Are we possessed? In Yiddish folklore tradition, we release ourselves from possession by exorcizing the “dybbuk”, a wandering spirit that clings to our bodies and communicates messages from the dead.
Join Jewish-American artist Julie Weitz and Polish choreographer Magda Przybysz for a workshop featuring their choreographic research of Ashkenazi rituals of exorcism. They will intertwine elements of Yiddish dance, song, mask, and storytelling, to open pathways for navigating ancestral grief and trauma, all while participating in the resurgence of dybbuk folklore within Poland.
Conducted in both English and Polish, participants are encouraged to dress comfortably and all are welcome!
The workshop is just one facet of a larger performance art project that reimagines a dybbuk exorcism as a movement-based ritual at sites of Jewish memory. Premiering at the 8th annual FestivALT in Kraków on June 30 and July 2, 2024, the project engages with Yiddish folklore and Ashkenazi healing practices to transform the cultural memories of genocide and displacement into reparative tools for healing in the present.
Poster design: Beata Filipowicz @b.e.a.t.n.i.k.
