Distributed for Intellect Ltd
Dancing to Transform
How Concert Dance Becomes Religious in American Christianity
In response to a scarcity of writings on the intersections between dance and Christianity, Dancing to Transform examines the religious lives of American Christians who, despite the historically tenuous place of dance within Christianity, are also professional dancers.
Through a multi-site study of four professional dance companies, Wright conducted participant-observations and ethnographic interviews with artistic directors, choreographers, and company members who self-identify as Christian. She then analyzed choreography from each company to determine how concert dance becomes religious and what effects danced religious practices have for these participants. Her research reveals that the participants turn what they perceive as secular professional dance into different kinds of religious practices in order to actualize individual and communal religious identities—they dance to transform.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Making Christian Movements: Differentiation and Adaptation in Christianity from the Patristic Era to the Middle Ages
American Christianity from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
Dancing as American and/or Christian in the Twentieth Century
‘Let Us Praise His Name with Dancing’: Ballet Magnificat! and the Transformation of Concert into Church
Servant Artists: Ad Deum Dance Company and the Transformation of Suffering
Befriending the Both/And: Dishman + Co. Choreography and the Transformation of the Choreographic Process
Dancing Divine Love: Karin Stevens Dance and the Transformation of the Spiritual Journey
Conclusion