Skin of Glass

Related Sites

 

Table of Contents

Part One: Formation
1 - Blue Eyes
2 - Sufi Eyes

Part Two: Sensation
3 - Legs & Crotch
4 - Spine
5 - Ovary
6 - Skin

Part Three: Circulation
7 - Blood

Glossary
Reading List


Synopsis

Part1
Dunya's intense passion for dance takes her from Cape Cod in 1972 to the Juilliard School in NYC. A decade later, healing from a serious injury, she turns away from a successful performing career and retreats to a monastic mountaintop community directed by a charismatic Iraqi Sufi Master where she trains for 17 years. These influences combine into the path of dance as meditation.

Part 2
During a period of two years following 9/11, the author  embarks on a period of closely observed daily Dancemeditation practice. She chooses several body parts–-legs, spine, skin, and ovaries––as arenas of study. Each body part holds a distinct part of her story;  each body part is a door to new self-perception. Her body is no longer a Photoshopable image or a decay-prone liability, but a world of sensation-based knowledge and mystical communion.

Part 3
The completion of this piece is reflection through practice, teaching, and performance on the body's waking dream.

 

 


© 2008 D. McPherson