I read this article in the New York Times about the death of Merce Cunningham, a celebrated dancer and choreographer, whose company has performed at Notre Dame . With the flourishing of Notre Dame's wonderful, state-of-the art DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts in the past few years, I've been increasingly interested in integrating the arts in the teaching of the humanities and law. Anna Thompson, the Director of the Center, has been great about reaching out to the faculty to build bridges, to bring arts into the classroom.I think most faculty have some idea of how to bring film into the classroom. Nonetheless, the course I took on bringing film into the classroom taught me to move beyond plot lines into camera angles, film theory, etc.But integrating dance strikes me as important, but even more challenging, for those of us who live in our heads. Words are our stock in trade--dance asks us to pay attention to motion, movement, physicality, beauty, gracefulness. How does one bridge the gap between words and motion?Any ideas how to do this? Kathy, I think your expertise in liturgy might be helpful here, if you're reading.

Cathleen Kaveny is the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor in the Theology Department and Law School at Boston College.

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