When Baptists Dance

I’m sure you’ve all heard the old joke:

One day a Baptist professor was walking through the seminary campus when he stumbled across a couple rustling around in the bushes. The professor asked the students what they were doing and they responded, “Having sex.”

The professor left relieved, saying, “Good! I thought you were dancing!”

The old stereotype goes: Baptists don’t drink, swear, or dance. Baptists do not dance.

I must admit, that as an Associate Pastor of Arts [read dance and visual arts] and Education, pursuing doctoral work in dance in comparative religion, I receive my fair share of raised eyebrows from those who hold fast to this traditional stereotype.

I’m not certain at this point what the New Baptist Covenant has to say about dancing Baptists, but this Baptist cannot help but talk about the dance…

Baptists do not dance…but I, an ordained Baptist minister, am also a professional dancer.

In an effort to debunk stereotypes, allow me to elaborate:

Dance is a part of my world, it’s what I do, it’s how I am trained. To forsake dance, particularly in religious settings, is to neglect a vital part of who I am.

I understand, however, that such is not the case for most people, most Baptists. And, as of late, some questions have been asked, some quandaries made about what exactly it means for Baptists to dance.

So, though I sincerely wish to detail the history of dance in the church, highlighting meticulously the role of dance in scripture, its theological implications, and role of dance in virtually every world religion, I will refrain from the minute and dorky details that would bore most and, instead, share a sweeping overview, an introduction to dance and religion, for any Baptists dancing neophytes that may be interested…

Dance and movement are the oldest art forms, primal to humanity’s existence as we were able to use the instrument of the body for expression, ritual, and worship before we had such capacities to even invent other instruments of praise. I would contend that such is evident where heel prints are found at the foot of Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, indicating perhaps a ritual spinning movement, now echoed by such groups as the Mevlevi Order (commonly known as whirling dervishes).

We read of dance as a form of worship over 27 times in the Hebrew Bible, illustrating dance as a medium for expressing lament (Judges 11), praise (Psalm 149-150), victory (Exodus 15:20, I Sam. 18:6), or procession (II Sam. 6:14-16). Pillars of biblical faith, David, Miriam, and Judith danced. In addition there are 10 Hebrew verb forms for dance found in the Hebrew bible. The ancient Israelites, upon which our Christian tradition stands, were a kinesthetic people as dance was ingrained in their worship. The words we translate as “worship” (used 170xs) or “praise” (used over 70xs) literally mean to “prostrate, bow down” [shachah], “to confess with outstretched hands” [yadah], or “to kneel and bless” [barak].

Further, in the New Testament, dance is continually prevalent as the Greek word we translate as “exceedingly glad or joyful” [agaillo] literally means “with much leaping.” Dance and joy, therefore, were synonymous; worshippers were jumping for joy, if you will.

In the apocryphal Acts of John 94-95, Jesus leads the disciples in a ring dance, singing, “Grace dances, dance ye all…The number 12 dances on high. The whole on high has part in our dance. Who so dances not, knows not what is to come.”

Most of these dances that we find in scripture are not so much performance pieces or sporadic expressions, but were simple and communal dances that all people could participate in.

As the church continued to grow, countless church “fathers” advocated dance as means for worship. (I’m sure many church “mothers” did, too, but their voices weren’t too valued or recorded then):

• Clement of Alexandria (150-216) in Address to the Heathens “This is the mountain beloved of God…and there revel on it…daughters of God, the fair lambs, who celebrate the holy rites of the Word, raising a sober choral dance.”
• Ambrose requested that persons about to be baptized approach the font dancing.
• Hippolytus’s Easter hymn of praise: “O thou leader of the mystic round dance!”
• Eusebius of Caesarea (264?-339) “With dances and hymns, in city and country, they glorified first of all God the universal King.”
• Jerome (340-407) “In the Church the joy of the spirit finds expression in bodily gestures and her children shall say with David as they dance the solemn step: ‘I will dance and play before the face of the Lord.’”
• Basil the Great (344-407) “We remember those who now, together with the Angels, dance the dance of the Angels around God, just as in the heavenly dance…Could there be anything more blessed than to imitate on earth the ring-dance of the angels and at dawn to raise our voices in prayer and by hymns and song glorify the rising Creator.”
• Gregory of Nyssa in Homily on the Psalms “Once there was a time when the whole of rational creation formed a single dancing chorus looking upwards to the one leader of this dance. And the harmony of that motion which was imparted to them by reason of his law found its way into their dancing.”
• Augustine (354-430) “He who dances obeys…In our case dancing means changing the manner of our life…when God called the tune, he [sic] hearkened and began to dance.”

In the early Medieval period, Archbishop Isidore of Seville composed sacred choreography incorporated into the Mozarabic Rite that is STILL celebrated 3xs/yr in the Cathedral of Seville. In the late Medieval period cloistered nuns danced on the Feasts of Holy Innocents and priests danced on the Feast of St. Nicholas. During this time Dante described dancing as the “occupation of those in paradise” and labyrinth dances flourished in church courtyards. During the Renaissance, Martin Luther, 1525, admonished dance in his carol “On Heaven High” and Cardinal Borromeo, 1610, commissioned a dance for the canonization of Ignatius of Loyola. In the Post Reformation period, Jesuits were responsible for establishing the traditional 5 ballet positions still utilized as formative ballet technique and prevalent in their moral ballets.

Of course, dance also received criticism and those in power often tried to confine worshippers to seats—static, using only eyes, ears, and voice, and neglecting the body. Amidst these condemnations it behooves us to remember, however, the many other things critiqued or condemned by the church throughout history: art, musical instruments, lay participation, women as leaders, or ministers having the right to marry or have sex.

Dance as sacred worship continued into modernity with the religious works of modern dance icons, such as Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and Martha Graham—founders of the Church of the Dance, and contributors to the establishment of the Dances of Universal Peace. These dancers, philosophers in their own right, understood that the body and the soul are not mutually exclusive, but united in offering praise to God.

Today groups, such as the Sacred Dance Guild (which celebrates its 50^th anniversary in February), continue this sacred dancing legacy.

Pentecostals dance in the spirit.

Buddhists “swallow darkness” through Butoh dance.

Praise Dance flourishes in many African American churches.

Hindus dance through kathak.

Liturgical dance brings together all levels of ability and technique in “liturgical churches.”

Sufi Muslims whirl to remember the center of all life.

Orthodox Christians tripudium around icons.

Native Americans dance to invoke the great spirit.

Congregants at Shell Ridge Community Church, an American Baptist congregation, dance hand-in-hand during Sunday morning worship.

Dancers of all traditions—even Baptists—pay homage to what is sacred by offering to God our bodies as living sacrifices; for this is our spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).

I know I’ll be dancing during the New Baptist Covenant…here’s hoping some other Baptists will join me.