Dance was an invocation for which Duncan desired audience participation. There are replays and documentaries. Granet, Marcel. New York, 1990. Translated by Manomohan Ghosh. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 56, no. 8 is about dance, verbs that express the act of dancing, and the functions of dance. In early Christendom, dancing began as metaphor and metonym for the mysteries of faith. Under religious auspices the dancer is freed from the everyday restrictions on etiquette and thus is able to present secular messages and critiques. Among the Nsukka Igbo of Nigeria, the council of elders employed masked dancers representing an omabe spirit cult whenever there was difficulty in enforcing law and order.

Born in Rogers, Texas, the only child of working-class parents who separated when he was two, dancer and choreographer, The German dancer, choreographer, and teacher Mary Wigman (1886-1973) is considered one of the founders of the modern dance movement. Includes feminist perspectives. Procreation is God's will, weddings a step toward its fulfillment, and dancing a thanksgiving symbolizing fruitfulness. Christianity's rejection of the body reflects an inability to come to terms with the passing of time and with death. Many folk dances associated with religious holidays or events have been transformed into commercial theatrical, nightclub, tourist, and museum productionsand into performances (by dancers other than the "folk") for recreational purposes. This metamorphic process is usually accompanied by a devout state and altered consciousness aided by autosuggestion or autointoxication through learned frenzied movement that releases oxygen, adrenalin, and endorphins and sometimes promotes vertigo. In many parts of the world, a group may practice both the old and new religions, as when African deities share their altars with Christian saints. Dancing a set piece is considered a reflection of the unknowable God's immanence, irrespective of the performer's intention. 327348. Anthropology on the Great Plains. Dance may be the vehicle through which an individual, as self or other (masked or possessed), becomes a conduit of extraordinary power. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. A theory based on contemporary knowledge that explains how dance works and how it can be studied. Christianity built upon the Hebrew tradition of demonstrating through pious dance that no part of the individual was unaffected by the love of God. Among the Ganda of Uganda, parents of twins, having demonstrated their extraordinary fertility and the direct intervention of the god Mukasa, danced in the gardens of their friends to transmit human fertility supernaturally to the vegetation. Christianity's love-hate relationship with the body and acceptance of a mind-body dichotomywhich the rationalism of sixteenth-century Europe intensifiedhas led to both positive and negative attitudes toward dance.

