Jennifer Byerly - Christianity and Dance

Dace as a Holy Act
Van der Leeuw’s chapter entitled “Enmity Between Dance and Religion” explores the tradition within many religion to disapprove of dance. It seems dance, once seen in primitive times as a means of connecting with the holy, has been lost as a sacred art. There was a time when sacred dance was used to reflect the environment and natural rhythms around the people who engaged in it, but as we’d seen during the dance presentation in class, oftentimes it is used more as a means for entertainment than as a means of connecting with the holy.

“’The book of God’s Providence’ from the royal library in Brussels, which dates the year 1478, gives three examples… as a warning of the dangers which await the souls of those who devote themselves to the pleasure of the dance or organize dance festivals.” (51) This is an especially Christian tradition, and one that is distinctly at odds with the mystical rituals of other religions. Maybe because of the Christian generalized belief that we ought to limit our love and devotion for anything which might remove us from God, this has become a normalized belief within Christian traditions. When God told the Israelites not to worship false idols many have interpreted the commandment to mean not only the literal worship of other religious idols, but also to love and desire anything or anyone else above God, to place something above Him.
Van der Leeuw cites two main reasons for this antipathy with dance, the first being the connection between it and theater. The early church disapproved of theater, and as theater and dance are “inextricably bound up together” (53), it was seen as negative by association. For much of the history of theater for one to say “I am going to the theater” oftentimes meant they would be attending a chorus line or some other venue that featured scantily clad figures. The second reason Van der Leeuw gives is the “close connection between the dance and eroticism” (54). The dance highlights the beauty of the human body and often times are versions of couples dance. These couples dances often times mimicked sexual union and were seen as lewd and against God by the church.

Today however Christian dance is a relatively popular outlet for spiritual connection – one Christian friend of mine says she feels it is like a more effective means of prayer, and most Christians nowadays don’t view it as negatively in the way previous generations have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqfjcvFVcuQ