Liturgical Dance?!

[Loki]

Stephen Colbert, The King of Glory

Granted, it isn't typically this... vaudeville.

I've only seen it once in a Catholic church, and must admit I was fairly horrified by it. It felt like a parody of either genuine dance or genuine prayer, or both.

I like ballet as much as the next person, possibly more. Theoretically, I understand how the epitome of human creation/expression could be an act of worship of the Divine, but this just feels... wrong.

Is it perhaps because I was raised Catholic, and am just not used to this level of exuberance mixed with religiosity?

If someone goes to a church that has people moving around a lot for some purpose of praising God, could you please explain how it (is supposed to) work(s)?

BTW, the clip was included because it's funny and disturbing. Like the secret cow level in Diablo. Can't watch, can't not watch. And it's dance.. of a sort.

 

[Macrina]

I have only one experience with liturgical dance, and it wasn't anything like that clip. I'm sure there are many varieties, but this is what I saw:

It was at my denomination's (PC-USA) General Assembly in June 2006 in Birmingham, Alabama. This was a special assembly in that two other Presbyterian denominations were also holding theirs concurrently in adjacent locations. It was a way of affirming our unity with estranged brothers and sisters. There was one very special worship service held in a big arena, where the leaders of each denomination celebrated the sacrament of communion, and a choir from each denomination sang. It was a lovely, lovely service, and many thousands of people were there worshiping together.

Well, this service opened with a liturgical dance from a group at a nearby church. A few dozen dancers, mostly older teen girls, I think, were involved. They wore very simple tunic-style costumes and were barefoot. It was beautiful from a dance perspective, and meaningful from a theological perspective: The dance was about the sacrament of baptism and how we are all united through it. At one point, a few dancers took huge pitchers of water and artfully poured them in a big beautiful arc into a basin. It was a celebration of the sacrament that unites us, and it was really a treat.

I was pretty leery about liturgical dance before that, and I'm sure there are some forms of it which would make me uncomfortable, but this one I found to be very meaningful and appropriate to the occasion.

 

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

I have no idea what you are talking about, but that clip totally cracked me up LOL

 

[D.W.Washburn]

Colbert is a funny, funny man.

Concerning liturgical dance, I'm not a fan of the form, but...maybe I've never seen it done well.

I remember once watching a leotard clad woman drape herself backward over the altar at a large worship service. I found it disturbing.

 

[Freedom&Light]

I think I saw that on a Malcolm in the Middle rerun...at least, that's what it reminded me of.

I once went to a church where they danced near the alter. It was a little much for this girl. I'm still getting used to raising/waving hands during worship.

 

[Joykins]

My parents' church used to have occasional dancing. They did it Easter morning as part of the choir anthems, with banners and it was pretty inspiring actually.

 

[artrx]

I've seen liturgical dance done in a way that was inspiring and added emphasis and a deeper awakening to the worship durring both the reading of the word and the eucharistic celebration. I think for many people there is a bit of a shock in seeing dance and the body used openly in worship, but it is deeply ingrained in the biblical and Jewish roots of Christianity as well as in other cultures.

 

[Mling]

I'm not really sure what we mean by "liturgical dance."

But, as a general rule, if Stephen Colbert is doing something, that's not how it's really done.

I did go to a church once where there was dancing and flag waving as part of the service. I found it disturbing. Like, the act of worship had been turned into a self-centered performance. I liked what a few groups at my college did, when there was a blending of worship and performance--turn the lights down and emphasize only that part which was worship. If it was music, the lights were pretty dim. For a signing group I was in, we wore white gloves and black clothes, so the emphasis was on our hands and the song, but not on us.

To go from that to the "look at me" of people running up and down the aisles waving purple flags was a shock, and I found it really distasteful.

 

[Loki]

I included Colbert's clip because of the humor value, though truth be told, it's not that far from what I saw in what I thought was a sane Catholic church

 

[Rochir]

Don't think I like it!

 

[Joykins]

What Stephen Colbert did in that video is not at all like what my mom's church does.

 

[Mling]

What Stephen Colbert did in that video is not at all like what my mom's church does.

Yeah, what Stephen Colbert does, just in general, is very unlike anything that most anybody else does.

 

[TheDag]

I have seen some things which were called liturgical dances but I wonder if they really are and I have seen others that were done very well. I still have memories of liturgical dances done at a church I used to attend back in 2000. Generally a cd would be played and the dance would accompany which sometimes acted out the song and other times didn't. I did find that it could help me focus on God more once I got over my first reaction which was Am I attending church or a concert? but of course I should say I have often had that reaction when attending various pentecostal churches especially Hillsong. I remember my first visit to Hillsong when it was called Hills Christian Life Centre. It didn't seem like a concert then.

 

[Multi-Elis]

I have seen liturgical dance that is very moving and inspiring, and at other times a bit akward. It depends on the context and how it's done. I think that as a catholic you should like some forms of it: think ritual.

I go to a ecumenical dance confrence once a year. There are overwhelmingly more catholics than protestants. One year we had a former Paris Opera Ballet dancer come and share her testamony.
She left the Paris Opera because she was fed up with the worldly lifeslyle. She fled to a closed convent. And 20 years later she left the convent and started her own liturgical dance company, dancing quality choreographies in churches and historical places.
There were also catholics who had done dance videos. There was one about Mary, filmed in a very old chapel, with sunlight streaming through the windows. It was very respectfull and helped people like me who aren't Mary crazy to connect.

In my church, it's the endless debate: everybody is waiting for me to come out and choreograph liturgical dances for the services. But I keep explaining that it's a higher art form, you can't be a beginner, you have to really know what you are doing, be good enough so that you don't attract attention to your amatureness, and humble enough so that the show isn't about you. I'm not there yet. And I'll probably start with a liturgical dance video, it's safer.

 

[praying]

Go to a Black Bpatist church and you will see wonderful liturgical dancing.

Because we's got rhythm and well Steven just doesn't.


Seriously, that is the only place I have seen and it has always been tasteful.

 

[Mling]

Go to a Black Bpatist church and you will see wonderful liturgical dancing.

Because we's got rhythm and well Steven just doesn't.


Seriously, that is the only place I have seen and it has always been tasteful.

Oh, I used to have a piano teacher who loved to clap awkward rhythms when people were clapping to music. Start clapping along, then do the eighth notes, then the quarter note triplets...

He said that the people next to him would always get really confused...except for black women in church. They just clapped right along.