*What is it?
*How does it relate to the creative process?
*How does it shape the creating, viewing, or performing of contemporary dance?
This first month of Dance and Faith, I'd like to talk about the concept of faith. We all know what "Dance" is, but may not be so clear about what is meant by "Faith." Faith gets a bad rap doesn't it? I mean, it's often used in negative contexts, generally equated to "blind faith," conjuring images of people, arms outstretched but blindfolds securely fastened, following a fanatic yet charismatic leader towards a rocky precipice.
I'm interested in expanding this limiting notion of faith, understanding how various religious traditions define faith, and then asking how we, as believing dance artists, transfer that definition and experience of faith into our art.
A diverse group of choreographers, scholars and religious leaders will be contributing their thoughts on this topic this month, and I'm excited to introduce these talented and articulate individuals and their work to readers of this blog. I'm also very excited to expand my own understanding of this important concept through dialoguing with a diverse religious dancing community.
I hope the conversation over the course of the next few weeks will be generative for each of us individually and collectively as a believing, hopeful dance community. Please share your thoughts, feelings and experiences, even if they are brief or only roughly sketched out in your mind or on paper. Let's get the conversation rolling!
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I'll begin by sharing some of my thoughts:
First, my religious tradition defines faith as "hoping for things which are not seen which are true." Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "faith" is, well, a Big Deal. It's taught as the "first principle and ordinance of the gospel," meaning the most basic principle upon which all spiritual knowledge and progression is based. As a Latter-day Saint, I think about the principle of faith a lot, because it's so basic, yet so elusive. I can't wrap my fist around it and say, "a-ha! THIS is what it is!"
The best description of faith within LDS scripture, in my opinion, is in Alma, chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon. Some highlights:
verse 21: "if ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true"
verse 26: (faith) "is not a perfect knowledge of things"
verses 28-35 - comparing faith to a seed which is planted, nurtured and cultivated, then judged according to the fruit it bears
...and from the New Testament:
Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
James 2:17 (suggesting an active component to the principle of faith): "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
Faith is active - it is the act of believing, rather than simply a passive state of believing.
Paralleling James 2:17 is my favorite description of faith, again from Alma 32: 27 (all of the fantastic action verbs are highlighted) - "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
So, faith definitely has an embodied component. It doesn't exist outside and separate from the physical body. It is rooted in my works, in my action, in my doing. As a dancer, that is really cool to me! I begin to think of how my daily actions in the studio, in technique class, in a rehearsal, require faith.... Beginning ANY creative process is an act of faith: we ACT on what we cannot see, but we know is out there somewhere, and we work with that END in mind: we prepare for rehearsal, we experiment, we move forward, with hope, to find rehearsal space, book a theater, market, and fundraise.
I believe that making the choice to see through the eyes of faith adds richness, dimension and purpose to our lives.
I choreographed a solo, Expansive to My View, in 2007 that explored this idea of "active" faith. The repetitive gestures reflect the work involved in cultivating faith, the struggle and stick-to-it-iveness, and the way in which the choice to practice faith enriches my life. It was a wonderful opportunity to structure my feelings about faith into movement. I also wanted to give specific attention to the use of focus (a blank postmodern gaze certainly wouldn't be very effective in challenging the notion of "blind faith" now, would it?) You're welcome to watch Expansive to My View
