Learning to Kneel
CAS prof researches Yeats through traditional Japanese dance
BU Today
By Amy Sutherland
11/10/2011
The central position in Noh Japanese dance has the dancer kneeling, with her bottom resting on her feet, hands palm down on thighs, and head slightly bowed.
“It is torture,” says Carrie Preston.
Your knees begin to throb against the wood floor. Your feet fall asleep, then all feeling seeps out of your legs. Given her years of dancing in toe shoes, Preston is accustomed to being uncomfortable. Still, when she first attempted the kneeling position, called a seiza, she could hold it for only 15 minutes.