Beyond the Frame

SpiritMoving2024 – Exploring movement and spirituality in liturgy.

Dancers and Shaker Meeting House

On Saturday January 20th, we visited the American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery to view When the Spirits Moved Them, They Moved. The video is a reimagining of 19th-century spiritual gatherings that took place in the preserved meetinghouse at Pleasant Hill Shaker Village in Kentucky (filmography by Mariam Ghani, choreography by Erin Ellen Kelly).

If you can see the exhibit please do so. It closes Jan 28th. It’s a blast!

One of the things we took away was that though these were dancers, and their moves were choreographed they were also free to improvise and when they did others followed them. We are also giving ourselves permission to improvise, to change moves, to add or subtract things to suit our abilities and our feeling in the moment.

PDF of the museum floor map for more information or to register contact Elin Whitney-Smith or J.R. Randall.

If you want to learn the moves but weren’t able to get to the workshop. Or if you want to practice the movements have a look at our YouTube Video

The practice music Jeff made for us is wonderful and you can hear it here

Dancers Jumping Shaker Residence