Performing American Judaism and Zionism: Nathan Vizonsky and THE ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE

• In Event: Embodied Judaism

Abstract

THE ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE, a Zionist pageant of theater, song, and dance addressing 4000 years of Jewish history was created for and performed at the culmination of Jewish Day at the Chicago World’s Fair in July 1933. This highly successful show was later revised and presented in several American cities across the country. In the summer of 1933, following Hitler’s rise to power in Germany the previous January, the foremost goal of this Zionist performance was to raise funds for the resettlement of German Jews in Palestine. In addition to its central political objective, the show also had social and religious aims, including to showcase an American Judaism, build respect for Jews in America, and unify the American Jewish community. Both Zionist and distinctly American, the pageant created a picture of how American Jews wanted to be perceived and how they envisioned their past, present, and future.

To date, the dancing and choreography, directed by Nathan Vizonsky, a Jewish immigrant dancer from Poland, has been almost entirely left out. This paper will discuss the impact of the pageant on American Judaism and Zionism at the time and will investigate some of the choreography in this massive production. This study takes a historical approach and is based on archival materials from archives in the United States and Israel. While there have been other studies of THE ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE, none has investigated the dancing or the choreography, or the show’s implications for American Judaism. Moreover, there have not previously been studies on Vizonsky, who was central to the development of American Jewish dance. It thus sheds new light on this important and impactful production.

Author

• Nina Spiegel, Portland State University