Carla DeSola (born 1937) is a choreographer, teacher, and performer who has built her reputation as a pioneer and advocate of

liturgical dance Worship dance or liturgical dance take on several forms of sacred dance in Christianity and Messianic Judaism, and is usually incorporated into liturgies or worship services. Some liturgical dance was common in ancient times or non-Western setting ...

over more than 40 years. In 1974 she founded the Omega Liturgical Dance Company which was soon based at the

Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood ...

in New York. In the 1990s she founded the Omega West Dance Company in the San Francisco Bay area. A Carla DeSola collection is being developed in the archives of the

Graduate Theological Union The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded in 1962 ...

library in Berkeley, Ca.

Training and early initiatives in liturgical dance

Born on 24 April 1937, Carla Desola grew up in New York City.Lindsey Timmons Summers, ''White Soul/Forbidden Body'', PhD dissertation, University of California Riverside, August 2014
/ref> As a child, she danced informally and also spent a year at the

Hanya Holm Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator. Early life, connection with Mary Wigman Bo ...

dance school. She studied dance for four years at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

where she was inspired by the work of her teacher

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, especially by his ballet ''Missa Brevis'' and other dance work with religious and spiritual elements. After graduating from Juilliard in 1960 she began to develop a modern dance company, but then changed direction, experimented with

and founded the Omega Liturgical Dance Company (Omega). This was named after the Omega Point, a spiritual concept of

Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and ...

's. The dance company was offered space in the crypt of the

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

cathedral, St. John the Divine, where DeSola built a studio with her future husband, Arthur Eaton. Around 1970 DeSola, who had grown up in a non-religious Jewish home, became interested in Catholicism and eventually converted. She also became interested in social issues, and was particularly concerned about poverty. These interests overlapped with themes she explored in dances choreographed for Omega and performed at the

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Square in Philadelphia. It was built between ...

in Philadelphia and also at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the 1970s. DeSola presented ideas derived from her teaching in her 1974 book ''Learning Through Dance''. Three years later she explained more of her dance philosophy in ''The Spirit Moves: A Handbook of Dance and Prayer''.

Career

In 1978 a critic in the ''New York Times'' wrote: “As a contemporary form, it iturgical dancewas virtually nonexistent in this country before Miss DeSola's pioneering efforts a decade ago…”Mark Deitch, The New‐Old Art Of Liturgical Dance, in the ''New York Times'', 3 Dec 1978, p18
/ref> She gradually integrated her formal training with her aim of expressing worship and prayer through dance. DeSola places an emphasis on the "overlap between body and spirit", and believes people can experience dancing as a kind of "movement meditation".Robert Wuthnow, ''Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist'', University of California, 2001, p 177
/ref> She makes a distinction between carefully choreographed dance with confident, experienced performers for services, and teaching that encourages untrained dancers to "move spiritually". Unlike religious dance in some traditions, where all dance is spontaneous, DeSola's liturgical dance is well-rehearsed. This unfamiliar art form was controversial and some Catholics disapproved.Michael Davies, ''Bring on the Dancing Girls'', a March 1980 article later used in ''Pope Paul's New Mass'', pub. Angelus Press 1980
/ref> A 1980 book, ''Pope Paul's New Mass'' by Michael Davies, criticised DeSola in a chapter asserting “there is no place for dancing, liturgical or otherwise, within the Catholic liturgy”. DeSola’s work continued to grow and in 1981 she told the ''New York Times'' "acceptance is seeping into all denominations."
/ref> Though at that time Omega was most often invited to perform by “liberal groups in the Catholic Church”, by 1981 they had also “performed at churches and synagogues in a half-dozen states”. It was in the 1980s that Desola first taught a class for the

Sacred Dance Sacred dance is the use of dance in religious ceremonies and rituals, present in most religions throughout history and prehistory. Its connection with the human body and fertility has caused it to be forbidden by some religions; for example, some ...

Guild, an organisation sympathetic to her work. This was when she made first contact with Dr Doug Adams, professor at the

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the Disciples of Christ, ensuring the schoo ...

who initiated the Center for Arts, Religion and Education at the

in Berkeley. He later became influential in her professional life. This period also saw the first year of the Earth Mass celebration at St John's Cathedral in 1985, when dancing choreographed by DeSola was added to

Paul Winter Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

's music,

Missa Gaia ''Missa Gaia/Earth Mass'' is an album released by Paul Winter in 1982 for Living Music. He co-wrote the mass witPaul Halley Jim Scott, Oscar Castro-Neves, and Kim Oler. The title stems from two languages, Latin (missa = mass) and Greek (gaia = mo ...

. The Mass is attended by thousands of people and is celebrated annually for the Feast of St. Francis. In 1990 DeSola moved to California, when she was invited to join the Pacific School of Religion faculty. She also studied there and received a Master of Arts degree in Theology and the Arts in 1993. Since the early 1990s she has been involved with the Center for Arts, Religion and Education at the

, teaching and serving on its board of directors. She also started the Omega West dance company in San Francisco. Over the years she has created many liturgical dances for a variety of audiences and congregations. She is known for devising works on the theme of peace, and has published ''PeaceRites: Dance and the Art of Making Peace''. She has taught in numerous different settings, in the US and abroad, and has been described as a “a liturgical dance pioneer”, a “leader in the sacred dance movement” and “one of the most prominent figures in liturgical dance” She has been recognised with a Bene Award from Modern Liturgy Magazine (1993), a cover photo and story in

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including ''Pointe' ...

(December 2001), naming as a “Living Legacy” at the Sacred Dance Guild Golden Anniversary Festival in 2008, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Pacific School of Religion (2010 ), the title Honorary Member of the Sacred Dance Guild in 2011, and becoming a mentor for Dance USA in 2016.Dance USA 2016 Mentors
/ref> Her papers and videos etc. have been acquired by the Graduate Theological Union library to form the nucleus of a Carla DeSola collection.'Archives at the Graduate Theological Union, A Growing Resource for Those Interested in Sacred Dance by Sister Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D.' in the ''Sacred Dance Guild Journal'', 3 August 2013
/ref>

Note

Her last name is sometimes written as two words: De Sola.

References

External links

Omega Dance Company: Past LeadershipOmega West Dance Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desola, Carla Dance teachers Living people Women founders Pacific School of Religion alumni Juilliard School alumni 1937 births