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Eastern Dance Research
Research on the Sacred Danced of Tibet:
Sacred Dances of the Gelug-pa Sect.
The Fifth International Dance Conference, Hong Kong, 1990
Society of Dance History Scholars, United States of America.
Sacred Ritual Dance: The Gu Tor Tradition at Namgyal Monastry
Cho Yang Magazine, Year of Tibet Issue, 1991;
Published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,
Presented at the Tibet House in New Delhi, India, 1990.
Posters from sacred dance events introduced and organized in Ithaca,
NY, by Nanci in cooperation with sponsoring organizations. 1991 & 1992.
Dance Background
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Senior class picture, 1969. |
Age 16 (1967), as Swanhilda, |
Nanci performs classical Indian dance (Bharatnatyam), in the role of Krishna's mother, at Cornell University, early 1970's. | Lobsang Sampen and Nanci moments before an introduction of Namgyal Monks performing a concert of sacred Tibetan dance. Ithaca, New York, 1992 |
Nanci was a dance enthusiast from a young age, on track to becoming a classical ballerina by her early teens. She attended the highly competitive boarding school in D.C.,the Washington School of Ballet, apprentice school to the Washington Ballet company as a junior in high school, then graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She experienced dance as an expression of the higher self and found dissatisfaction in the classical tradition of repeatedly performing the same works on stage. Once Nanci discovered meditation and Eastern philosophy, her energy toward dance was naturally directed into these areas. She earned a BA in Therapeutic Dance from Ithaca College and taught dance privately and at Keuka College until 1990. Since then Nanci has moved in the fields of Health Education and Addictions Counseling.
It was during a presentation in 1989 of sacred dances from Tibet that Nanci's lifetime interest in dance and her lifetime connection to the spiritual life and mysticism came together. Here was dance as spiritual practice. And dance in Buddhism. And dance for healing. The dances appear simple yet require a unique concentration. In addition their symbolism is obvious in some cases, yet mysterious in others. Nanci requested and was granted an interview backstage. From there, Nanci went to source materials on Tibetan dance but found few books or references to what was then known as "lama dance." Most of the old research was incorrect and based on presumption. Tibetans themselves were not yet writing for the general public; certainly not in English. With the encouragement of dance historian friend Saga Ambegaokar, Nanci presented her results to the Society of Dance History Scholars. Her thesis was presented at the Fifth International Dance Conference, Hong Kong in 1990. Following a six-month stay in India to research exiled life and co-author the book
Living Tibet: Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, Nanci organized several programs of sacred Tibetan dance for the Ithaca, NY area, performed by monks from various monasteries.