Dancing Culture Religion

Provocative insights into the nature of dancing as inseparable from human vitality and distinctiveness emerge from this spiraling study of specific cultural dance traditions brought into conversation with various philosophical/theoretical perspectives centering on the topics: movement, gesture, play, masking, ritual, seduction, performance, religion; each the subject of engaging innovative analysis. The author draws on experience as dancer and academic to address contemporary issues such as gender identity development and plasticity and acuity throughout the lifespan.

LaMothe paves the way for new theories and methods in the study of religion and dance by critiquing and displacing a conceptual dichotomy between “religion” and “dance” forged in the colonial era that justified western Christian hostility towards dance traditions across six continents over six centuries.

"Dance as religious studies" reveals resources for the "art of liturgical dance" in terms of both performance and scholarly interpretation. This collection of methodological essays has been arranged to suggest the wide spectrum and the underlying unity of these diverse and varied approaches to understanding dance as religious studies. Part I concentrates on the relationship between liturgical dance and the scriptural traditions of Judaism and Christianity. Part II indicates the feminist possibilities for liturgical and modern dance. Part III presents a spectrum of the contemporary theory and practice of liturgical dance. The book concludes with a bibliographic survey of sources and resources available to both liturgical dancers and students of dance as religious studies.

This book provides philosophical grounds for an emerging area of scholarship: the study of religion and dance. In the first part, LaMothe investigates why scholars in religious studies have tended to overlook dance, or rhythmic bodily movement, in favor of textual expressions of religious life. In close readings of Descartes, Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Kierkegaard, LaMothe traces this attitude to formative moments of the field in which philosophers relied upon the practice of writing to mediate between the study of religion, on the one hand, and theology, on the other.In the second part, LaMothe revives the work of theologian, phenomenologist, and historian of religion Gerardus van der Leeuw for help in interpreting how dancing can serve as a medium of religious experience and expression. In so doing, LaMothe opens new perspectives on the role of bodily being in religious life, and on the place of theology in the study of religio

Provocative insights into the nature of dancing as inseparable from human vitality and distinctiveness emerge from this spiraling study of specific cultural dance traditions brought into conversation with various philosophical/theoretical perspectives centering on the topics: movement, gesture, play, masking, ritual, seduction, performance, religion; each the subject of engaging innovative analysis. The author draws on experience as dancer and academic to address contemporary issues such as gender identity development and plasticity and acuity throughout the lifespan.

Nation Dance Religion, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean Edited by Patrick Taylor Addresses the interplay of diverse spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions across the Caribbean. Dealing with the ongoing interaction of rich and diverse cultural traditions from Cuba and Jamaica to Guyana and Surinam, Nation Dance addresses some of the major contemporary issues in the study of Caribbean religion and identity. The book's three sections move from a focus on spirituality and healing, to theology in social and political context, and on to questions of identity and diaspora. The book begins with the voices of female practitioners and then offers a broad, interdisciplinary examination of Caribbean religion and culture. Afro-Caribbean religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all addressed, with specific reflections on SanterÃa, Palo Monte, Vodou, Winti, Obeah, Kali Mai, Orisha work, Spiritual Baptist faith, Spiritualism, Rastafari, Confucianism, Congregationalism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and liberation theology. Some essays are based on fieldwork, archival research, and textual or linguistic analysis, while others are concerned with methodological or theoretical issues. Contributors include practitioners and scholars, some very established in the field, others with fresh, new approaches; all of them come from the region or have done extensive fieldwork or research there. In these essays the poetic vitality of the practitioner's voice meets the attentive commitment of the postcolonial scholar in a dance of "nations" across the waters. Patrick Taylor, Associate Professor in the Division of Humanities and in the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought at York University, Toronto, is past Deputy Director of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean and Editor-in-Chief of the Caribbean Religions Project. He is author of The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture and Politics and co-editor of Forging Identities and Patterns of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. His articles have appeared in Callaloo, Studies in Religion, and other scholarly journals and books. May 2001 224 pages, 1 b&w photo, 1 map, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, bibl., index cloth 0-253-33835-2 $39.95 L / £30.50 paper 0-253-21431-9 $18.95 s / £14.50 books. Contents Acknowledgments Dancing the Nation: An Introduction,Patrick Taylor I. Spirituality, Healing and the Divine Across the Waters: Practitioners Speak, Eva Fernandez, Yvonne B. Drakes, and Deloris Seiveright How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? Constructing the Divine in Caribbean Contexts, Althea Prince Communicating with our Gods: The Language of Winti, Petronella Breinburg The Intersemiotics of Obeah and Kali Mai in Guyana, Frederick Ivor Case Religions of African Origin in Cuba: A Gender Perspective, MarÃa Margarita Castro Flores II. Theology, Society and Politics Sheba's Song: The Bible, the Kebra Nagast and the Rastafari, Patrick Taylor Themes from West Indian Church History in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times, Arthur C. Dayfoot Congregationalism and Afro-Guyanese Autonomy, Juanita de Barros Eden after Eve: Christian Fundamentalism and Women in Barbados, Judith Soares Current Evolution of Relations between Religion and Politics in Haiti, Laënnec Hurbon III. Religion, Identity, and Diaspora Jamaican Diasporic Identity: The Metaphor of Yaad, Barry Chevannes Identity, Personhood and Religion in Caribbean Context, Abrahim H. Khan SanfancÃ3n: Orientalism, Self-Orientalization, and "Chinese Religion" in Cuba, Frank F. Scherer The Diasporic Mo(ve)ment: Indentureship and Indo-Caribbean Identity, Sean Lokaisingh-Meighoo Caribbean Religions: A Selected Bibliography

Excerpt from The Sacred Dance: A Study in Comparative Folklore The subject is more complicated than would appear at first sight; for while the fact of its universal prevalence among all races at one time or another of their cultural development shows how essential a rite it was, its origin is obviously veiled in obscurity seeing that it developed in pre-historic times. So that in seeking to throw light on the question of its origin one has to try to get at the back of the mind of the savage, and envisage things from his point of view; but that mind represents a complex of such crass and illogical elements that one may easily be led astray. The purpose of the Sacred Dance, again, presents us with another set of problems; for while in some cases this is clear enough, in others there are alternatives which suggest themselves; and, further, it is probable that a variety of motives not infrequently prompted its performance. To disentangle these is not always easy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Dance is more than an aesthetic of life – dance embodies life. This is evident from the social history of jive, the marketing of trans-national ballet, ritual healing dances in Italy or folk dances performed for tourists in Mexico, Panama and Canada. Dance often captures those essential dimensions of social life that cannot be easily put into words. What are the flows and movements of dance carried by migrants and tourists? How is dance used to shape nationalist ideology? What are the connections between dance and ethnicity, gender, health, globalization and nationalism, capitalism and post-colonialism? Through innovative and wide-ranging case studies, the contributors explore the central role dance plays in culture as leisure commodity, cultural heritage, cultural aesthetic or cathartic social movement.