Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 2012 Dancing the Numinous: Sacred and Spiritual Techniques of Contemporary American Belly Dancers Jeana Jorgensen Butler University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers Part of the Dance Commons, Folklore Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Jorgensen, Jeana, "Dancing the Numinous: Sacred and Spiritual Techniques of Contemporary American Belly Dancers" Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics / (2012): -. Available at https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/676 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DANCING THE NuminOus: SACRed AND SPIRituAL TECHniQues OF COntemPORARY AmeRICAN BellY DANCERS JEANA JORGensen PhD, Instructor of Folklore Department of Anthropology Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 425 University Blvd., Cavanaugh Hall 410 Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA e-mail:
[email protected] AbstRACT In this paper, I explore how contemporary American practitioners of belly dance (as Middle Eastern dance and its many varieties are often called in the English- speaking world) conceptualise not only the spiritual dimensions of their dance, but also how the very notion of performance affects sacred and spiritual dance practices. Drawing on interviews with members of this community, I describe the techniques of sacred and spiritual belly dancers, how these dancers theorise per- formance, and how the conflicts inherent to patriarchal mind-body dualism are resolved in these practices.