Year of Graduation
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MFA: Dance
Directing Professor
Jeffery Bullock
Abstract
This research examines the violent misogyny and contempt for the female body in, but not limited to, Western Christian environments using as a lens the life and practices of Catherine Benincasa, a mystic and tertiary Dominican sainted in 1461 as Saint Catherine of Siena. Further, the research looks at the use of the abject and grotesque in performance, as well as transformative storytelling, as a means of making lived experience visible, and is explored as a liberatory response to such systems of domination and violence. Though this research is framed in a religious context, contempt towards female-presenting bodies is not limited to such environments. Exploring how these attitudes towards women have been internalized and propagated is urgent for everybody, female or otherwise.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Melissa B., "Holy Body/Monstrous Body: The Life and Practices of Saint Catherine of Siena." (2024). Dance (MFA) Theses, Hollins University. 38.
https://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/dancetheses/38
Performance Access Statement
If you wish to see the creative piece or performance that accompanied this thesis, please complete the Request Form, and you should receive a response from the Dance Department within two weeks.
Included in
Christianity Commons, Dance Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons