We'll Dance Again

 We’ll Dance Again

Tamarindo, Costa Rica 5/19/24

Unbeknownst to any of us when we awoke this morning, today was a day of dancing. We woke up in the cloud forest of Monteverde and, quite literally, danced our way from the mountains to the sea. Tonight we’ll be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the Pacific Ocean, visible from each and every one of our hotel rooms. From the mountains to the sea, a day of dancing. 

The day’s first dance took place in a small town called Guacimal. We stopped there to do a few service projects knowing that our helping hands would be appreciated and that we’d also enjoy a simply and traditionally prepared Costa Rican lunch. What we didn’t know is that, following lunch, five of the towns teenagers would don traditional Costa Rican dance clothing and put on a brief but energetic folk dance performance for our group. In addition to learning about their ornate clothing, we also had a chance to join in for two of the dances. One dance involved sweeping a broom (not dissimilar to a traditional dance found at some Jewish weddings also involving a broom!). The second dance was a kind of recreation of a Costa Rican bullfight. We were the bulls. But in Costa Rican bullfighting, the bulls aren’t harmed, they’re merely patted on the head. In general, the Costa Rican approach toward wildlife and animals is deeply compassionate, bordering on reverent. 

The day’s second dance came just before dinner in the form of a dance lesson taught by two excellent Latin Dance instructors employed by our hotel. We gathered at a small  poolside amphitheater and were quickly seduced by the instructors’ energetic and vibrant spirits. We reviewed/ learned merengue, cambio, salsa, and cha cha cha. It was fun and also quite a cardio workout, especially given the tropical climate. At the end of our lesson the two instructors performed a very elaborate dance routine to much aplomb. Ask your kids about the Latin Dance lesson and performance. It was… spicy. 

Several years ago, when looking for musical inspiration from within Jewish tradition, I stumbled upon a passage from the prophet, Jeremiah. He was recorded as prophesying the words, “We’ll dance again.” In that moment, I knew that I would set those words to music, and did so shortly thereafter. When I read those words I was touched by the hopefulness and the humanity they evoked. I could imagine so many moments in life where a person might find those words profoundly comforting. While I’m certainly not an accomplished dancer, I appreciate the idea that dancing is a way of moving through the world with grace, purpose, and spirit. In a world where so many people are plagued by so many different maladies and afflictions, the idea of being able to dance again is one that has stuck with me. 

Recently I learned that Jeremiah’s teaching, “We’ll dance again,” has become a post- October 7th slogan in Israel and for world Jewry. As we all know, the Super Nova Dance Festival was one of the most devastating sites on that horrible day. How fitting that these words, spoken thousands of years ago, today express the hope, resilience, and determination that are clearly perennial hallmarks of Israeli society and the Jewish people. Jeremiah is believed to have witnessed the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. That destruction remains one of the most painful moments in Jewish history (really, Jewish memory). If Jeremiah and his contemporaries could proclaim, “We’ll dance again,” so too can we. I believe, and I hope you do as well, that we will dance again.

Hopefully our 8th graders will have many days full of dancing, from the mountains to the sea. Hopefully they’ll dance, and dance again, reaching out their arms, inviting others to dance with them. Hopefully they’ll dance through life, perhaps to the music of our people, the music of the universe, or maybe even the music that only they can hear.