70 years ago, this Jewish choreographer predicted our epidemic of loneliness and isolation

‘Rooms,’ which premiered in 1955, was inspired by the Lower East Side tenements of Anna Sokolow’s youth

By Stav Ziv
April 4, 2026
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When the dance begins, they are all onstage together. But they are each very much alone. In the opening vignette of Anna Sokolow’s “Rooms,” there are eight chairs scattered across the stage and eight performers who inhabit them — like city apartments squished so close together yet keeping their occupants apart.