Gelareh’s talk is called, “A Preliminary Mythology of Disco”
My talk is about the dance music genre known as disco. I will discuss the enduring influence of this movement on popular culture in terms of the mythology and archetypal underpinnings tying it to universal religious expressions such as the sphere of illumination and the liberation of consciousness through ritual, dance, music, and symbolic engagement. In particular, I will discuss the presence in my life of an archetypal image I call the Disco Prophet—a feminine dance, love, and music guru who comes from a magical and mythological world of synthesizers, neon tights, and glitter. Her image is the mirror ball and her land is the mythical dance floor beyond logic, deep in the religious precincts of soul. I will use images, prayer, music, dance, and a mirror ball to re-enact an experience of this mythical world.
About Gelareh
Gelareh Khoie is an Iranian-American artist, writer, scholar, and DJ. She holds a BFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and two MA’s in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Gelareh is currently enrolled in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies program at PGI, working towards her Ph.D.