Emily Wright Dance

“Dancing to Transform is a beautiful and highly original book.”

- R. Marie Griffith

Since its inception, dance has maintained a tenuous position within Christianity. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – its contested status, dance persists inside and outside organized religious communities. Dancing to Transform is the first book-length analysis that situates developments in contemporary Christian dance in relation to the histories of American modern dance and American Christianity. It offers scholars and practitioners richer perspectives on the complex interactions between Christianity and dance, as well as more fruitful readings of their choreographic productions.

For scholars of dance or religion, Wright offers transformative approaches to seemingly disparate fields, illustrating that the two dance together in a mutually generative relationship. - Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber

For more about the book, listen to my interview with Vita Poetica Journal.

available now from intellect Press

“Promoting Resilience and Fostering Mental Health Wellness in University Dance Departments,” in Perspectives in Performing Arts Medicine Practice: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Edited by Sang-Hie Lee, Merry Lynn Morris, and Santo V. Nicosia. New York, NY: Springer Publishing, Inc., 2019.

“Not of Themselves: Contemporary Practices in American Protestant Dance,” in Fields in Motion: Ethnography in the Worlds of Dance, edited by Dena Davida, Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2011.

“Producing Christian Docility: The Female Body in Contemporary American Evangelical Dance,” Journal of Dance, Movement, and Spiritualities, volume 1, issue 2, pp. 295-310, 2014.

“A Space for Worship: History and Practice in Christian Sacred Dance,” Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, 2013.