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When the spirit moves: choreographers who draw inspiration from prayer.

Article Excerpt
"Every great religion ... has used dancing as the finest medium of expressing prayer ... the surest means to attain union with deity."--Ted Shawn, 1948

When members of Evidence Dance Company gave a lecture demonstration in North Carolina, the home state of artistic director Ronald K. Brown, an audience member asked a question about the choreography's religious quality. "After I answered, my grandfather, who was in the audience said, 'That's right. Keep God first!' And," Brown says laughing, "my dancers were like, 'Oh, OK, so that's where you get it!'"

Brown says all of his work is "about trying to get to God." His fascination may have been launched way back when he first attended his aunt and uncle's Pentecostal Church as a child, but it has expanded to include the religious practices and dances of many cultures. And recent world events have changed his interest into a compulsion. "Before the Iraq war I was thinking about opening a health food store," he says. "But now I feel called to affect people in a deeper way."

A belief that dance has the power to be world-healing--or at least compassion-awakening--seems to be a common trait among choreographers like Brown who create works that deal with divinity. Their creative process may or may not include personal prayer and meditation,...

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