Ellie Houlihan

Ellie Houlihan is a writer, dancer, and choreographer from Tinley Park, Illinois. She loves making theater and making friends.

Title of Project:

To Understand Revolution You Must be Sound.

Project Description:

This paper is about researching MOVE, a revolutionary religio-political group based in Powelton Village, Philadelphia and active in 1970s and 1980s. Asking how does MOVE resonate with me as a reader and researcher, I try to trace MOVE’s movement within me. Following the group’s axiom, “To understand revolution you must be sound,” this paper attempts to understand MOVE’s revolutionary movement as the wavering movement of sound waves.

Project Inspiration:

I was at first inspired by a class taught by Courtney Bender titled American Religions in Extremis, and my writing is heavily influenced by my experience as a choreographer for theater who is often asked to sound design as well. Finally, my mom, dad, sister, and all my family members crafted this project with me--- they drew the plan sometime way before I was born. Now, it is a gift to have the chance to dance it.

Areas of Academic Interest/Research:

Abolition, dramaturgy, American religions, disability studies