Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description
Movers and Shakers: An Exploration of Cloth and Dance Through Personal Practice
Instructor(s): Debra Fernandez, Professor of Dance
Do you have what it takes to be a mover and shaker? Join us as we explore the distinct
but intersecting expressions of cloth and dance in our own lives and in the lives
of some of the most influential artists, political activists, religious factions and
everyday people who make a difference. Through films, performances, and readings we
will study African-American slave quilts, the ecstatic dances of the Shakers and Sufis,
and contemporary dance – Bill T. Jones and Merce Cunningham and others. We will investigate
Gandhi, his spinning wheel and homespun cotton as well as Chile’s arpilleras made
for The Disappeared during Pinochet’s regime. In each study, be it individuals resisting
oppression or the group itself using cloth and dance as the standard bearers, each
example traces the paths of dancers, artists, and community leaders who express and
embody change. Through guided hands-on projects, dance and movement studies, such
as folk dances, yoga and quilting, we will make connections with our readings, viewings,
and writings.