Donna La Rue
My work is in the visual and performative liturgical arts, considering the place of the arts in the life of faith. I have worked with the manuscripts from Sens cathedral, looking particularly at those referring to dance, music, theater, and ritual and processional movement. In seeking to understand the context of medieval dance for the single reference so far found attesting to the use of dance in worship there, I have explored medieval dance iconography; period dance terms and dance music; and the use of medieval civic and liturgical spaces for ritual and performative movement. I maintain an active interest in dance in the present, too, having directed and choreographed for several dance choirs; taught workshops at national and international conferences; and written commentary and critical works on dance and music performance in the present. My academic teaching has been in the related area of the visual arts, art and architecture history, and the place of the arts in the life of faith.
Supervisors: Rev. John Snow, Ph.D., professor of theology and Dr. Ingrid Brainard, Ph.D., dance historian and musicologist
Address: Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Supervisors: Rev. John Snow, Ph.D., professor of theology and Dr. Ingrid Brainard, Ph.D., dance historian and musicologist
Address: Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
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The workshop took place in Lesley’s University Hall from 10:10 - 11:10 AM. I taught three dances: 1) “La Bastringue,” a French Canadian folk dance; 2) “Upon a Summer’s Day,” an English Country Dance; and 3) “Nada Te Turbe,” a congregational gestured prayer (text by Teresa of Avila). We discussed these dances’ respective uses in a university level French class, an elementary American colonial curriculum, and an intercultural faith education program. I also described the use of African and Asian dances in global literature and art history classes.
We covered broader questions, too: how dance can function in various course settings, how its inclusion can be contextualized to broaden the understanding of dance as a text for study, and how to teach dance in groups where the levels dis/ability may vary. The emphasis was on teaching dance, not just dances, but further information on a number of useful dances of various periods and places were included as well (and some of those dances are more fully explained here).
A basic handout was included with the class: that handout (pp. 1-8) and more dimensional materials are included in this downloadable file.
Lesley Website/information and link to full downloadable program is at (as long as they keep it up, in any case…!): http://www.lesley.edu/provost/community-of-scholars-day/?terms=community%20of%20scholars
My CV, and other materials on my work may be found on this Academia site; I enjoyed giving the workshop and appreciated the input and enthusiasm of all the participants!
Donna La Rue, M.A., Lesley College
“The Arts for Worship and Growth”
(posted one week later: April 2, 2015).
Reviews by Donna La Rue
Abstracts: Why They're Here by Donna La Rue
Thanks for your interest in my work!
Best--DLa Rue
Fr. Med. Lit.Arts Rsch.Conf. Ppr.Abstracts by Dt by Donna La Rue
The workshop took place in Lesley’s University Hall from 10:10 - 11:10 AM. I taught three dances: 1) “La Bastringue,” a French Canadian folk dance; 2) “Upon a Summer’s Day,” an English Country Dance; and 3) “Nada Te Turbe,” a congregational gestured prayer (text by Teresa of Avila). We discussed these dances’ respective uses in a university level French class, an elementary American colonial curriculum, and an intercultural faith education program. I also described the use of African and Asian dances in global literature and art history classes.
We covered broader questions, too: how dance can function in various course settings, how its inclusion can be contextualized to broaden the understanding of dance as a text for study, and how to teach dance in groups where the levels dis/ability may vary. The emphasis was on teaching dance, not just dances, but further information on a number of useful dances of various periods and places were included as well (and some of those dances are more fully explained here).
A basic handout was included with the class: that handout (pp. 1-8) and more dimensional materials are included in this downloadable file.
Lesley Website/information and link to full downloadable program is at (as long as they keep it up, in any case…!): http://www.lesley.edu/provost/community-of-scholars-day/?terms=community%20of%20scholars
My CV, and other materials on my work may be found on this Academia site; I enjoyed giving the workshop and appreciated the input and enthusiasm of all the participants!
Donna La Rue, M.A., Lesley College
“The Arts for Worship and Growth”
(posted one week later: April 2, 2015).
Thanks for your interest in my work!
Best--DLa Rue
This talk has been expanded upon and an article draft is in preparation, based on findings in several other MS associated with Sens and on comparisons with others' findings in other places.
The question of whether to call this type of work a drama (written, but not performed) or a play (performed as well as written) is a vexed one in some cases. But at Sens it is made simpler by the inclusion of the incipits and other materials in the liturgical books themselves, whose contents were definitely intended to be enacted as given.
