  Nematodynamics is the orientation dynamics of flowless liquid-crystals. We
show how Euler-Poincar\'e reduction produces a unifying framework for various
theories, including Ericksen-Leslie, Luhiller-Rey, and Eringen's micropolar
theory. In particular, we show that these theories are all compatible with each
other and some of them allow for more general configurations involving a non
vanishing discination density. All results are also extended to flowing liquid
crystals.
