2025 Theses Bachelor's

Secular Body, Sacred Space: Nude Dance at Judson Memorial Church

McWhirter, Abigail

This thesis examines how nude performance works by Judson Dance Theater—particularly Waterman Switch (1965) and Trio A with Flags (1970)—challenged prevailing American sexual mores by placing the naked, moving body within the sanctity of Judson Memorial Church. Though artists like Yvonne Rainer and Robert Morris often rejected overt political framing, their choreographic choices—especially in the context of a sacred Christian space—became entangled in larger cultural tensions between the burgeoning Sexual Revolution and conservative religious values. Drawing on theories of the “effervescent” (Sally Banes) and “unruly” (Ramsay Burt) body, this work argues that these performances disrupted dominant ideologies around sexuality, intimacy, and morality not merely through nudity, but through the spatial juxtaposition of secular bodies and sacred space. By examining archival materials, critical reception, and cultural responses—including backlash from Christian institutions—this project reveals how Judson’s nude performances operated as both transgressive and reverent, occupying a liminal space that destabilized binary understandings of purity and sin, resistance and conformity. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that the nude body in motion became a potent site of political and spiritual contestation in the rapidly shifting cultural landscape of 1960s America.

Keywords: Judson Dance Theater, Nude performance, Christian nationalism, Sexual morality, Avant-garde performance