Cheryl Pallant (born in
New York City) is a poet, author, dancer, healer, and professor who lives in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
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, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
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. She has published several books of innovative poetry, nonfiction, and has been featured in several
anthologies
In book publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...
. Her background as a writer and dancer has led to frequently merging these disciplines.
Career
While a literature student at
Long Island University
Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...
, she was introduced to the dance form,
contact improvisation. This
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
improvisational dance has had a strong influence upon her
poetics
Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry.
History
The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...
. Thematic frames and syntax shift rhythmically in her poetry, moving from one context to another, the language much like the moves of a dancer. Her books, such as ''Into Stillness'' and ''Uncommon Grammar Cloth'', demonstrate a kinetic poetics guided by an internal momentum that expands upon the possibilities of language and challenges the usual logical mode of reading. ''Morphs'', written in collaboration with Grant Jenkins, resulted from a furthering of her language play, a single poem morphed thirty-five times.
Her book on dance, ''Contact Improvisation: an Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form'', is considered a primary book in its field. Her ongoing interest in applying a
somatic
Somatic may refer to:
* Somatic (biology), referring to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells
** Somatic cell, a non-gametic cell in a multicellular organism
* Somatic nervous system, the portion of the vertebrate nervous sys ...
approach to writing and dance led to her popular workshop, ''Writing From the Body, and to Writing and the Body in Motion'', a book on somatic writing, which expands perceptual possibilities. Her embodied, somatic approach demonstrates a correlation between articulation in movement and articulation in words, the primordial, nonconceptual unconscious provided a route toward consciousness. Sara Lovett says, "Writing and the Body in Motion" is not only a work for writers searching
for new ways in which to express themselves, it also has relevance to anyone seeking a more intimate relationship with their body
nddeeper understanding of mind, body and spirit....What Pallant does is write from the body, not about it."
1 Laura Page, writing about the poetry collection, ''Her Body Listening'', says Pallant is “stripping away artifice in language, leaving the inimitable understanding of the body as it processes social proscriptions... the creative impulse, trauma, shame, and joy.”
2
She was performance art critic fo
High Performanceand dance critic for ''
Style Weekly'', a newspaper in Virginia. ''Ginseng Tango'' is her memoir about her time living in
South Korea, learning
tango, and undergoing a spiritual renewal. Consistent in her work is proprioceptive awareness, meditation, embodiment, consciousness, and language play.
Pallant won the
Theresa Pollak Prize (2013) and was a three-time recipient of a
NEH Grant (2000, 1999, and 1996) in partnership with the Richmond Arts Council. She was selected as Finalist for the
Bechtel Prize (2007), among other awards. She was poetry editor for ''The New Southern Literary Messenger'', successor to ''
Southern Literary Messenger'', edited by
Edgar Allan Poe, and an editor for ''Contact Quarterly''. She has taught at
Virginia Commonwealth University,
University of Richmond,
Keimyung University
Keimyung University (계명대학교, Gyemyeong Daehakgyo), abbreviated as KMU or Keimyung (啓明), is a private university located in Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea. The university takes roots from Jejungwon founded in 1899. Th ...
(in S. Korea), and
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...
.
Select Bibliography
* ''Light at the End of the Word''.
Buffalo, NY,
BlazeVOX Books, 2023.
* ''Ecosomatics: Embodied Practices for a World in Search of Healing''. Rochester, VT
Inner Traditions, 2023.
* ''Writing and the Body in Motion: Awakening Voice through Somatic Practice''. NC McFarland & Co, 2018.
* ''Ginseng Tango''.
Boston, MA, Big Table Publishing, 2017.
* ''Her Body Listening''.
Buffalo, NY,
BlazeVOX Books, 2017.
* ''Continental Drifts''.
Buffalo, NY,
BlazeVOX Books, 2012.
* ''Morphs''. (written with Grant Jenkins), Chicago, IL: Cracked Slab Books, 2009.
* ''Contact Improvisation: an Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form''. NC McFarland & Co, 2006.
* ''Declaration of Independence''.
Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2008.
* ''Poetry By Chocolate''. Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2008.
* ''The Phrase''. Oyster Bay, NY, Feral Press, 2006.
* ''Into Stillness''. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 2003.
* ''Uncommon Grammar Cloth''.
Barrytown
Barrytown (originally known as Seventeen Mile Beach and Fosbery) is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. Barrytown sits on and is north of Runanga, on the Barrytown Flats. Punakaiki is further north. The town is nea ...
, NY: Station Hill Press, 2001.
* ''Spontaneities''. New York, NY, Belladonna Press, 2001.
References
1 Lovett, Sara. "Writing and the Body in Motion: Awakening Voice through Somatic Practice, Cheryl Pallant (2018) Review" ''Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices''
Volume 14 Number 1, 2022
2 Page, Laura. "Book Review by Laura Page
Stirringlit.com
External links
Cheryl Pallant official websiteradio interview on KWGSPennSound recording from Belladonna Reading Series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallant, Cheryl
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American female dancers
Dancers from New York (state)
American women writers
21st-century American women