Abstracts
Abstract
In poetic, sensuous and visceral language this article explores how one liturgical dance artist, whose work as a dancer and educator was centered in dance and theology for decades was informed by an incarnational theology to break open a field of embodied inquiry now situated outside the field of theological studies. The article is in itself a dance consisting of five movements which trace the journey of a liturgical dance artist from theology to doxology, embodied prayer and embodied inquiry to dancing in nature as a cathedral. Here in creating and performing site-specific work in the natural world, all of living and being is an embodied expression of spirit. Attention is given to the Biblical foundation of bodily expression and wisdom, moving to the fields of arts-based research rooted in phenomenology and curriculum theory to open up an embodied and poetic scholarship. Here writing is artistic and scholarly, personal and universal, evoking a physicality through the senses where connections between the holy and ordinary are honoured. Dance, movement and the body are rooted in incarnational and poetic expression and represent a philosophy through the flesh where physicality and spirituality are deeply intertwined.
Résumé
Dans un langage poétique, sensuel et viscéral, cet article explore la façon dont une danseuse liturgique, dont le travail en tant que danseuse et éducatrice s’est centré pendant des décennies autour de la danse et de la théologie, a été incitée, grâce à une théologie d’incarnation, à ouvrir un champ de « recherche incarnée » (embodied inquiry) qui se situe maintenant en dehors des études théologiques. L’article est en lui-même une danse constituée de cinq mouvements retraçant le trajet d’une danseuse liturgique de la théologie à la doxologie, à la prière incarnée, à la recherche incarnée et à une danse dont la nature serait la cathédrale. En créant et en jouant des oeuvres pour des sites spécifiques du monde naturel, tout le vivant devient une expression incarnée de l’esprit. Une attention est accordée au fondement biblique de l’expression corporelle et de la sagesse, avant de se tourner vers des champs de recherche artistique prenant appui sur la phénoménologie et la curriculum theory pour ouvrir un cursus scolaire poétique et incarné. L’écriture est ici artistique et académique, personnelle et universelle, évoquant un aspect physique à travers les sens où les connexions entre le sacré et le mondain sont reconnues. La danse, le mouvement et le corps sont enracinés dans une expression « incarnationnelle » et poétique, et ils représentent une philosophie dans la chair, où le physique et le spirituel sont étroitement liés.
Appendices
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