a fountain of inspiration for anyone at any level of study - Mayim Bialik, workshop participant, Los Angeles, CA
Moving Torah is very versatile. Workshops and performances can be adapted for all ages and for many settings (click below to find out more about each type of program):
We use and adapt the following types of workshops, performances and communal participatory experiences listed below to design a program that helps you meet your goals for your institution, event, conference or classroom:
Moving Torah Workshops Designed to be accessible to everyone, Moving Torah Workshops are an innovative approach to studying and interpreting Jewish texts. Using writing, movement, discussion and play, participants engage a piece of Jewish text, and as they are gently led through an easy-to-follow process, they tap into their own creativity and generate surprising and powerful Torah commentary. Click here to read participants' responses to Moving Torah workshops.
Moving Your Story Workshops Designed to help participants articulate their unique Jewish identity, Moving Your Story Workshops help participants uncover and shape their own personal metaphors - using both words and movement. The stories that emerge from this process reflect aspects of each person's Jewish experience. Using guided exercises, participants generate movement to give their stories deeper texture. Seeing and hearing the stories creates a rich tapestry of voices around a common theme.
Moving Tefila This is a communal participatory experience for large and small groups. When done as part of a service, we select a specific prayer to work with. After a short d'var tefila, we pose a question evoking personal stories or memories related to the theme of the prayer. As community members share their reflections, meaningful gestures they make are added together to become the choreography. At the end of the experience, the whole community is moving these simple gestural movements together to the tefila. The result is communal movement which is connected meaningfully to the lives of the participants and the original prayer. This experience can be adapted for other events to create meaningful community-based experiences around almost any theme.
Moving Torah Divrei Torah Moving Torah Divrei Torah are short performance pieces blending words and movement which interpret biblical or rabbinic texts. To see an example of a Moving Torah D'var Torah, click here to watch Messenger/Messages - a piece about Jacob's journeys. While we have already created many pieces on many significant parshiyot (Torah portions), we welcome opportunities to create new work for your school, synagogue or other institution.
We look forward to hearing from you! We can work with you to design a program that will meaningfully build on and enhance your organization's mission. Please contact us to learn more. We look forward to creating meaningful programming with you!