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Confluences 7 Dance, Religion and Spirituality

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Confluences 7 Dance, Religion and Spirituality CONFLUENCES 7 DANCE, RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY Hosted by SCHOOL OF DANCE in the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Director – Gerard Samuel 11 – 13 July 2013 Conference Convenor: Gerard Samuel Conference Organisers: Sharon Friedman, Lisa Wilson and UCT School of Dance Proceedings edited by: Sharon Friedman assisted by Deborah Calder and Jody Sissing CD Rom compiled by: Eduard Greyling CD Rom design: Elizabeth Triegaardt Published and distributed by: UCT School of Dance Woolsack Drive ROSEBANK CAPE TOW N This collection of papers has been compiled from electronic copies provided by individual authors. In order to achieve a volume speedily available to the conference, any editing and proof reading has been done in the interest of standardised formatting. Individual Contributions: © 2013 by individual contributors. Collection as a whole: © 2013 UCT School of Dance. ISBN No 978 – 0 – 7992 – 2495 - 5 Confluences 7 – Dance, Religion and Spirituality Opening address - Gerard M. Samuel Preparations for any event of this scale often begin almost immediately after the last one and Confluences 7 was no exception. Our previous conference in 2011, Dance, Physicality and Performance led me to think about other intersections with Dance and thus, Dance, Religion and Spirituality was born. As a conference theme it is intentionally broad so as to draw in as many diverse voices and ranges of experience as possible because social cohesion and inclusivity remain issues close to me. In 2011, as co-supervisor of Masters student, Kathryn Thorp who hails from New Zealand, I welcomed the challenge presented by her topic “Looking at Dance through the Te whare Tapa wha Model of Health’. New perspectives of what may seem standards and norms emerge from such research and provide much needed affirmation, in some cases, and rupture in others. Both critiques in my view are invaluable tools to developing discourse. The need therefore to bolster Dance Research in its many forms becomes paramount. I am pleased by the increasing number of UCT students who realise the significance of deepening their understanding and generating new knowledge of Dance. In the academy, this challenge remains, as Dance, for some, may be considered a Cinderella school in relation to the brassy giants of the so called pure Sciences and Economics Faculties. To paraphrase former president Thabo Mbeki‘s remarks on the critical importance of the arts: “It is generally agreed that without the arts we run the risk of becoming a nation of houses and taps only” (Lochner, unknown). Thus, research into dance should take its place alongside the teaching and performance of Dance and could be seen as a continuum of intersections of Body, Mind and Soul. So, how do we respond to those who dissect the body from itself: its placement in the world, its uniqueness and vivid account and sacred manifestation, the body in Performance that dances, that emanates from a religious context that attempts to understand its relationship with a spiritual world and with itself and others? Our conference over the next three days has dedicated itself to explore these collisions, intersections and parallel byways as we share, agree to disagree and perhaps even reject one another’s findings in the privileged setting of academic freedom. Given the extraordinary lack of freedoms for so many and for so long in this country, concert Dance in South Africa has a proud legacy of speaking of and through the body in performance. An outspoken campaigner for human rights, Archbishop Dennis Hurley, challenged my own thinking when he asked “If conciliation was not the way to oppose apartheid, what was?” (Kearney, 2012:80). As performers and choreographers we have been adept at infusing many socio-political and historic strains into our work. South African concert dance has celebrated its legacy of ballet for a period of over 80 years and with equal vigour shunned its centrality. New forms such as Contemporary Dance, Afro-fusion and African Contemporary Dance have emerged since the 70s, and already we are seeing the fruits of protest theatre, post-colonial literature and the flickering images of screen dance/ dance made for film. There are so many African stories that need to be told and a conference such as ours helps focus our attention within the quicksand and complexity of a transforming global village. Kealinohomoku had written provocatively of wider notions of ethnic dances including ballet (Kealiinohomoku, 1983) . In South Africa, Syliva Glasser had challenged assumptions of dominant western cultures in their indigenous and colonial spaces (Glasser, 1991). Glasser was one of the first to articulate the problematics of the moving of sacred practices to the stage which fuelled debates and enquiry in preceding generations of SA theatre makers and choreographers like our keynote speaker, Vincent Mantsoe, Musa Hlatswayo, Brett Bailey and