Sacred Dance

Sacred dance and Liturgical dance are not terms that come up in every day conversation.  Nor is it likely to come up in your Church or other religious setting if you are the the average American of European descent.  Dance is typically something we just don't do (the bunny hop and the high school sway aside).  We do sacred dance even less.

Although many people have not seen or done sacred dance and do not know what it looks like: they can probably deduce from the term itself that it is basically the use of dance in sacred or religious purposes.  Liturgical dance is a more specific kind of sacred dance which is found in a Christian setting.  Liturgical pertains to liturgy which commonly refers to a public worship service with a set ceremony which often incorporates the Eucharist.  In lay terms its all that formal worship stuff that gets read from a book (not the Bible) by a guy (sometimes a girl now) in white.  Not all Christian churches are liturgical and the most common examples of liturgical churches are the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Episcopal/Anglican Church, and Lutheran Church.  So liturgical dance is found in the Christian Church but not all dance found in Christianity is Liturgical.  Dances can be found within non-liturgical worship services (i.e. not a set ritual form but a more ad lib service) such as can be found in Non-denominational or Pentecostal churches.  These dances are properly called sacred dance.  Other religions also dance, often time a lot more than Christians for that matter.  Their dances are often referred to by scholars as sacred dance; however, adherents of these religions themselves may have other names for their dance or they may not have a name for it at all.

With this in mind I have chosen the name numinous dance to describe what I do.  My dances are liturgical when relevant and simply sacred at other times.  I am a practicing Christian but I do not dance in only Christian settings.  I will practice any form of sacred dance that does not directly contradict with my own beliefs.

So why numinous?  To answer that question lets first turn to the dictionary.

Numinous:  1. of, pertaining to, or like a numen; spiritual or supernatural.

                    2. surpassing comprehension or understanding; mysterious, that element

                        of artistic expression which remains numinous

                 origin: 1640-50 Latin numin (singular numen) meaning "Divine will"

As the definition explains, there two usages of the word.  I chose numinous to invoke both usages.  My dance, in whatever religious setting it may be, pertains to the spiritual and supernatural which blanketedly covers my main purpose in all that I do.  I also feel that dance itself helps us to approach that which is mysterious and surpasses expression.  Those of you who are religious probably know that you cannot contemplate Deity without endlessly and inescapably brushing up against the mysterious which surpasses expression i.e. the numinous.  Although we know that their is something to the supernatural which defies expression, we still (bless our hearts) try and express it.  The arts have always been the human answer to expressing that which can not be expressed.  I think we know that we can not truly express the numinous, but I think in art we come as close as we can this side of heaven.  Furthermore the artistic attempt to approach an expression of the numinous is important to the human psyche.  Through it we may not express the numinous but we experience it, and more that that we connect with other humans who feel it too.  It is very important for us  as humans to have conversations that can be summed up in the following:

                    "oh my goodness, I have just had an indescribable experience of something so awesome I can't explain it."

                    "Yes, I know what you mean.  I have had that too"

Now the brilliantly analytical will realize that these two people can never be sure that they have had anything at all approaching the same experience, but in reality we can never know if our experiences are really similar whether we feel we can describe them or not.  There is something far more psychologically interesting going on here.  These two people are connecting and feeling as though they have had a shared experience.  Ultimately isn't this the primary reason that we have Churches and communal religions, to connect with others who have experiences of a shared reality of the divine.  If this was not important to the human psyche, then all of our religions would be solitary ventures of enlightenment.  Human beings are inherently social and communal.  For whatever reason we are this way, dance often brings people together as a community so it makes perfect sense that dance would bring people together around their God(or whatever they have). 

Unfortunately, in the history of Christendom dance has not always fared well as a form of communal worship.  There a many debatable reasons that dance has not flourished, but I believe that Christianity has been the worse for it.  Speaking as a Christian, Dance helps us connect with the sacredness of the body and of the material world which is essential to our faith and our mission to improve the world.  It symbolized faith in action.  In keeping with this theological understanding, it is important to recognize that dance has beneficial physiological and psychological effects.  It brings body and soul into one.  These effects help us to improve ourselves which helps us to encounter the divine.  Dance can also enhance the ritual play of Christian worship services in ways that probably have not yet been realized by clergy and laity alike.  Also, let's not forget that dance is fun, and that which is fun awakens us and enlivens us.  If we dance in church it can makes us feel more awake and alive which brings passion to our worship; and although our passion is not our primary goal, it is certainly an asset to encountering God in worship.  Encountering God in worship is necessary.  You can not go without it and maintain your effectiveness as a Christian.

So dance is fun.  Dance is joy.  Dance is sorrow.  Dance is passion.  Dance is action.  Dance is a reflection of the internal, the spirit.  Dance is creation.  Dance is movement.  Dance is breath.  Dance is life.  Dance is Numinous!

-Lord of the Dance, Syndey Carter, 1963

set to the tune of the Shaker (Shakers were prominent Christian dancers) hymn Simple Gifts.