This study considered how the placement of the choirboys in the upper loft of one of the main town gates (as practiced in some other towns in France and elsewhere) created a harmonious moment of agreement between heaven and earth, as they and the townspeople passing beneath them were singing together the 'Gloria, laus, honor' hymn--by then already a centuries-old work associated with Palm Sunday.
This was one of many internal and external processions associated with Sens Cathedral, a list of which is tabulated in the Ppt (and is available by request), taken from the various liturgical books studied there.
An amended version was offered, 2003.10.25 at the new England historians' Conference. Revisions and additional visual sources brought the paper further up to date and led to later research on processions as well.
A table of the visual depictions of dancing shepherds and annunciate angels was later folded into my larger table of dance imagery, generally. A handout with the scripture sources was formatted for those who wished to use it: at the time there was some misunderstanding over the use of classical music in worship settings in some groups, and the use of "Messiah" in particular could be recommended to those groups because of its unified focus on Scriptural texts throughout. (which was in fact the original impetus for the paper).
The Ppt presentation is part of an extended article now in process.
An unexpected finding was the "migration" of the Boston town center as reflected in the siting of its earliest gravesites. The dates of foundation for King's Chapel, Copps Hill and Granary reflected demographic movement among the earliest English settlers in the area, and suggests that such dates might be useful in other town studies.
Missionizing in reverse was the apparent intent of the religiously motivated 1620s-40s arrivants: they hoped to effect a more complete reformation of the Anglican confession by showing the English church how church could or should be done--which only partly succeeded, but gave them a much stronger basis for organization and probably led to a more satisfying, healthier colonial establishment than if that effort had not been a part of their agenda.
I also take an informed interest in the construction of churches as reflective of shifts in demographic placement and religious practice, and in the ritual objects used in such churches as evidence of colonial interest in aesthetic objects (whose construction was sometimes intended for religious use, and sometimes not).
The Church History Tour packet is longer and is in preparation. I will post it as soon as it's done! Thanks for your interest. I hope to see you on one or more of my tours!
As I began to do more dance historical research, and the groups' members began to follow other pathways, this work lessened in volume, although occasional pieces were revived for particular events.
The last pieces done with this group were c. 2006; I considered doing more group work but other teaching commitments began to take over and the space, time and critical mass of working participants has not yet come together for that again.
First intended as a guided study to fulfill one of my Ph.D course requirements, this subject became the topic of my thesis and the source of several spin-off studies in processions, uses of liturgical space, dance iconography, and ritual actions.
The dance has three separate segments, each with a different costume element added. The first dance section is done in a white tunic, the second with a green houppeland over it, the last with a leafy gauze print float over that.
Set to medieval chant, each of the three segments represent the spiritual writings and contrasting natures of the contemplative Dame Julian of Norwich and her more active, energetic counterpart, Margery Kempe.
A final coda blends the two styles while maintaining clarity about the differences between their two voices.
This dance runs longer than the usual 2-3 min. afforded an offertory or anthem: it is meant to offer a kerygmatic meditation on their attitudes and approaches to faith, and can function as a sermon within a 15-20 min. time frame.
This 10-point offering gives succinct guidance to a process that can function to bring a group together productively, gather all levels of dancers together cooperatively, and lead to a satisfying work of danced communication, whether for a liturgical setting, a class program, or educational purpose.
Usually one of us taught the gestures and demonstrated them at the beginning of the service, which gave people time to become accustomed to the idea when it finally happened, and to know the gestures in advance.
Each emphasizes some aspect of connectivity in communal worship, and works within the often confined spaces of a worship space where many are seated together near each other.
From about 1988-1994, I directed a group of four dance choirs, two for children and two for adults; this brochure describes those groups and includes a position statement, in the form of a prose-poem that summarizes my work in danced worship.
The non-WYSIWYG world of performative iconography:
Dance visual sources are particularly vulnerable to overinterpretation. Artists’ conventions for showing bodies, space, and movement-in-time can be misleading; dance’s ephemerality leaves no positive corrective. This presentation, led by a dance and art history researcher and teacher, offers a more felted interpretive strategy; we will also discuss a more multivalent approach to gaze. Valuable as recent works on performative iconography are, a balanced art- and dance-based approach helps readers see visual sources with greater parallax. Researchers in the expressive therapies, arts educators, dance ethnographers, dance historians, and dance and art history students and researchers will find this study of interest.