Dancing through Yiddish Literary New York: A Guided Tour

Explore New York’s Lower East Side through its urban dance spaces. Between 1881 and 1924, 2.5 million East European Jews immigrated to the United States. Like other ethnic groups in New York around 1900, many of these Yiddish speakers spent their leisure hours dancing: in commercial dance halls, neighborhood associations, dancing academies—and in the pages of newspapers, literary fiction, etiquette guides, and the warnings of social reformers. Jewish writers such as Abraham Cahan identified dancing with changes in courtship and gender roles as part of Americanization and American capitalism. Dancing could be a way of showing off physical fitness and disposable income. It was also a sign of shocking new forms of intimacy between men and women. On this guided tour with Yiddish literature and dance scholar Dr. Sonia Gollance, we will visit some key New York dance sites in the footsteps of Yiddish writers and journalists. No knowledge of Yiddish is necessary for this walking tour.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

You may also like the following events from YIVO Institute for Jewish Research:

• This Sunday, 17th August, 11:00 am, YIVO Learning and Media Center Open House (For Educators) in New York
• Next month, 16th September, 05:00 pm, Polish Jewish Collecting and Museums, 1891–1941 in New York, New York
• Next month, 17th September, 05:00 pm, Taking Yiddish Science Global: YIVO’s Foreign Branches, 1925-1994 in New York, New York

Also check out other Arts events in New York, Literary Art events in New York.