On Monday, April 8th, Moving Dialogs’ One World event will take place inside the Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center. Our Moving Reflections contributor for this event, the esteemed Dr. C. S’thembile West, offers some initial thoughts to ponder prior to this public “conversation”:

“Dancing bodies communicate on multiple levels with respect to kinesis,
physicality, emotionality, technique, nuance and insinuation. The
body contains and transmits cultural texts that are specific. In short,
the body is like a manuscript with multiple chapters, each nuanced by
particular life conditions and experiences. The dancing body is indelibly
marked by culture, the sum-total way of life of a specific group, as well
as nuances from persistent cultural encounters with difference.

Culturally grounded worldviews and perspectives shape not only the
protocols for dance in diverse cultures, but also determine, to some
extent, who moves, how she/he moves and the purpose/s for…