16:14) is the most difficult commandment in the Torah. I could never understand this puzzling remark. Only during the war did I understand. Those Jews who, in the course of their journey to the end of hope, managed to dance on Simhat Torah, those Jews who studied Talmud by heart while carrying stones on their back, those Jews who went on whispering Zemirot shel Shabbat (Hymns of Sabbath) while performing hard labor . . . ve-samachta be-chagekha was one commandment that was impossible to observe—yet they observed it."
“On Man's Prayer,” Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume, ed. Leo Landman (KTAV Publishing House, 1980): 366.

Jewish American artists, who had experienced discrimination and experienced or heard stories of pogroms and purges in Europe, were especially likely to sympathize with the cause of African American artists. Belle Baker, born Belle Beker in New York to a Russian Jewish family, was a versatile performer who could sing ragtime and blues. The song “Jubilee Blues” (1923) was composed by her husband, another Jewish American artist, Maurice Abrahams, with lyrics by Henry Creamer. Al Jolson, a Jewish immigrant who famously (and problematically) performed jazz and blues on the minstrel stage during this time, was also an advocate for the African American performers he worked with. If he was on the stage, everyone got paid equally.

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/02/birth-of-blues-and-jazz/

Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues
Buddy Guy
You damn right, I've got the blues
From my head down to my shoes
You damn right, I've got the blues
From my head down to my shoes
I can't win, 'cause I don't have a thing to lose
I stopped by my daughter's house
You know I just want to use the phone
I stopped by my daughter's house
You know I just want to use the phone
You know my new grandbaby came to the door
And said, granddaddy,
you know ain't no one at home
I said now look out
You damn right, I've got the blues
From my head down to my shoes
You damn right, I've got the blues
From my head down to my shoes
You know I can't win, now people,
'cause I don't have a thing to lose
Alright
You damn right, I've got the blues
You damn right, I've got the blues
You damn right, I've got the blues
You damn right, I've got the blues
Yeah

"The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
This excerpt from Chapter 18 points to the central conflict of the novel, as Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat seek refuge from the raging hurricane. The novel is centered around conflict: Humans against God; Janie and the others against nature. When Motor Boat joins Janie and Tea Cake in their house, the narrator notes that everybody is united in the same struggle. The bonds of human interaction and intimacy provide refuge against the forces of nature. The intimacy between Tea Cake and Janie ultimately allows them to struggle and in some way survive these forces.

