Acceptance and Rejection of Liturgical Dance as Part of Worship in the Contemporary Church

I. Introduction1

1. What is Liturgical Dance?2

2. What is Worship?3

II. The History of Dance4

1. Dance in the Scriptures5

2. Dance in Christianity7

III. Dancing as a method of:8

1. Worship8

2. Communicating9

3. Healing10

4. Ministry11

IV. Dancing in the Church12

1. Accepted12

2. Rejected13

V. Conclusion14

References15

Acceptance and Rejection of Liturgical Dance as Part of Worship in the Contemporary Church

I. Introduction

Dancing during worship is not a new concept and has existed since several years. Humans have always been communicating by dancing and expressing their gestures. It was believed that by dancing during worship, mankind builds their relationship with God. Although the way people dance has changes, it still serves as a way of uniting with God through non-verbal communication. However, this mode of worship has been diminishing over the years and only traces of it still exist today (Ward, 2004).

Worshipping God is a necessity and the way by which people worship God depends on the way they are able to communicate their emotions. In this sense, the worship of God requires dedication and reverence since God is all supreme and omnipotent. The marvelous works of God deserve praise and in this context, dancing is a way by which people show that they are happy by what God has offered them. Dancing can also be considered unethical since modern day dancing is quite vulgar compared to what it was several years ago. This lad led some Churches to prohibit dance during worship service (Nketia, 1958).

There is an ongoing debate since several years as to whether dancing is acceptable in the Church or not. Dancing is universal in Churches in particular within the African population as they treat it a fundamental part of their devotion to God. They believe that God deserves all the praises and therefore they convey they love for him by dancing and clapping while singing hymns in the place of worship. Bearing in mind the fact that music is common in Churches all over the globe including the Vatican; people believe that there is no harm in dancing as it enables one to clearly show his commitment to God. Considering that there are two approaches to this issue, this paper attempts to find out the facts related to liturgical dancing.

1. What is Liturgical Dance?

Liturgical dance is the dance that is performed in Christian Churches during public worships. A liturgical dancer is one who expresses his praises for God by dancing with the congregation during worship services (Turabian, 2007).

Liturgical dance is a gesture that is used to worship God. It adds dimension and depth to the music or words sung during the worship services. The use of drama and movement adds life to the words and enhances them; thus making it more prominent. This form of dance may even be performed in silence without the use of any music or words. The movements may be choreographed in a way that is easy to perform and understand. The dance may be defined in a particular way or may be ...