Beauty and Memory
Joseph Houseal
1 April 2016
It is a choice to remember life in beautiful ways. Dance is an art made of life itself. The human body as medium contains within
Ancient Dances
As a religious, philosophical, and ritual expression, dance has an important role in the practice of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and other Asian belief systems. Long unbroken transmissions of movement forms are reflected in religious artistic depictions, where performative iconography is mystical code as well as movement illustration.
In his column Ancient Dances, Joseph Houseal looks at the aspects of dance and spirituality to enhance practice and appreciation among readers, and to raise cultural awareness in our changing world. He uses dance as a lens to explore states of consciousness and symbolic representations.
Ancient Dances is published monthly.
Beauty and Sadness: Reflections on a Japanese Noh Play
Joseph Houseal
4 March 2016
The Wheel of Life and Death is a central concept and image in Buddhist understanding. Escaping the Wheel of Life and Death is a Buddhist
Self-Expression of the No-Self
Joseph Houseal
5 February 2016
Meditation is like dancing inasmuch as the experience is entirely individual. The body becomes the laboratory for energetic exercises, and the embodiment of prescribed shapes.
Dance at Dunhuang: Part Three – The Sogdian Whirl
Joseph Houseal
8 January 2016
Sogdian merchants were the leading tradesmen working the Silk Road. Sogdiana was a kingdom-state, of which the legendary city Samarakand was the symbolic and cultural
Dance at Dunhuang: Part Two – The Case for the Feitian
Joseph Houseal
11 December 2015
More dance styles are depicted in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes than at any other archaeological site on earth. Dance imagery animates nearly every cave. The
Dance at Dunhuang: Part One
Joseph Houseal
13 November 2015
Over the course of several days in 2009, I had the great fortune to visit the Buddhist cave temples surrounding the oasis town of Dunhuang
Following Ancient Traces
Joseph Houseal
16 October 2015
After seeing several Cham festivals in remote places on a 2014 trip to Ladakh and neighboring Zanskar, I came to the conclusion that video-documenting Cham
Fifteen Good Years
Joseph Houseal
11 September 2015
I first traveled to Ladakh in the western Himalaya 15 years ago, after being invited by a lama I met on the beach in front
Dancers in High Places
Joseph Houseal
14 August 2015
The dancing mind is another mind. In Vajrayana Buddhist Cham, dance is yoga, the dancing mind the whole point—the center of the experience. Monk-dancers are
A Concern for Beauty
Joseph Houseal
17 July 2015
The earthquakes in Nepal were not merely geological—some of humanity’s oldest symbols got jumbled and tumbled. Mount Everest and the Kathmandu Valley have been wonders