AVODAH'S SPRING NEW YORK CITY PERFORMANCES:

The Body Project: An Intergenerational Dance Piece
created by Julie Gayer Kris in collaboration with 15 beautiful women of all ages
will be performed as part of the 92nd Street Y's Fridays at Noon Series
Friday, May 1st, 12pm @ 92nd Street Y (1395 Lexington Avenue)
For further information regarding the Fridays at Noon performance
series, please call 212.415.5553.

and as a part of the 14th Street Y's exciting LABA FESTIVAL (Festival
for New Jewish Culture--www.labafestival.com)
on
Sunday, May 3rd, 3pm
Wedensday, May 6th, 6pm
@ 14th Street Y Theater, 344 East 14th Street
Tickets through www.labafestival.com or call the 14th Street Y
212-780-0800

and as part of Avodah's special collaboration with Mark Lamb Dance on
Thursday, June 4th, 7pm
@ Hebrew Union College (1 West 4th Street, between B'way & Mercer)
This collaboration features improvisations with Mark Lamb Dance and
jazz musicians, site specific movement created by Stephanie Miracle,
and The Body Project.
Tickets through email: avodahdance@gmail.com (please put June 4th TIX in subject line)

AVODAH IS FEATURED IN DANCE MAGAZINE, DEC. 08 AND CONSCIOUS DANCER MAGAZINE, DEC. 08.

TESTIMONIALS FROM
RECENT SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE PROGRAMS

For our "Scholar In Residence" program at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire:

"Hevreh was delighted with your performance and Friday night 'sermon.'
The raves are still coming in. Thank you all for inspiring us and
exciting us-connecting us in new and unexplainable ways to our personal
and communal workship."

"We enjoyed your presentation at Friday night's service...It was
spontaneous and got everyone involved."

AVODAH INVITES YOU TO VISIT OUR NEW BLOG:
http://www.juliegayeravodah.blogspot.com/
Please visit the blog to read about current events, classes and residencies!

Avodah would like to expand our services to reach more people and bring
the joy of dance to more places! To that end, Avodah is looking for
volunteers to help us with grantwriting, fundraising, and PR/Marketing.
If you are a professional with these skills, a student of any of these
fields, or even if you know someone who you think would be a perfect
fit for us, please contact Julie Gayer Kris at 212-625-8369, ext 286 or
avodahdance@gmail.com to discuss how you can be of service to Avodah!

AVODAH RECEIVES GRANTS FOR 2007:

SPACE GRANT: A one year lease at Dance New Amsterdam as a part of DNA's Subsidized Administrative space program (SAS). Avodah is among 11 dance companies who will be supported by this program. Here is our new phone: 212-625-8369 ext. 286!!!!

GRANTS TO SUPPORT OUR PROGRAM IN WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES:
J Walton Bissell Foundation in the amount of $10,000 for York Correctional Institution;
Marshall Reynolds Foundation in the amount of $15,000 for Baylor Correctional Facility in New Castle, DE.; Chester W. Kitchings Foundation in the amount of $5,000 for York
Correctional Insitution. Funding has also continued from the George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation.

We are very grateful for all of this support!!

JULIE GAYER IN FIT YOGA MAGAZINE

Avodah’s Artistic Director, Julie Gayer, model in Fit Yoga Magazine’s December 2007 issue. Julie was photographed for the “Back on Track” article (p.58). www.fityoga.com Robin Rothenberg is interviewed for the article. Julie and Robin will lead a Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica, March 15 -22, 2008. Read more about it at www.yogabarn.com/retreats.html

AVODAH FEATURED IN URJ:

Julie Gayer and Avodah are featured in The Jewish Parent Page of URJ, in the Passover Issue Dance and Movement.

EVENTS:

SPRING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS

AVODAH LEADS SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM AT HEVREH OF SOUTHERN BERKSHIRE IN GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS ON JUNE 6th -7th.

On Friday June 6th, Julie Gayer Kris joined Hevreh’s Shabbat service led by Rabbi Debbie Zecher. Julie guided a “dance midrash” session exploring the priestly blessing mentioned in the week’s Torah portion. The entire congregration participated through animating the text, telling stories of giving and receiving blessings, creating a “blessing” dance together and offering others in the community a movement blessing. On Saturday, June 7th, Julie led a Havdallah service in which all the attendees “danced” the elements of the service. Following the Havdallah service, Avodah dancers Stephanie Miracle, Sarah Zitnay, and Lauren Muraski and musician/composer
Newman Taylor Baker performed an evening of old and new repertory.

AVODAH PREMIERES A NEW WORK IN PROGRESS: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN AVODAH AND STUDENT RABBI REBECCA EPSTEIN

The work in progress is based on a sermon by Epstein that centers around our responsibility to grapple with the concept of bitter suffering as put forth in a particularly troubling story from the Torah. For this work, the dancers were asked to explore how one transforms suffering.Rebecca's sermon included a story that suggests we sometimes we suffer in silence, in weeping, and sometimes we may be able to convert our suffering into song. Music for the work is composed by Newman Taylor Baker and also includes a cover of Debbie Friedman by the Shul of New York Band, led by Adam Feder.

FALL 2007 HIGHLIGHTS

PERFORMANCES

On September 20th, Avodah performed at the JCC in West Orange, NJ as part of a Global Dance Series for the Wellness, Arts and Enrichment (WAE) Center of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled (JSDD). After participating in a workshop with Artistic Director Julie Gayer and dancer Sarah Zitnay, students from the WAE Center of the JSDD performed alongside Avodah dancers.

On November 18th, Avodah presented its New York Premiere of "What Comes to Light" as part of Waxworks at the Triskelion Arts Theater in Brooklyn! As a part of the Waxworks program, we received audience feedback that was very insightful and positive. Furthermore, Board Member Linda Kent attended rehearsals and generously offered her feedback! Thank you so much Linda for your mentoring!

On December 9th,  Avodah performed a “Hanukah Blessing Dance” on the Lower East Side as a part of The Shul Band of New York's Hanukah Concert at the Angel Orensanz  Foundation (a unique and magnificent venue)! Avodah looks forward to collaborating with the Shul Band of New York in the future.

TEACHING

From Nov 1st  - 4th, Julie Gayer was a one-woman show in Ann Arbor, Michigan, presenting a weekend of workshops for all ages of the Jewish community there. She taught teachers, students, and congregants different ways to incorporate movement into their services and classes. The workshops shared movement ideas based on the theme of Shabbat as well as a Dance Midrash session based on Founding Director, JoAnne Tucker’s work detailed in the book she co-authored, Torah in Motion. There was so much positive feedback from the teachers and the community in Ann Arbor! Special thanks so much to JoAnne Tucker and Board Member Kezia Gleckman Hayman for their mentoring and input that was incredibly helpful in Julie’s workshops and teaching!