Transformation: An ecokinetic approach to the study of ritual dance

Abstract

People move their bodily selves. Something happens. Those present, whether dancing or watching, are different than they were before. They perceive that difference in terms given by their religious tradition as healing or reconciliation; as communion with spirits or a revelation from ‘God’. Yet despite the frequency with which such transformations occur in human culture, they are notoriously difficult for scholars in either dance studies or religious studies to explain. This article introduces an ‘ecokinetic’ approach to studying transformation that reveals how and why bodily movement is effective in catalysing the kinds of experiences that participants claim occur. This approach to the study of religion and dance guides scholars to pay attention to patterns of bodily movement made by participants; imaginatively recreate the kinetic experience of making those movements; and discern the trajectories of thinking, feeling, and acting that these movement patterns open in those who perform them.

Glancing back – looking forward

“…I am encouraged that under the dominant cannon of western theatrical performance dance (a hierarchy still prevalent in some cases), this journal makes space for the academic study of both performance and choreography through to lay (developing in the fringe) community forms (Kieft 2014), and it is personally uplifting that this journal creates space for -to use Shaun McNiff's (1992) words, the meeting 'of art and medicine' -what I call danceas-care-of-the-soul, a renewed appreciation in the ancient medicinal philosophies and properties inherent in dance (Kurnaedy 2014;Margolin 2014). Most encouraging is that this journal supports and correspondingly values research into both the religiously traditional and the non-traditional -our articles range from research into New Age contextual influences and productions (Kieft 2014) through to critiques on the Evangelical Christian dance movement and biblical performance studies (Wright 2014;Mcmillian 2014;LaMothe 2014), and indeed research into even more secular modes of enquiry within our arts education system (Jameison 2014). Most encouraging is that this journal supports and correspondingly values research into both the religiously traditional and the non-traditional -our articles range from research into New Age contextual influences and productions (Kieft 2014) through to critiques on the Evangelical Christian dance movement and biblical performance studies (Wright 2014;Mcmillian 2014;LaMothe 2014), and indeed research into even more secular modes of enquiry within our arts education system (Jameison 2014).…”