In 1516 the Venetian government established Italy's first Ghetto packing in about 700 people on one of Venice's 117 small islands. By 1541 the nearby area, called Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto) because it was an older section of town, was opened to house more Jews; and by 1663 the government opened the last section, the neighboring Ghetto Nuovo (New Ghetto) for more Jews. The Ghetto had expanded all it was allowed. Today, this section has taller buildings than the rest of the city because the community constructed skyward to accommodate the 5,000 residents in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Conditions were ripe for constant threats of fire and contagious disease. There is a constraining energy to the dancers' ring, and yet to break the circle is to spin off, reckless, alone and dizzy into the darkness of the chilly night. They cling to each other in a physics of exigence, an enfoldment that is both spiritual and practical.
