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.

Regarding Autonomy and Freedom

As a Teaching Assistant at the Graduate Theological Union, I come in contact with a variety of students from a cavalcade of religious traditions: UCC, Disciples, Buddhist, Sufi, Presbyterian, Baptist, UU, Lutheran, Jesuit, Franciscan, Methodist, Pentecostal, Hindu, Wicca, the list could go on and on. We are a consortium of different seminaries and schools, so our religious net is cast quite wide. Each week I teach students about the role of arts or dance or worship and how they intersect with religion. And each week I have the pleasure of hearing about arts, dance, and worship from a vast array of perspectives. Yet, even as each student is grateful for his or her religious tradition, we also have our own complaints.

In any given class, I may hear a student say, “Ordination is such a long process and I feel as though I can’t express what I really believe for fear that my committee/bishop/elder will not agree.” “I cannot be ordained in my tradition because I am a woman and women can’t be priests.” “My denomination would never ordain me because I am gay.” “I don’t have a definitive ‘call’ to a local church, so ordination is out of the question.”

And each week, while I sympathize with my different students, my inner response is the same. In my mind and heart, I think, “and that’s precisely why I am a Baptist.” The irony is that you could hear these exact same complaints uttered from the mouth of a Baptist, as well. Baptists, like the GTU, cast a rather wide religious net. What one Baptist church deems holy, another regards as profane. One Baptist’s soap box is another Baptist’s fear.

Embedded in our core Baptist principles are the distinctive qualities of local church autonomy and liberty of conscience. Therefore, there is NO convention, or priest, or elder, or creed that can dictate what an individual church or person may believe. Sure, we acknowledge that scripture is central to our faith…but we each interpret scripture quite differently. Each Baptist church is different, but I am fairly certain that none of the former complaints would be uttered by an individual seeking ordination at the church where I serve as Associate Pastor of Arts and Education. At Shell Ridge, we are uniquely and distinctly Baptist, affiliated with American Baptists and active in the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, the Alliance of Baptists, and the Baptist Peace Fellowship. We are Baptists…and so are many other churches which disagree with most of the issues upon which we stand.

Yet, amidst these soapboxes, complaints, commonalities, and differences, through the New Baptist Covenant, Baptist churches are meeting and praying and hoping that somehow, no matter our interpretations of scripture or political views, that we can stand in one accord to agree that poverty, justice, war, and racism are moral issues.

I, like the students at the GTU, have my fair share of complaints about my religious tradition, but it is because of liberty of conscience and local church autonomy that you will always hear me say proudly, “Now THAT’S why I’m a Baptist!” In the tradition I claim as my own, and in the tradition where I am ordained, I have a choice and I choose Baptist...freedom...and justice.

Ordained. Baptist. Dancer. Feminist.

Suffice it to say that these titles carry their fair share of stereo-typing and preconceived notions. If you ask the average American to visualize the typical ordained Baptist minister, I would assume that a professional dancer and feminist in her twenties would not immediately come to mind. In fact, the very notion of any female serving as an ordained Baptist minister raises enough eyebrows. One of the reasons for this misconception is due to the broad spectrum of beliefs and ideologies that fall under the Baptist umbrella.

I am a minister committed to the core Baptist principles like separation of church and state, the autonomy of the local church, freedom of conscience, and the priesthood of all believers who also identifies myself as liberal and feminist. At the same time I have Baptist sisters and brothers who are five point Calvinists that believe the bible is inerrant and that women are not qualified for ordination. Clearly we disagree on many issues. Amidst these divergent belief systems and ideologies, we all seek to follow the example of Christ. I see this example as one that calls for justice in an unjust world and peace rather than war. Others see Jesus’ example as one that calls for evangelism and following a litmus test of beliefs.

Along this continuum of disparate Baptist beliefs, Jimmy Carter, Bill Underwood and others have organized the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant that will meet in Atlanta in January, 2008. It is at this time that Baptists representing a variety viewpoints will gather to see if we can seek unity amidst diversity. The hot button issues can be divisive: global warming, the ordination of women and persons in the LGBTQ community, politics, war, and racism. It is lucid that we cannot agree on all of these issues, but will we seek to “let the oppressed go free, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind,” and to endeavor to bring about God’s peace and justice here on earth?