Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Honors Thesis (Open Access)
Department
Colby College. Religious Studies Dept.
Advisor(s)
David Freidenreich
Second Advisor
Annie Kloppenberg
Abstract
As a dance practitioner and self-identified Jew, I am deeply committed to social action through performance. Over the course of the past year, I explored the capacity of contemporary dance practices to support Jews in reflecting on and conceptualizing their Jewish experience. Through literary and creative research, the designing and facilitating of movement workshops in mid-Maine Jewish communities, and the creation of an evening-length performance piece titled, Shelanu (Ours), I discovered the numerous ways in which these two aspects of my identity could enrich one another. In the wake of several anti-Semitic incidents both nationally and locally this year, this project served as a form of response and resilience. Through the process of this research, I strengthened my skills as a scholar, choreographer, and Jewish leader, and learned how to employ scholarship and dance practices in my commitment to the Jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world. This writing explores my journey of mobilizing Jewishness through several lenses—embodiment theories, history, tradition, and Jewish studies—and reflects on all that I gained over the course of this year-long research endeavor.
Keywords
Dance, Jewishness, Choreography, Antisemitism, Maine
Recommended Citation
Foster, Gabriella, "Mobilizing Jewishness" (2019). Honors Theses. Paper 1471.https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/1471