“Dancing the American Soul: Secular and Sacred Motifs in the Choreographic American Renaissance”

This paper looks at the way dance pioneers of the early twentieth century have engaged with the notion of an American “soul” in their quest for indigenous American movement, in a fashion comparable to the literary endeavor of pioneers of the American Renaissance. I first look into the way American choreographers such as Graham, Balanchine or De Mille have drawn inspiration from American myths to choreograph the American soul, and then I turn to the influence Eastern philosophy and spirituality, especially Brahmanism, had on the artists of the American Renaissance’s approach to the body and the soul, from a literary and choreographic perspective.