Ariana Jumper: Van der Leeuw and Dance 12/4/09

Van der Leeuw describes dance as the movement of God and the ground of creation. God existed before anything else. His movement was the first movement in the universe (Van der Leeuw, 2006, p. 331). Like God’s movement, dance, the movement of the body, was the first art form (Van der Leeuw, 2006, p. 13). Because man was created in God’s image, man’s movement is a representation of God’s movement. This movement is used as a form of worship.

At church, we sing a song called “Lord of the Dance.” It combines both dance and words into worship. While we do not dance to the song, the song speaks of dance. The lyrics are as follows:

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
I dance in the moon and the stars and the sun,
I came down from Heaven and I danced on earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

"Dance then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance," said he,
"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
They would not dance, they wouldn't follow me.
So I danced for the fishermen,
James and John came with me and the dance went on.

"Dance then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance," said he,
"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame,
The Holy people said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
Left me there on a cross to die.

"Dance then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance," said he,
"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he.

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black,
It's hard who dance with the devil on your back.
They buried my body, they thought I'd gone,
But I am the dance, and I still go on.

"Dance then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance," said he,
"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he.

They cut me down, but I lept up high.
"I am the life that'll never never die
And I'll live in you if you'll live in me.
I am the Lord of the dance," said he.

"Dance then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance," said he,
"And I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the dance," said he

In this song, you can see the holy movement that created the earth. It then describes Jesus’s life in terms of a dance. I think this is significant because dance is a graceful form of movement. It shows that Jesus was different because he was holy and this can be seen through his gracefulness. It also sheds a positive light on his crucifixion because it says he danced through this horrible time. Its as if he was unaffected by what was happening to him; he wasn’t going to let the people get the best of him. This song is also significant because it tells the worshipper to dance. The song recognizes dance as a form of holy worship. It establishes Jesus as the leader of the dance. If we follow him and his actions, we will follow in his dance of life and be brought to fulfillment in our death and take part in the eternal dance.