Crosscultural Dance

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My future lies in the endless floating of my soul,
always finding connection to the womb of the earth.
Gravity is keeping me safe when yet another wing 
is growing from my shoulder.
(Caroline S’Jegers)
I love traveling and enjoy studying the ways in which people interact with each other in different cultures. The key method of anthropology, namely participant observation, has become one of my daily practices.
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During my study of Cultural Anthropology at University Leiden, I immersed myself into the (inter)cultural study of dance and movement, and of its healing/spiritual power; and therefore specialised myself into Anthropology of Movement and Dance. In the third year of my study, I gained more in-depth knowledge of (the artistic, educational and therapeutic functions of) Western dancing forms – resulting in the writing of my thesis ‘Dance Your Dance: An Exploration of the Deeper-lying Dimensions of Dance in Western Therapeutic Setting’ (written in Dutch). In my Master year, I went to India twice in order to examine (the value of) Indian dancing and dance therapy there – resulting in the writing of my thesis ‘Dancing to Eternal Bliss?: Demystifying Dance Therapy in Bangalore’ (written in English). In 2010, I returned to India to volunteer at Kolkata Sanved Org – a dance therapy organisation in Calcutta.

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I love to share with you my insights of this continuing in-depth study. During my research and travels, I created two blogs on which you can read my personal experiences (one in Dutch, one in English). You can also download both my Bachelor and Master Thesis here.