Ecstatic dance and women’s wellbeing

My PhD (Deakin Uni) explores the transformative potential of embodied and ecstatic states within dance, using critical and decolonial frameworks and affirmative ethics. The research weaves together somatic inquiry, narrative theory and lived experience, to examine how conscious dancers disrupt dominant narratives and open pathways to collective and ecological healing.

Supervisors Assoc Prof Anna Halafoff and Prof Andrew Singleton

Recent Teaching

THIRD YEAR ARTS

Religion, Rights and Governance, with Assoc Prof Anna Halafoff and Jayne Garrod at Deakin University.

Recent Presentations

Harvard Divinity School, ‘Women, conscious dance and spirituality’ with Anna Halafoff.

https://pes.hds.harvard.edu/publication/conscious-dance-women-and-spirituality

Recent Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES

‘Alone Australia’, nature connection and spiritual complexity in popular culture

11 Jun 2025, Journal of Beliefs and Values:1-25

Halafoff A, Hauw S, Yunkaporta T

5Rhythms dance as lived spirituality: women, embodiment, and relational wellbeing

24 Apr 2025, Journal of Contemporary Religion1-19, Taylor and Francis Group

Hauw S, Halafoff A

The Health and Social Implications of Racism During Covid-19: Insights from Melbourne’s Multicultural Communities

2024, Journal of Intercultural Studies 45(3):494-512

Haw A, Hauw S