36 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 

“That intersectionality in my 
identity sparked interest in 
the personal narrative and the 
personal story.” She especially 
focuses on gathering stories 
from people of color, which 
are portrayed in both her 
interview project and through 
her choreographed dance.
“Creating these plat-
forms and making those 
connections, I’m 
trying to figure out 
how we can get a 
seat at the table,” 
she continues, “to 
make change in 
the performing 
arts, to be a more 
diverse and inclu-
sive community.”
Kepler cho-
reographed vari-
ous pieces while at 
Michigan that tied her 
identity to her personal 

narrative. 
To shine a light on the cur-
rent U.S. and Mexico border 
crisis that has separated chil-
dren from their families, she 
gathered 15 interviews from 
various news sources that 
featured her Latino friends 
on campus reading them, 
then reacted to those sound 
bites through dance moves. 
This powerful solo show was 
selected to be performed at 
the eastern conference of the 
American Dance Festival in 
2019.
“Showcasing that solo on 
stage is a solid example of how 
the performing arts can show 
emotion that touches people 
in a different way,” Kepler 
says. Afterward, she explains, 
numerous students went up 
to her and told her how the 
story of the crisis hit them in 
a different way when viewed 

through art. “The performing 
arts can open people’s minds 
and hearts.”
Now, Kepler is working on 
continuing to build awareness 
for the performing arts com-
munity through the COVID-19 
pandemic while also helping 
performing arts organizations 
with marketing and develop-
ment. She hopes that in 2021, 
Broadway will be able to reopen 
and that dance companies will 
once again hold auditions so 
she can continue to pursue her 
career as a performing artist 
and choreographer.
“The performing arts need 
a lot of love and attention right 
now,
” Kepler says, who believes 
a deeper appreciation for the 
field is quickly developing. “
A 
lot of people are turning to the 
performing arts for their enter-
tainment and to be uplifted 
during this hard time.
” 

DANCING FORWARD continued from page 35

WONDER WOMAN AND 
TOM TO THE RESCUE 
Wonder Woman 1984, the 
sequel to the 2017 mega-hit 
Wonder Woman, is arguably 
the biggest film release since 
the pandemic began. It starts 
streaming Dec. 25 on HBO 
Max at the same time it is 
released to theaters. AT&T 
owns WarnerMedia and HBO 
and it decided that getting 
more streaming subscribers 
was more important now 
than anemic theater reve-
nues. Warners will release 17 
new movies in 2021 in the 
same way. 
Many filmmakers are not 
pleased with this decision. 
However, Israeli actress Gal 
Gadot, 35, offered anoth-

er perspective in a recent 
Digital Spy interview: “The 
truth of the matter is we 
just didn’t have other better 
options. We felt like we were 
sitting on this movie for such 
a long time, we shot the 
movie in 2018, we started 
promoting the movie in 2019, 
we pushed [rescheduled] the 
movie four times. We felt like 
the movie was so relevant 
to what’s happening in the 
world right now that you 
come to a place at a certain 
time where you’re like, ‘OK, 
I just want people to watch 
the movie.’” 
Gadot said she was open 
to doing another sequel. 
She also recalled how she 
felt when she first saw the 
opening sequence of the first 
film: “I got so emotional … I 
felt like Gal, the 8-year-old, 
watching another 8-year-old 
doing something out-of-
worldly and being so good 

at it … it moves me so deeply 
and so much that I just, you 
know, I got emotional.”
Tom Hanks’ first Western, 
News of the World, opens in 
theaters Dec. 25. He plays a 
former Confederate officer 
who agrees to return a white 
girl, taken by the Kiowa tribe 
years before, to her family, 
even though the girl wants 
to remain with the Kiowa. He 
and the girl travel hundreds 
of hard, eventful miles. 
The film’s score is by 
James Newton Howard, 69, 
an eight-time Oscar nominee. 

Howard’s father died when 
he was 10, and 25 years 
later, he found out his father 
was Jewish. He later became 
a practicing Jew. Actress 
Mare Winningham, 61, has a 
large supporting role (“Jane”) 
and, like Newton, an unusu-
al Jewish story. Raised a 
Catholic, she decided to take 
a Judaism class in 2001. Two 
years later, she converted 
to Judaism. Her conversion 
was not associated with 
having a Jewish romantic 
partner. A talented musical 
performer, Winningham 
likes to refer to herself as a 
Jewish country singer and 
issued a “Jewgrass” album 
in 2017. Last March, she got 
good reviews for her perfor-
mance in Girl from the North 
Country, a hit Broadway 
musical that features many 
Bob Dylan songs. It had 
to close after a few weeks 
because of COVID-19. 

ARTS&LIFE
CELEBRITY JEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

IMDB

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Woman 
1984

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