Influences on Sokolow's Work

Anna choreographed Dreams in the early 1960s, which was movement away from the conservative 50s and the age of youth. This movement resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and changed the American cultural lifestyle. Also, the Civil Rights Movement created great change in the 1960s. In 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education declared segregation in public schools as unconstitutional, which catapulted the Civil Rights Movement. This movement affected Anna Sokolow, especially as a Jewish American. She connected the struggle for civil rights in America to the tragedy of the Holocaust. She states, “I can’t explain because I have never been in that situation ever but the thing (Holocaust) hit me so deeply that I found myself saying that I’m going to do this.”

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was created in 1952. This act upheld the national origin quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924, which reinforced the system of immigrant selection. The INA ended the exclusion of Asians from immigration into the U.S. and introduced a new system of preference based on skill sets and family reunification. This selective process for immigrants could have affected Anna Sokolow since her mother was a struggling working class American who emigrated from Russia. Perhaps she felt the INA continued to segregate and discriminate immigrants. This event could have also influenced Sokolow’s creation of Dreams. She had the ability to dig into the social injustices of the world and formulate powerful dances that the audience could experience and relate to. Sokolow states, “In Holland, it was the most fantastic reaction, there was no applause. People just sat and rightly so because there is nothing to applaud on a theme like that.”

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American communists who were electrocuted in 1953 after being found guilty to commit espionage. This occurred during the period of Cold War in which the United States and Russia were in a continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic tension. Perhaps this event affected Anna Sokolow and her political activism. She believed people should stand firm to their beliefs and belong to society without feeling to need to conform to it. Therefore, we can infer that she believed the charges of the Rosenberg trial to be unconstitutional. This could have inspired her to choreograph Dreams because the trial demonstrates the execution of Americans who did not conform to society, just like how Hitler executed the Jews and non-conformists who did not fit his perception of an ideal society.

"The artist should belong to his society, yet without feeling that he has to conform to it. He must feel that there is a place for him in society, a place for what he is. He must see life fully, and then say what he feels about it. Then, although he belongs to his society, he can change it, presenting it with fresh feelings, fresh ideas."