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Distributed for Intellect Ltd

Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities

Contemporary Sacred Narratives

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.


500 pages | 64 halftones | 7 x 9 | © 2014

Culture Studies


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Reviews

“By addressing various notions about forms of spirituality within the contexts of meditative movement, classroom and other directed movement activities, and dance performance, the authors provide an expansive view of somatic experience and spirituality.”

Veta Goler, Division Chair for Arts and Humanities and Associate Professor of Dance, Spelman College

“A tremendous gift for somatic practitioners, artists, teachers and all who seek to illuminate the subtle nuances of embodied life. This collection reaches wide and deep to trace the diverse contours of somatic knowing in its fullness.”

Daniel Deslauriers, Transformative Studies Doctorate Program, California Institute of Integral Stud

“Academics and practitioners will find stimulation for related research projects in this substantial work, which also provides a basis for literary research for students in this field.”

Fiona Bannon, | Senior Lecturer in Dance in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds

“Finally exists a book that offers a range of perspectives that looks academically at the numinous in dance without belittling or aggrandizing the subject. . . [The editors] have pulled together an impressive anthology of essays on a topic often overlooked. . . With its many prominent contributors, Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities provides a valuable role in intelligently discussing the place of spirituality in dance and somatic movement.”

Cheryl Pallant

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
 
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

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