Degree Name

Department

Dance

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Defense Date

2026-03-05

Publication Date

2026-03-07

First Faculty Advisor

Marin Roper

First Faculty Reader

Liz Dibble

Second Faculty Reader

Kori Wakamatsu

Honors Coordinator

Marin Roper

Keywords

body, movement, dance, religion, spirituality, embodiment

Abstract

This creative project explores how bodily awareness and expression deepen personal religious practice, with particular attention to the theology from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and embodied dance experience. Drawing from theological scholarship (Aquino and Gavrilyuk 2022, Brown 2014, Jordan 2016, Summers 2014, Taylor 2023, Zaluchu 2021), dance and liturgical studies (Debenham and Debenham 2008, Hackney 2020, Kent and Tucker 1996, Kline-Chesson 1989, Roseman 2015), and teachings from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Bednar 2001, Lloyd 1998, Nelson 2008, Tanner 2005, Wisco and Seferovich 2014), this study reveals that the body is not peripheral but central to spiritual experience and religious practice. Embodied practices such as movement, stillness, sacrifice, and creative expression refine spiritual awareness by integrating the body, mind and spirit. Reflective participant experiences demonstrate that enhanced awareness of the body enhances spiritual experiences in a way that is both personally meaningful and communal. Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint framework where embodiment is doctrinally essential for ordinances, covenant-making, and eternal progression, the body emerged as a divinely purposed vessel for creation, consecration, and joy more clearly through this study. These findings suggest that reframing cultural narratives about the body from restriction to stewardship, and from shame to sacred capacity, can cultivate more holistic spiritual learning. Ultimately, embodied religious practice invites individuals and communities to experience worship not only as belief or cognition, but as lived, physical participation.