Submitted by Berry College
ROME — Berry College dance specialist Jeanne Schul is among a select group of academics worldwide to be awarded a New Mythos Grant in 2010. This grant will allow Schul to further her knowledge of Earth goddess imagery by providing her with access to the private libraries housed at the OPUS Archives and Research Center in California.
Schul’s proposal, “The Divine Feminine: Dancing Us into Being,” was one of 13 selected from a pool of more than 160 applicants representing 30 states and 10 foreign countries.
The OPUS Archives and Research Center is a dynamic site for the advancement of the fields of depth psychology, mythology and the humanities located on the campuses of Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif. The New Mythos Grant is designed to support on-site research in the archives.
Noted intellectuals whose private collections and personal libraries are housed in the archives include Joseph Campbell, American mythologist; Dr. Marija Gimbutas, esteemed archeologist from UCLA; Dr. James Hillman, father of archetypal psychology; Jane Hollister Wheelwright and Joseph Wheelwright, founding members of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco; and, most recently, Marion Woodman, famed Jungian analyst; and Christine Downing, feminist scholar of religion and mythology.
As part of her research, Schul will conduct two five-day research trips to the OPUS Center, the first of which begins June 28. While in Santa Barbara, she will have the opportunity to go through the private artifacts and archives, spend one-on-one time with the archive librarian, and explore photos, books, statues and films in an attempt to uncover Earth goddess images.
“From these artifacts, I will create a power point and choreograph a dance inspired by images of the Earth goddess,” she explained.
Previous show pieces created by Schul blend dance, archetypal dreams and feminine divinity. She is excited by the opportunity the New Mythos Grant provides to gather new material and inspiration. Her hope is that the knowledge she gains will further enable her to transform static images into exquisite dances at Berry.
In addition to the research she will be conducting related to the New Mythos Grant, Schul is also working toward her doctorate in depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She expects to finalize her dissertation, “Creating Dances from Dreams: Embodying the Unconscious through Choreography,” later this year.