others. Vincent Mantsoe may be known to many through his captivating solo performances especially during his career with Moving Into Dance- Mophatong. He is a multi- award winning artist, whose work and study of dance has taken him from Sweden, to Japan , Canada and Australia. For me he is one of South Africa’s favored sons, an artist of integrity who has challenged stereotypical notions of himself, country and nation. Mantsoe is currently, Artistic Director of Association Noa Cie Vincent Mantsoe, based in France and has collaborations across the globe. His sensitive enquiry, generosity of spirit both on and off stage makes him the perfect choice to open the dialogues of our conference theme. Our theme embraces even greater fields as it not only questions ‘appropriation and appreciation’ but the appropriateness of what for some viewers are considered taboos, never to be seen on the concert stage. Recent works, such as Alfred Hinkel’s Dansmettieduiwels that tackled the “subject of sexual abuse amongst the priesthood in the Catholic Church” ( Stellenboom, 2012), spring to mind. Held at the Baxter Dance Festival – a platform for mostly contemporary dance expression, the proscenium arch context also warrants comment. I expect that Confluences 7 will extend complex issues such as the value of dance – what do audiences gain by watching Dance? Can social cohesion be affected in Dance? How do we transcend the humdrum of our daily existence? Does one need a theatre to have such experiences? How are any of these performances akin to religious / spiritual experiences, if at all? How true does the observation of the receding place of religion in the South African society by Gerald West hold true for other so called ‘developing’ countries like Brazil? West writes, Another aspect of this retreat has been driven by our secular state (or, more accurately, religion-neutral state ) and Constitution (West, 2009:81). What of other religion- neutral states? Could the USA fall into this category? How does the multiplicity of religious practices and views manifest in performance and Dance specifically? Will dance become entirely narcissistic and glorify the exponents of body as super-machine/ the dance technocrats? Or will the power of the body to elevate the minds into a supernatural realm be seen as of greater value? Will such work be defined as spiritual dancing? Who will watch or is this to be for the performers only? Who will determine that such spiritual works are of any quality? How will we know health practices from Spiritual movements? As dance aficionados we may have witnessed the duende in Flamenco, spirit of Ubuntu -Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu ( a person is a person because of the other) but can these seamless elements of Dance be taught? How can we as dance aficionados guide the reconstruction and development / RDP of the soul1? I reiterate the questions that have troubled me in the initial call for papers for this conference. These include: • What are the challenges faced by Dance academics and students in the nexus between dance, religion and spirituality? • where does the [in]offensive line lie in the performance of the sacred , especially in the African context, on the stage? • If, the healing power of dance is a given, how does one articulate hierarchy of choreographer vs. therapist? • When I dance I reach the sublime, man (anon): Whose feelings of ecstasy are explored through dance ritual, and/or trance dance - the audience or performer? • What do parallels between Muslim, Jewish and Christian dance reveal? • How is dance integrated and or excluded in praise and worship? • How are American taboos asscoiated with sensuality, sexuality and the body different from South Asian taboos? Is there an unwritten notion of global taboo eg. Performance of protest with faeces? • Who can write the stories of Blacks and women or indeed of any marginal group? • What is the role of healing through dance as evidenced globally? What is definitive in this apsect within the African diaspora? • How are Bible stories and/or holy scriptures or texts conveyed, constrained, or advanced through dance? • When is Yoga as a form of health practice a vehicle for spiritual movement? • What happens when spiritual dances become homogenised in a quest for nationalism? • As dance scholars, can we conceptualise universal lenses or a kind of ‘ecumenical’ dance. 1 The need for a cohesive society one that is in harmony with itself is a cherished goal of former president Nelson Mandela and a enduring challenge for a fledgling democracy like South Africa. (West, 2009:99) • How may Liturgical dance, that is perceived as reserved for virginal young woman, be unbundled? • Why does one tolerate the custodians of African rituals who are thrust centre stage in dance festivals and touristic platforms? These and many more questions are likely to surface at this juncture which I am hoping will propel further discussion on this engaging theme. We are in the presence of some of the leading voices and dance scholars on the subject of Dance, Religion and Spirituality.
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