DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
SYLLABUS
SACRED DANCE/SACRED RITUAL
Course: REL 4937 | U01 | Special Topics: Sacred Dance, Sacred Ritual |
Course Credits: 3
Instructor: Dr. Andrea M. Seidel
Time: 2:00-3:15 T/TH
Room: Charles Perry Bldg. 428
Office Hours: 12:30-2:00 T/Thursday
Phone: 305-348-4293
Email: seidela@fiu.edu
REQUIRED TEXTS :
Daniel, Yvonne. “Embodied Knowledge in Haitian Vodou, Cuban Yoruba, and Bahian
Candomble.” Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005.
Sacred Dance/Sacred Ritual Reader (compilation of articles listed below to be purchased
from University Readers)
Course Description
Sacred Dance/Sacred Ritual investigates the religious/spiritual context in which a
variety of sacred dance complexes occur throughout the world, and explores the
significant cultural, political, and historical events that shaped the dance rituals and
their related religious traditions.
Course Justification
Since the Dance Department was terminated three years ago, there are very few
courses related to dance that are presently offered to undergraduate students.
However, in the past, academic undergraduate courses related to dance generated high
enrollments and a great deal of interest. This course integrates Professor Andrea
Seidel’s (who transferred from dance to Religious Studies) interest and expertise in
dance, religion, and spirituality. Additionally, the Department of Religious Studies is
interested in expanding its range of course offerings to appeal to diverse student
interests and hopefully, subsequently increase enrollment in the major. Currently, there
are very few courses within the Department of Religious Studies that relate to art and
ritual. This course then will serve to fill a need for additional curriculum offerings
bridging religion, ritual, and the arts.
Course Objectives
1. To foster the appreciation and understanding of sacred dance and ritual in world
1
cultures from both a historical and contemporary perspective
2. To stimulate critical inquiry into the religious and spiritual context of expressive
movement and ritual in world cultures
3. To enhance intercultural understanding, global learning, and promote racial
tolerance
4. To expose students to the diversity of aesthetic expressions in global cultures
5. To gain deeper self-knowledge and spiritual understanding through the lens of dance
and expressive movement
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
 Demonstrate skills in kinesthetic and aesthetic identification of individual and
cultural variations in human movement behavior within the context of world
religions;
 Articulate and demonstrate skills in using written and oral language to analyze
and describe selected sacred rituals and movement expressions and the
religious or spiritual context within which they occur;
 Identify and examine a variety of sacred dance and rituals within their specific
religious, social, historical, political and cultural contexts;
 Demonstrate an expanded appreciation for variances and commonalities in
sacred human movement expressions within a variety of global societies.
Course Requirements
**Late papers will drop one letter grade for each day late, NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are
ill, you may email paper by 4:00 on the day of the exam but you must notify the
instructor and bring in a typed copy as soon as possible.
Exams: Mid-Term and Final Exam (30% each=60%)
Two exams will be given: one mid-term objective with short essay exam and one final
objective exam. Essay topic will evolve from readings, classroom discussions, lectures,
and DVD/videos. Clear, concise writing, good grammar and spelling are important
components of the evaluative process. Exams must be typed, double-spaced, and use
12 point Times Roman or Arial font.
Final Oral Group and Individual Presentations (25%)
Evolving out of classroom experiences, group discussions and activities, the final oral
report is a project that will be developed out of course work. Final assignments will be
negotiated following the mid-term exam.
Selected topics must be approved by instructor and related to course content. The
report requires a minimum of three scholarly bibliographic sources (journals,
magazines, books, newspaper articles, and first-hand quotes from cultural practitioners
are acceptable; encyclopedia and non-scholarly website references are NOT acceptable)
in addition to required readings. Students should prepare a minimum of a 2-page typed
2
outline of their presentation and provide xerox copies for classmates on the day of their
presentation. A date for the oral presentation will be scheduled after mid-term. This
date MAY NOT be changed except in the event of serious illness or family problems. If
the student is not prepared on the assigned date, an alternate date will not be
scheduled.
Projects may focus on the life and work of an important figure, ideology, movement,
religion, or movement tradition. The focus must address relevant political, gender,
religious, social, identity, or other contexts. Topics must be approved of by the
instructor. Be sure to time your presentation precisely. Presentations will be graded on
content, presentation, depth, timing, and delivery.
Participation/ Discussion/Attendance (15%)
Participation/attendance is assessed through the student’s effort and motivation and
through his/her consistent engagement in classroom discussions and exercises,
assignments, demonstration of critical thinking, and preparation for and participation in
class discussion.
3
Course Outline
Week I and II: Introduction/Overview of Course Requirements
Reading
LaMothe, Kimerer L. “Sacred Dance: A Glimpse Around the World.” Dance Magazine,
December, 2001.