The History of Jewish Dance
Jewish dance from the Bible to Hasidism.
BY DVORA LAPSON
In the Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud, dance is referred to in various contexts as an important ritualized activity and as an expression of joy.
Victory Dances
Biblical dancing to the accompaniment of drums is associated with the celebrations of military victories and welcoming home heroes who hav e routed an enemy. The women’s role was to receive and extol the fighters.
After the triumphant crossing of the Red Sea, “Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances” (Exodus 15:20-21). On his triumphant return from battle to Mizpah, Jephtah was greeted by his daughter with timbrels and dancing (Judges 11:34).
When David and Saul returned from the battle with the Philistines, “the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with rattles” (Samuel I 18:6).
There is a detailed description of a victory parade, where Judith leads the women in the dance, to the accompaniment of a special thanksgiving song: “And all the women of Israel hurried to see her, and they praised her and made a dance for her…And she went out in the dance before all the people, leading all the women” (Judith 15:12-13).
Ecstatic Dances
The most telling biblical evidence of the power of music inspiring ecstasy and the prophetic vision is connected with King Saul. A passage from Samuel tells that Saul goes to the hill of God where he meets a group prophesizing while in motion, accompanied by several instruments.
The text adds: “And the spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophecy with them, and shalt be turned into another man” (Samuel I 10:5-6). There is no mention of dancing, which typically accompanies ecstatic practices, but the movement that is an inherent part of the situation described may well allude to its ritual nature.
David’s dance before the Ark was an example of the religious ecstatic dances performed by men. The Psalms exhorted people to “praise God’s name in the dance”–“praise Him with timbrels and dance” (Psalms 149:3; 150:4).
Folk Dances
Detailed descriptions have been handed down to us from the period of the Mishnah, from which we learn that there was folk dancing at religious celebrations. During the festival of Tabernacles, there was a daily procession around the altar in the Temple following the sacrifices.
The celebrations reached a climax in the dances of the water-drawing festival: “Whoever has not witnessed the joy of the festival of the water-drawing has seen no joy in life. Pious men and men of affairs danced with torches in their hands, singing songs of joy and of praise, and the Levites made music with lyre and harp and cymbals and trumpets and countless other instruments” (Sukkah 5:1b).
The Book ofJudges (21:21), in describing the annual feast in Shiloh, tells of the bride-choosing ceremonies. The story of the capture of brides by the surviving men of the tribe of Benjamin indicates that choosing brides during the vineyard dances was a recognized practice in Israel.
Others believe it was the celebration of the vines on the Fifteenth of Av. According to the Mishnah, Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel declared, “There were no holidays for Israel like the fifteenth of Av and the Day of Atonement, on which the daughters of Jerusalem went out in white dresses which were borrowed so that no one need be ashamed if she had none. And the daughters of Jerusalem went forth and danced in a circle in the vineyards. And what spake they? ‘Youth, lift up thine eyes and behold her whom thou wouldst choose'” (Taanit 4:8).
In theSong of Songs (7:1), one finds the rather obscure mention of “the dance of the two companies,” which seems to have been taken from a traditional wedding dance, and may imply two groups of dancers, a type of dancing that can still be seen at Bedouin festivities in the Middle East.
In talmudic literature (Ketubot 17a) the bridal procession was regarded with great deference and was given priority on public thoroughfares requiring even a funeral procession to make way. Dancing in honor of the bride at a wedding was considered an act of religious devotion. Rabbis and scholars performed it joyously, each in his own manner.
Rabbi Judah ben Ilai would take a myrtle twig and dance before the bride singing. Rabbi Samuel ben Isaac, even when he was old, would juggle three myrtle twigs as he sang and danced. Rabbi Aha danced with the bride on his shoulder (ibid.).
In the Diaspora
During the dispersion, the dancing associated with the normal activities of a nation in its own country ceased. The rabbinical authorities often forbade dancing in public.
The many discussions in the rabbinical literature and responsa about dancing include opinions ranging from lukewarm compromise to outright hostility. At weddings and bridal feasts and for the Sabbath and particularly on Purim and Simhat Torah and Lag ba-Omer dancing continued while taking on new forms.
In European Jewry of the Middle Ages, dancing for pleasure was an end in itself. In the medieval ghettos of France, Germany, and Poland, where living quarters were crowded, almost every Jewish community had a wedding-house or Tanzhaus for festive occasions. Here the Tanzfuehrer (dance leader or caller) was aided by hired musicians.
During the Renaissance, Jews danced for recreation and entertainment. David Reuveni describes the dancing in the home of Jehiel Nissim of Pisa in 1524. They also danced in public as in the procession of Palermo celebrating the marriage of King Ferdinand of Castille and Isabella of Aragon in 1469.
In Jewish homes in Italy the Hebrew teacher taught Bible and Talmud, music, and dancing. That Jews engaged extensively in the profession of teaching in that period is emphasized by the recurring laws closing schools of dance and music conducted by Jews, such as the edicts of 1443 in Venice, and 1466 in Parma.
There were Jewish dancing teachers in Renaissance Italy, the most distinguished dance master of the time being Guglielmo de Pesaro, author of a treatise on the dance dated 1463. In the 16th century, another Jew, Jacchino Massarano, won fame as a dance master and teacher in Rome.
Oriental Jewry
There are many communities, such as the Moroccans, Georgians, Libyans, and Ethiopians, in which spontaneous group folk dancing is important, yet the Jews of Yemen and Kurdistan Jewry are among the most prominent traditional cultures attributing dynamic importance to dance in the daily and festive life of the community.
Dance among the Jews born in Yemen comprises stylistic diversity characteristic of urban and rural settlements as well as including women and men. Dancing usually takes place during ceremonies and celebrations.
Fundamentally, the men’s dances are composed of steps and figures executed in a very small area. The dominant line is vertical–with agile, springy bending of the knees. The very expressive hands are used for an infinite variety of gestures. One or two singers, rhythm instruments, or hand clapping always accompany the dance, but no melodic instruments are used.
The women’s dances are less variegated and more restrained. They are accompanied by the singing of the dancers themselves, or that of two female musicians who beat the rhythm respectively on copper plate and drum.
Hasidic Dances
With the rise of Hasidism in Eastern Europe in the 18th century, dance assumed great importance for the Jewish masses. Israel ben Eliezer Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, used dance to attain religious enthusiasm (hitlahavut) and devoted adherence to the Almighty (devekut). He taught his followers that “the dances of the Jew before his Creator are prayers,” and quoted the Psalmist, “All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like unto Thee?” (Psalms 35:10).
Hasidic dance assumed the form of the circle, symbolic of the Hasidic philosophy that “every one is equal, each one being a link in the chain, the circle having no front or rear, no beginning or ending.” The Hasidim would start their dancing in slow tempo, and as the music became faster they held arms upwards and leapt in the air in an effort to reach spiritual ecstasy. The accompanying melodies were composed to brief texts from either the Bible or the Talmud.
Nahman of Bratzlav, great-grandson of the Ba’al Shem Tov, believed that to dance in prayer was a sacred command, and he composed a prayer which he recited before dancing. He and other Hasidic rabbis called for dancing on all festive occasions and even on the solemn days of the Ninth of Av, Rosh Hashanah, and the Day of Atonement.
During the celebrations on Simhat Torah, the usual processions with the scrolls reached a climax in the rabbi’s own dance. Wrapped in a prayer shawl, with a scroll held high in his hands, the rabbi danced with spiritual ecstasy as the Hasidim sang and clapped hands in a circle around him.
The Hasidim danced on Friday nights around the rabbi’s banquet table, and at twilight on Saturday they danced with mystical fervor. Hasidic dancing has influenced the celebrations at Jewish festivals generally, and has served as the basis and inspiration of choreography on Jewish themes in ballet.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/all-my-bones-cry-out-to-the-lord/

