Presenting a rich mosaic of embodied contemporary narratives in spirituality and movement studies, this book explicitly studies the relationship between spirituality and the field of Somatic Movement Dance Education. It is the first scholarly text to focus on contemporary spirituality within the domain of dance and somatic movement studies.
Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities brings together prominent authors and practitioners in order to elucidate how a wide range of sacred narratives/spiritualities are informing pedagogy, educational and therapeutic practice. As well as providing new insights and promoting creative/artistic awareness, this seminal text de-mystifies the spiritual/sacred and brings clarity and academic visibility to this largely uncharted and often misrepresented subject.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
Don Hanlon Johnson
Introduction
Amanda Williamson, Glenna Batson and Sarah Whatley
Part I: Moving Spiritualities
Amanda Williamson
Chapter 1: Embodiment of Spirit: From Embryology to Authentic Movement as Embodied Relational Spiritual Practice
Linda Hartley
Chapter 2: The Alchemy of Authentic Movement: Awakening Spirit in the Body
Tina Stromsted
Chapter 3: Dancing in the Spirit of Sophia
Jill Hayes
Chapter 4: Body Ensouled, Enacted and Entranced: Movement/Dance as Transformative Art
Daria Halprin
Chapter 5: Dancing on the Breath of Limbs: Embodied Inquiry as a Place of Opening
Celeste Snowber
Chapter 6: ‘Can They Dance?’: Towards a Philosophy of Bodily Becoming
Kimberley L. LaMothe
Part II: Reflections on the Intersection of Spiritualities and Pedagogy
Sarah Whatley
Chapter 7: Reflections on the Spiritual Dimensions of Somatic Movement Dance Education
Martha Eddy, Amanda Williamson and Rebecca Weber
Chapter 8: Postmodern Spirituality? A Personal Narrative
Jill Green
Chapter 9: Working like a Farmer: Towards an Embodied Spirituality
Helen Poynor
Chapter 10: Intimate to Ultimate: the Meta-Kinesthetic Flow of Embodied Engagement
Glenna Batson
Chapter 11: Permission and the Making of Consciousness
Sondra Fraleigh
Chapter 12: Conversations about the Somatic Basis of Spiritual Experiences
Sylvia Fortin, Ninoska Gomez, Yvan Joly, Linda Rabin, Odile Rouquet, and Lawrence Smith
Chapter 13: Inner Dance—Spirituality and Somatic Practice in Dance Technique, Choreography and Performance
Kathleen Debenham and Pat Denebham
Chapter 14: This Indivisible Moment: A Mediation on Language, Spirit, Magic and Somatic Practice
Ray Schwartz
Chapter 15: Global Somatics Process: A Contemporary Shamanic Approach
Suzanne River, interviewed by Kathleen Melin
Part III: Cultural Immersions and Performance Excursions
Glenna Batson
Chapter 16: Dancing N/om
Hillary Keeney and Bradford Keeney
Chapter 17: Dancing with the Divine: Dance Education and Embodiment of Spirit, from Bali to America
Susan Bauer
Chapter 18: The Sacrum and the Sacred: Mutual Transformation of Performer and Site through Ecological Movement in a Sacred Site
Sandra Reeve
Chapter 19: Dancing and Flourishing: Mindful Meditation in Dance-Making and Performing
Sandra Whatley and Naomi Lefebvre Sell
Chapter 20: ‘What You Cannot Imagine’: Spiritual in Akram Khan’s Vertical Road
Jayne Stevens
Notes on Contributors