The sisterhood

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Judith Suarez (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Lois Andreasen

Abstract: The Sisterhood is a dance for nine people. The central idea is that shamans, who exist in primitive hunting communities, have special intuitive powers they use to help the tribe communicate and that they are able to have their souls take flight into the spiritual realm. The first section, accompanied by drum music, deals with the shamans going into a trance state and then giving the tribe a communicative symbol. The Wourinen String Quartet begins the second section, as the tribe performs a territorial search and a new shaman is born from within the tribe. Section three is the initiation of the new shaman by the other shamans and the dance of flight of their souls into the spiritual realm. The lights are of medium intensity with blue border lights in the first section with a special light of a warmer color on the shamans as they begin their movements. As section two begins the lights dim, with the special warm light used each time the new shaman comes to center stage. The last section also has lights of medium intensity, and ends with the shamans in the warm light with the border lights on and all other lights very low. The costumes of the shamans are red leotards and tights with yellow and orange streamers attached to their heads, wrists and one knee. The tribe is costumed in black leotards and tights with a nylon stocking covering their heads. The new shaman wears a purple tie-dye leotard and tights and a stocking covering her head which she removes after becoming a shaman.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1975

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