Table Of ContentBetween Dancing and Writing
&
Between Dancing and Writing
the practice of religious studies
Kimerer L. LaMothe
fordham university press new york 2004
Copyright © 2004Fordham University Press
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may
be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or
transmitted in any form or by any means—
electronic,mechanical,photocopy,recording,or
any other—except for brief quotations in printed
reviews,without the prior permission of the
publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LaMothe,Kimerer L.
Between dancing and writing: the practice of
religiousstudies / Kimerer L.LaMothe.— 1st ed.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0-8232-2403-1(hardcover)
1.Religion—Philosophy.2.Dance—Religious aspects.
3.Religious dance,Modern.I.Title.
BL51.L365 2004
200’.7—dc22
Printed in the United States of America
07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface:Moving Between ix
Introduction:A Disconcerting Miracle 1
Part One: Writing against Theology 19
1: The Rift in Religion:René Descartes and Immanuel Kant 21
2: Recovering Experience:Friedrich Schleiermacher 46
3: Doing the Work of Spirit:G.W.F.Hegel 65
4: The Poet and the Dancer:Søren Kierkegaard 85
Conclusion:Living the Legacy 103
Part Two: Reviving van der Leeuw 107
5: A Braided Approach to the Study of Religion: 109
Gerardus van der Leeuw
6: A Practice of Understanding 129
7: Understanding Religion and Dance 159
8: Spinning the Unity of Life:Dance as Religion 179
v
vi Contents
9: Marking Boundaries:Dance against Religion 210
Conclusion:Can Dance Be Religion? 229
10: Dancing Religion 241
Notes 259
Bibliography 283
Index 297
Acknowledgements
Faced with the task of acknowledging the people who have enabled
the event of this book, I cannot help thinking about a quotation
from Nietzsche’sEcce Homo:“How could I fail to be grateful to my
whole life?”
This book is, in a sense, about my whole life. It is a living link
between communities whose members meet in its pages—teachers,
mentors,colleagues,and friends in the worlds of dance and religious
studies.
Preliminary movements towards this book began in my work with
Mark C. Taylor and H. Gans Little at Williams College. In their
classes, I first called upon dance as a resource for addressing post-
modern critiques of onto-theology. I am grateful for their ongoing
encouragement.
In the course of graduate work, larger written gestures received
invaluable support from Gordon Kaufman, Lawrence Sullivan,
Margaret Miles, Sharon Welch, John Carman, Francis Fiorenza,
Stanley Cavell,and Diane Apostolos-Cappadona.
Along the way,my experience of dance deepened and developed in
work with Sharron Rose, Marcus Schulkind, the Martha Graham
School of Contemporary Dance and its teachers, especially Maher
Benham,Denise Vale,and Pearl Lang.
vii
viii Acknowledgements
The manuscript assumed its current shape during my year as a fel-
low at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 2000-2001.I am
deeply grateful to Director Rita Nakashima Brock for her visionary
support of both my writing and dancing,as well as to the Office for
the Arts at Harvard University and its Director of Dance, Elizabeth
Bergmann.
Under the auspices of a Fortieth Anniversary Fellowship from the
Religion and Arts Initiative of the Center for the Study of World
Religions, the manuscript received a final polish. Special thanks to
Diana Eck,Alison Edwards,and the Center staff,as well as to my edi-
tor at Fordham, Helen Tartar, and the readers whose comments
guided the process.
The wisdom of friends and family has enriched the progress of this
book every step of the way.I am indebted to Kathleen Skerrett,Colby
Devitt, Deborah Abel, Sharron Rose, Miranda Shaw, Alexis
McCrossen,Courtney Bickel Lamberth,and R.Marie Griffith.To my
parents, Cynthia and Jack LaMothe, for always being there, to John
LaMothe for the cover photograph,and to the students and colleagues
at Harvard who have challenged my thinking,thank you.
Finally,my life partner Geoff Gee,a musician,was the first person
to read the manuscript in its entirety. His belief in the value of my
writing and dancing is a “disconcerting miracle”I never fail to appre-
ciate. My children, Jordan, Jessica, and Kyra, remind me constantly
how vital it is to do what we can to envision better futures.I dedicate
the book to this family who makes everything possible.
Preface
Moving Between
All good things approach their goal crookedly.Like cats,they arch
their backs,they purr inwardly over their approaching happiness:
all good things laugh.
— Friedrich Nietzsche,Thus Spoke Zarathustra1
People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer.I did not choose.
I was chosen to be a dancer,and with that,you live all your life.
— Martha Graham,Blood Memory2
At first I tried to choose. I wanted to choose. I thought I had to
choose between being a dancer and being a scholar of religion—that
is, between the study and practice of modern dance and the study
and practice of Christian theology and philosophy of religion. It
seemed obvious. As conceived and lived in the modern West, the
worlds of dance and religious studies move in opposite directions:
artistic versus intellectual; embodied versus mental; feminine ver-
sus masculine;outwardly performative versus inwardly transform-
ing. They represent discrete cultures and community networks,
different in their styles of dress, codes of behavior, hierarchies of
values, and architectural demands. Participation in either discipline
requires total commitment.
ix
x Preface
Educated to believe in the range of conceptual distinctions that jus-
tified the separation of these worlds, I was not surprised that I con-
stantly felt torn in my attempt to move between them.In dance class,
I could not help thinking about books I should be reading;in the lec-
ture hall, I chafed against the imposed stillness, yearning to move
vividly and put ideas into action. To me, this sense of tearing was
proof that I had to choose. For years, I yearned for simplicity—to
want to do only one thing.I tried to excise the pull of one or the other
practice from my life,and just dance or just study religion.At every
turn,the effort backfired,impelling me reluctantly and eagerly back
to the field whose claims on my time and energy I sought to repress.
Slowly the realization dawned: I could not choose. Each activity
attunes me to a dimension of life without which a day is not com-
plete.When I practice dance,whether European or American,Haitian
or Hindu, sensory capacities breathe into awareness, opening onto
new shapes of strength and kinetic potential. Releasing into the
movement invites a rush of energy,a sense of body flowing,touch-
ing, becoming life. When reading theologians and philosophers of
religion I am dazzled with ways of imagining the world that alter my
sense of what is possible and desirable, meaningful and true. Many
texts have guided me towards unforeseen horizons of understanding.
Each activity then honors a capacity for experience and expression;
each stirs and engages dimensions of consciousness that cooperate in
the project of making and valuing life.How could I choose? The pull
I have felt between dancing and writing comprises a generative para-
doxat the heart of my life,an irreducible tension held together by the
passion of necessity. Following Nietzsche’s advice, I have learned to
laugh at my crooked path.
(cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1)
This book represents an early fruit of my efforts to live this genera-
tive paradox.It recounts my effort to discern why scholars in the field
of religious studies tend to devalue “dance,” or rhythmic bodily
