Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities

Amanda Williamson is is an Honorary Visiting Professor at Coventry University.Glenna Batson is Professor Emeritus at Winston-Salem State University.Sarah Whatley is Professor of Dance at Coventry University.Rebecca Weber is a somatic movement and dance educator who serves as an adjunct professor at various Philadelphia-area universities.

• Introduction Amanda Williamson, Glenna Batson and Sarah WhatleyPart I: Moving Spiritualities – Amanda WilliamsonChapter 1: Embodiment of Spirit: From Embryology to Authentic Movement as Embodied Relational Spiritual Practice – Linda HartleyChapter 2: The Alchemy of Authentic Movement: Awakening Spirit in the Body – Tina StromstedChapter 3: Dancing in the Spirit of Sophia – Jill HayesChapter 4: Body Ensouled, Enacted and Entranced: Movement/Dance as Transformative Art – Daria HalprinChapter 5: Dancing on the Breath of Limbs: Embodied Inquiry as a Place of Opening – Celeste SnowberChapter 6: ‘Can They Dance?’: Towards a Philosophy of Bodily Becoming – Kimerer L. LaMothePart II: Reflections on the Intersections of Spiritualities and Pedagogy – Sarah WhatleyChapter 7: Reflections on the Spiritual Dimensions of Somatic Movement Dance Education – Martha Eddy, Amanda Williamson and Rebecca WeberChapter 8: Postmodern Spirituality? A Personal Narrative – Jill GreenChapter 9: Working Like a Farmer: Towards an Embodied Spirituality – Helen PoynorChapter 10: Intimate to Ultimate: The Meta-Kinesthetic Flow of Embodied Engagement – Glenna BatsonChapter 11: Permission and the Making of Consciousness – Sondra FraleighChapter 12: Conversations about the Somatic Basis of Spiritual Experiences – Sylvie Fortin, Ninoska Gomez, Yvan Joly, Linda Rabin, Odile Rouquet and Lawrence SmithChapter 13: Inner Dance—Spirituality and Somatic Practice in Dance Technique, Choreography and Performance – Kathleen Debenham and Pat DebenhamChapter 14: This Indivisible Moment: A Meditation on Language, Spirit, Magic and Somatic Practice – Ray SchwartzChapter 15: Global Somatics™ Process: A Contemporary Shamanic Approach – Suzanne River, interviewed by Kathleen MelinPart III: Cultural Immersions and Performance Excursions – Glenna BatsonChapter 16: Dancing N/om – Hillary Keeney and Bradford KeeneyChapter 17: Dancing with the Divine: Dance Education and the Embodiment of Spirit, from Bali to America – Susan BauerChapter 18: The Sacrum and the Sacred: Mutual Transformation of Performer and Site through Ecological Movement in a Sacred Site – Sandra ReeveChapter 19: Dancing and Flourishing: Mindful Meditation in Dance-Making and Performing – Sarah Whatley and Naomi Lefebvre SellChapter 20: ‘What You Cannot Imagine’: Spirituality in Akram Khan’s Vertical Road – Jayne Stevens

'What makes this anthoplogy so unique and fascinating to read is not only the tremendous openness with which the editors approached the subject, thus inviting and allowing for such a diverse collection of individual sacred narratives to emerge; it abounds with mulit-faceted gems. It is also the variety of presentation styles, ranging from personal narratives interwoven with articulated scholarship, philosophical reflections, various research approaches, imaginary dialogues and interview conversations that turns this work into a rich and colourful fabric woven by the hands and hearts of its 33 contributors from across various cultures. '