The celibate, dancing Shakers were once seen as a threat to society – 250 years later, they’re part of the sound of America

By Christian Goodwillie, Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives, Hamilton College

Director Mona Fastvold’s new film, “The Testament of Ann Lee,” features actor Amanda Seyfried in the titular role: the English spiritual seeker who brought the Shaker movement to America. The trailer literally writhes with snakes intercut amid scenes of emotional turmoil, religious ecstasy, orderly and disorderly dancing – and sex. Intense and sometimes menacing music underpins it all: the sounds of the enraptured, singing their way to a fantastic and unimaginable ceremony.

The trailer is riveting and unsettling…

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