Snyder, Allegra Fuller, Ed. Vatsyayan, K. “Transformation, Inner Space, and the Future of
Dance.” Concepts of Space: Ancient and Modern. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National
Centre for the Arts, Abhinav Publications, 1986. 441-447.
Hanna, Judith Lynne. “Dance and Ritual.” JOPERD, Nov.-Dec., l988. 40-43.
Molloy, Michael. “Oral Religions Today.” Experiencing the World’s Religions. Mountain
View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2002. pp. 54,55.
Hanna, Judith Lynne Hanna. “The Representation and Reality of Religion in Dance.”
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, . LVI/2
Overview of course requirements
Introduction to course materials
Week III and IV: Dancing Ecstasy and Dionysus: Isadora Duncan and
Ancient Greek Culture
Reading:
Selections from Isadora Duncan, The Art of the Dance:
“Philosophers Stone” pp. 51-65; “Dancer and Nature,” pp. 66-70; What Dancing
Should Be, pp. 71-73; “The Great Source, “pp. 101-104; “Dancing in Relation to Religion
and Love,” pp. 121-127.
Smart, Ninian. “Greek Religion.” The Religious Experience. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, l996, pp. 193-199.
Week V: Bharata Natyam and Indian Hinduism
Reading:
Diaz, Sophia. “Bharata Natyam: Classical Indian Dance: A Hindu Fractal.” International
Journal of Humanities and Peace, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2003.
Stiehl, Pamyla A. “Bharata Natyam: A Dialogical Interrogation of Feminist Voices in
Search of the Divine Dance.” The Journal of Religion and Theatre, 3, no. 2, Fall
(2004): 1-10. http://www.rtjournal.org.
4
http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_3/no_2/stiehl.html.
Week VI: Salutation: Dance Bridging East/West
Reading:
Candelario, Rosemary. “Fragmented Bodies.” CSW Update Newsletter, UCLA Center for
the Study of Women, UC Los Angeles: University of California, Jan. 1, 2008.
Week VII and VIII: Noh Dance Drama and Zen Buddhism in Japan
Readings:
Kovach, Judith. “The Function of Movement in Zen Walking Meditation.” UCLA Journal
of Dance Ethnology, 14 (1990).
Nafziger-Leis, Cheryl. “The Influence of Zen Buddhism on Medieval Noh Drama.” Journal
of Religion and Theater, 5, no. 1, Summer (2006).
D.T. Suzuki. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Edited by C.H. Humphreys. Foreword by
C.G. Jung. London: Rider and Company, 1949 (1969).
Smart, Ninian. “Zen Buddhism.” The Religious Experience. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, l996, pp. 165-168.
Molloy, Michael. “Zen Buddhism: Enlightenment Through Experience.” Experiencing
the World’s Religions. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company,
2002. pp. 143-146.
Week IX: Dancing Trance and Possession in the African Diaspora
Reading:
Walker, Sheila. “African Gods in the Americas: The Black Religious Continuum.” Black
Scholar, Nov./Dec., 1980. 25-36.
Bourgignon, Erika. “Trance and Ecstatic Dance.” Moving History/Dancing Culture: A
Dance History Reader, ed. Ann Dils and Ann Albright, Ann. Middletown,
Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. 97-102.
Daniel, Yvonne. Chapter 2, pp. 51-93.
Video by Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen
Week X: Afro-Haitian: Yanvalou
Reading
“Gods of Haiti.” NY: Documentext McPherson and Co. pp. 132-141.
5
ISBN: 0-914232-63-0
Daniel, Chapter 6, pp. 163-187.
Week XI: Afro-Brazilian Candomble
Reading
Daniel, Chapter 7, pp. 188-204.
Walker, S. Sheila. “A Choreography of the Universe: The Afro-Brazilian Candomble as a
Microcosm of Yoruba Spiritual Geography.” Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly, 16
(1991): 42–50.
Week XII: Tewa Pueblo Dances
Reading
Sweet, Jill. “Seekers of Life” (Chapter 1, pp. 1-12); “Tewa Village Rituals” (Chapter 2, pp.
15-36) Dances of the Tewa Pueblo Indians. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of
American Research Press, 1985.
WEEK XIII: Ancient Hula
Kaeppler, Adrianne. “Dances of Ritual: Rituals of Dance, Movement, Ritual, and Ethnic
Identity.”
Molloy, Michael. “Personal Experience: Gods in Hawaii.” Experiencing the World’s
Religions. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2002. pp. 51-53.
WEEK XIV, XV, XVI: FINAL PROJECTS/ORAL REPORTS
6
7