Skip to content
1981
Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1757-1871
  • E-ISSN: 1757-188X

Abstract

This article addresses how improvisation and somatics are methods of movement research that permit the overlap of Jewish and African diasporic practices and coalitions outside of the bounds of language. Improvisation and somatics are queried as ways of making dance and as shifting spaces of coalition, of standing with others, and standing also for myself as a Jewish woman. I articulate a viewpoint on overlapping diasporas between Jewish and African diasporic populations which is asserted in tandem with analyses of the ways in which diasporas, and interculturalisms, make present for me implicit power dynamics through improvisation, technique and somatic practices. This analysis of my own practices permits a deeper rendering of the plurality of diasporic Jewish female identity as it relates to my body, interculturalism, spirituality, anti-racism and decolonization implicit in somatics, technique and improvisation.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jdsp_00082_1
2023-01-25
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bambara, C.. ( 2010;), ‘ Chimin Kwaze. ’, in S. Sloat. (ed.), Making Caribbean Dance, Gainesville:: University of Florida Press;, pp. 16581.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Boyarin, D.. ( 2015), A Traveling Homeland, Philadelphia, PA:: University of Pennsylvania Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Brown, C.. ( 2017;), ‘ Entangled histories, part 1: Releasing the Archive. ’, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 9:1, pp. 5774.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Browning, B.. ( 1995), Samba, Bloomington, IN:: University of Indiana Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Cabral, A.. ( 1973), Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amilcar Cabral, New York:: Monthly Review Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Daniel, Y.. ( 1995), Rumba, Bloomington, IN:: University of Indiana Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. De Spain, K.. ( 2014), Landscape of the Now, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Downey, G.. ( 2005), Learning Capoeira, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Eddy, M.. ( 2017), Mindful Movement, Bristol:: Intellect;.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Fraleigh, S.. (ed.) ( 2015), Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations through Dance, Yoga, and Touch, Urbana, IL:: University of Illinois Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Goldman, D.. ( 2010), I Want to Be Ready, Ann Arbor, MI:: University of Michigan Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Kaplan, C.. ( 1996), Questions of Travel, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Lavie, S., and Swedenberg, T.. (eds) ( [1996] 2001), Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Lemon, R.. ( 2000), Geography: Art/Race/Exile, Hanover, NH:: Wesleyan University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Lerman, L.. ( 2011), Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes from a Choreographer, Middletown, CT:: Wesleyan University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Lipsitz, G.. ( 1998), The Possessive Investments in Whiteness, Philadelphia, PA:: Temple University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Meduri, M.. ( 2001;), ‘ Bharatya Natyam – What are you?. ’, in A. Dills, and A. Albright. (eds), Moving History/Dancing Cultures, Middletown, CT:: Wesleyan University Pres;, pp. 10314.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Mitra, R.. ( 2015), Akram Khan: Dancing New Interculturalism, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Oliver, C.. ( 2010;), ‘ Rigidigidim De Bamba De. ’, in S. Sloat. (ed.), Making Caribbean Dance, Gainesville, FL:: University of Florida Press;, pp. 311.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Omi, M., and Winant, H.. ( 1994), Racial Formation in the United States, London:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Profeta, K.. ( 2015), Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work on Dance and Movement Performance, Madison, WI:: University of Wisconsin Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Rossen, R.. ( 2014), Dancing Jewish, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Shohat, E.. ( 2006), Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Sloat, S.. ( 2010), Making Caribbean Dance, Gainesville, FL:: University of Florida Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Visweswaran, K.. ( 1994), Fictions of a Feminist Ethnography, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Williamson, A.,, Batson, G.,, Whatley, S., and Weber, R.. (eds) ( 2014), Dance, Somatics, Spiritualities: Contemporary Sacred Narrative, Bristol:: Intellect;.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Bambara, Celia Weiss. ( 2022;), ‘ On locating interculturalism and somatics: Looseness, holding on and swimming. ’, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 14:2, pp. 21730, https://doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00082_1
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jdsp_00082_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/jdsp_00082_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test