Where to Take Virtual Dance Class to Benefit Anti-Racist Organizations
Cadence Neenan For Dance Spirit
Jun 09, 2020
https://www.pointemagazine.com/virtual-class-anti-racist-organizations-2646168187.html

"What is blues dancing? Blues dancing is, like most things, a made up term. It’s origins are heavily debated, but what is clear is that the movements, styles, and dances can be traced back to styles of dance that occurred around the same time as blues music. At the time the world wasn’t as connected as it is now and so there are many names for similar movements and different styles developed in different areas. The one thing that ties all of it together is the music and a few foundational ideas. The styles that were created weren’t always known by names at the time since they were “just dancing”. Sometimes people think that makes it less legit; but if you asked kids today about popular movements, sometimes they are associated with a name, but often times they will say they are “just dancing”."
Obsidian Tea is run by Grey Armstrong – a Black person, Blues dance instructor and Black history researcher. He was born and raised in Ohio and at a very young age started learning about black culture. He often felt caught between black and white culture during his youth, as he was constantly switched between his home life and some social settings and school life and generally being black in America. Ironically it wasn’t until university that he realized his discomfort in parts of his life was not just because of social awkwardness, but differences in culture. While earning his degree in communications (think psychology, not radio) He became deeply fascinated but these cultural differences and the lack of communication around race relations. Through his love of blues and blues dancing, he realized he could teach both cultures about each other, and themselves, through the lens of blues dancing. And so, Obsidian Tea was born! Grey loves teaching, tea, blues and of course cats.
https://obsidiantea.com/what-is-blues-dancing/