By Jenni Person, Artistic Director, The Open Tent
On Saturday, November 7 I had one of those extraordinary days that reminds me why I do what I do.
In preparation for Oy-Le!, our first Sleepless Night presentation (we did two), I spent the afternoon at the rehearsal/jam session of Heavy Shteltl Klezmer and Siempre Flamenco – five musicians who came together to fuse their unique, culturally-specific sounds. It was inspiring to see this small group of strangers walk into a room together, set up their instruments and equipment and proceed to connect through music. Like small talk at a cocktail party, pitch and rhythm mingled, musicians smiling at each other and laughing at points when musical phrases landed in mutually favorable places in the audio-sphere of our make-shift rehearsal room at Temple Emanu-el on Miami Beach.
Two hours later we were on our way to the Lummus Park Mainstage at 8th Street and the ocean where our juxtaposed jam was to take the stage at 6:30. It was a total thrill to be amongst the Sleepless Night hullabaloo right there on Ocean Drive, surrounded by arts enthusiasts and the anticipation of all the wondrous things that were to come throughout the night. With the first downbeat of Oy-Le! the small crowd that had been waiting swelled to double and triple its size as people were drawn to the unique sound resulting from the layering of Klezmer and Flamenco. Young and old, Jewish and non, Miamian and tourist, danced along to the rich rhythms which proved doubly familiar and accessible. The audience had a blast – but at the center of this joy was that of the musicians who shared the stage and shared the music from within themselves.
After the show I raced with a volunteer and a mic stand up the beach to Lincoln Road for our 8pm presentation of Lip Schtick in partnership with Lip Service hosted by Books & Books and Design Within Reach. What a buzz awaited us as audience streamed in for our show. Again, we welcomed an incredibly diverse audience – this time all having come out for compelling stories of contemporary Jewish experience. And compelling it was as voices soared into hearts – despite a sound system glitch that rendered my mic-stand-schlepping useless. The solid line-up of writers sharing their words about their names, their families, their stomachs, and all by way of connecting to their Jewish identity was as gloriously diverse as the enthusiastic audience. They were young and old, gay and straight, kosher and treyf.
The words that got put out there – tightly woven text relaying this broad variety of Jewish identity and experience – provided access points for everyone. And it was again the resulting incredibly joyful energy of artists and audience that was so dense you could practically see it. If you missed it, all the pieces can be viewed online via YouTube at the Lip Service site (not yet posted).
