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Blackfriars Dance Concert 2012 Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Dance Concert 2012

November 16 & 17, Fri. 8pm & Sat. 2pm

Directed by: Wendy Oliver

Choreographed by: Billbob Brown, Kimberleigh Holman, Kate McNamara, Erin McNulty, Betsy Miller, Wendy Oliver

Lighting Design: Tim Cryan

Dancers: Alexandra Bartholomew, Megan Ketchell, Callie Kovack, Moira Power, Jennifer Robinson, Olivia Romano, Lauren Spagnuolo, Taylor Briggs, Audrey Butler, Kate Corrigan, Jake Goldsmith, Kathryn Graf, Meaghan Lambert, David Esteban Rodriguez, Erica Tuccero, Katie McNamara, Alexa Kiffel, Jenna Macone, Christina Potts, Amanda Smalley, Sarah Buller, Megan Chisholm, Maria Costa, Jillian Gentile, Ellie Wallace, Megan Wheeler

Dancing The Numinous: Sacred And Spiritual Techniques Of Contemporary American Belly Dancers, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

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) conceptualize 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 this community, I describe the techniques of sacred and spiritual belly dancers, how these dancers theorize performance, and how the conflicts inherent to patriarchal mind-body dualism are resolved in these practices. My purpose here is twofold: to document an emergent dance tradition and to analyze its …