I created a dance honoring the cycles of the moon and nature as a prelude to a breathtaking choral and orchestral work, The Hallel, composed by Bonia Shur, and performed every year at Hebrew Union College. Bonia asked me to create this prelude to both welcome the congregation and to bring on the choir and musicians. The dance pays homage to women’s monthly cycles, which, in ancient times, coincided with the new moon in the Hebrew Calender. Every month at the new Moon, the Hallel Psalms are sung in Jewish Liturgical tradition.This video is a studio rehearsal, but in the performance, I dance the path of the moon in the sky, and the choir and musicians enter into the same circular path, as I spiral into the choir and join as a poetic narrator.

Hallel: Ritual of Rebirth and Renewal at the New Moon from Fanchon Shur on Vimeo.