Praise Dance

[pygmalion]

Just curious. Is anybody here involved in praise dance? What do you see as the benefits? And how do you balance the dance with the spirituality?

[ShyDancer]

Praise Dance?????

I have never heard of that one before.

[pygmalion]

I believe some also call it liturgical dance.

[etchuck]

I was raised Southern Baptist, and I hadn't heard of it... partly because... well... you know, we dancers are ALL GOING TO HELL!!! :) ... unless this is some weird compromise to that doctrine.

If the steps are easy enough, someone find me "the song" to go with it to play at a dance or something.

(I'm kidding... really... I am.)

[pygmalion]

I have several friends who actually use it as a form of worship. One of my friends has a son who has extensively traveled the US with a praise dance group. what he does actually looks more like mime, to me. Acting to symbolize the words or sentiments being expressed in a religious or spiritual song. I've also seen other dance that looked a lot closer to modern dance. I guess it depends. Not my cup of tea, but it's a big movement out there. Just figured I'd ask. 8)

[DancingMommy]

Liturgical Dance is best equated with Lyrical in the Ballet world. The idea is to create an "atmosphere" that is closely tied to the lyrics of the particular song.

I have choreographed/danced liturgical dance more than a time or two. Sometimes it can be considered "mime"-ish. Especially if the "dancers" involved have little to no formal dance training.

Some of the best examples of Liturgical dance can be found at the Chapel Hill Harvest Church (Catherdral of the Holy Spirit) in Decatur, GA. They are one of the first churches in the US to do such a sthing. They were doing that back in the 80s as I recall. :)

[tsb]

i know someone who performs it almost like rhythm gymnastics with the streamer, etc. i personally found it kinda distracting as she was doing it within the context of a worship service like any other member of the congregation.

ironically, i think non dancers might be more easily inspired by observing this - those trained in movement might lose sight of the true object of worship by critiquing the technique(s) & choreography of the people dancing. i know i find myself doing that from time to time during a musical presentation being distracted by issues such as intonation, ensemble balance, dynamics, etc.

[pygmalion]

I know what you mean, tsb. The kid I mentioned really does mime, not just bad dancing. Good, and I mean VERY good mime. I find myself watching him and the other performers, from an artistic perspective. The spirituakl theme of the music is secondary to me, at best.