Hanna, Judith Lynne. Music in Ancient Israel. Rather than considering carnal love a phenomenon to be "overcome," as in some Christian denominations, a strand of Hinduism accepts sexual congress as a phase of the soul's migration. Participants in the Nyau society of Chewa-speaking peoples dance a reenactment of the primal coexistence of people, animals, and spirits in friendship and their subsequent division by fire. Here the motional, dynamic rhythm and spatial patterns of dance transfer desired qualities to objects or individuals. Hanna, Judith Lynne. Recognizing that dance is symbolic, he thought danced enactments of myths and legends would give people guidance in their lives. of The Dance of Shiva (New York, 1957). They seek a good relationship with a jinni (spirit), usually ishah. . The Kalabari believe a possessed dancer invites a god as a guest into the village. Yet Christianity also scorned flesh as a root of evil to be transcended, even mortified. Flice, Phillipe de. Rural tradition is politicized by urban dancers who reject colonialist taint to favor indigenous identity. Denver, Colo., 1990. The specific dances referred to in the discussion below are from different times and cultures, removed from their rich historical and social contexts; they are chosen to illustrate kinds of beliefs and acts. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Another form of status change occurs at death. New Delhi, 1971. The masked (antelope headdress) dance of the Bamana of Mali represents Chi Wara, the god of agriculturea supernatural being who is half animal and half manwho first taught people how to cultivate the soil. Hebrew Scriptures refer to "rejoicing with the whole being," as well as to specific dances performed for traditional festivals. Toronto, 1998. These forms are similar to the dances in the Christian tradition that enable one to enter heaven. This includes status transformation in rites of passage, death, healing, and prevention, as well as rites to reverse political domination. God was pleased with dancing that worshipped him. Fallon, Dennis J., and Mary Jane Wolbers, eds. The dancing is intended to worship and effect change. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Dance is thus a model of the belief system. A supernatural possessor may manifest itself through the dancer's performance of identifiable and specific patterns and conventional signs. A description of boys' dances that represent sexuality as well as the children who are the desired result of it. Extensive bibliography. Cambridge, U.K., 1923. Paul said, "Glorify Christ in your bodies" (1 Cor. Encyclopedia.com. Oesterly, W. O. E. The Sacred Dance. As with other activities, dancing can also be used to worship the wrong idols and many Christians think poorly of dancing all together. Within the Franciscan view, God is present in good works and in the creative force of the arts. A history of hostility toward dance in the United States. New York, 1931. London, 1957. 2 (1988): 501526. Philadelphia, 1967. "The Hamadsh." Supernatural beings are sometimes honored to ensure that they do not mar festivals. Articles with bibliographies on the sun dance and the Ghost Dance religion. Focus on Dance, vol. From a comparative worldwide perspective, dance may be seen as human behavior composed (from the dancer's point of view) of purposeful, intentionally rhythmical, and culturally patterned sequences of nonverbal body movements in time, in space, and with effort. Encyclopedia of Religion. Possession of the invoker, an iconic sign in the midst of the congregation, assures the spirit's presence, power, and acceptance of the invocation and offerings. The Korean shaman attains knowledge and power in the role of religious leader through trance possession induced by dancing. Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries: Umeda Society, Language, and Ritual. Moreover that the body is the instrument of sex and of dance creates fear of unbridled arousal of the passions and sexuality. In the course of the dance, people become entranced and slash at their heads in imitation of Sidi, Ali's servant, who did so when he learned of his master's death. Dance could also trample vices and that which enslaves people and holds them down. When Westerners developed more accepting attitudes about the body, and as biblical scholarship on dance increased after the 1960s, a sacred dance movement gave impetus to the resurgence of Christian congregational, choir, and solo dancing. It interpreted an economically harsh and morally complex world as a fight between God and the devil. Rev. The supreme, all-powerful God is manifest in a trio of divinities: Brahma, Viu (who appears in the incarnation of Ka, of amorous nature and exploits), and iva (Lord of the Dance, who created the universe, which he destroys and regenerates through dance). Among the Edo in Benin City, Nigeria, videorecording capturing the span of real time became a mandatory assertion of the importance of individual participants. Gell, Alfred. However, the date of retrieval is often important. This powerful and spectacular drama, staged as a public ritual for the entire community, has been claimed to be a reaction to foreign aggression and a reaffirmation of the priestly and warrior social status, as well as an affirmation of masculine pride in matrilineal and matrilocal society.

Not only may individuals be possessed by supernatural entities, they may also experience "essence possession," the fourth type, by an impersonal religious or supernatural potency. Christian, Muslim, and Hindu beliefs and practices illustrate significantly different perspectives about dance and religion. Archives Europenes de Sociologie 15 (1974): 5181. A description of masked dancing and gender relations. Groups in Nigeria provide many illustrations of worshipful dance. The men and women of Tanzania's Sandawe people dance by moonlight in the erotic Phekumo rites to promote fertility. "Dance: Dance and Religion Translated by David E. Green. Amsterdam, 2000. Some practitioners retain their own identities; others become the spiritand self-identity depends on the spirit that animates the body. 10 Beautiful, True Things God Says about You. Women then become the only active agents in rituals addressed to righting the wrong. Hasidic Jews communicate with God through ecstatic dancing designed to create a mystical state. Evolving with the image of the skeletal figure seen as one's future self, the dance was a mockery of the pretenses of the rich and a vision of social equality. Dance and Magic Drama in Ceylon. New York, 1975. Paris, 1951. Legends of Salome's sensuous dance, for which she received John the Baptist's head in reward (she either obeyed her revengeful mother in requesting this or expressed her anger about John's not reciprocating her sexual interest in him), have kept alive negative associations with dance. London, 1998. Why Does David Write "Forget Not His Benefits," and What Exactly Are They? Pageants of Moors and Christians were common. Based on traditional Yoruba religion in West Africa, the Spiritual Baptist Faith persons possessed by the Holy Spirit retain their own identity, whereas in Orisha Work, those possessed by orias (spirits) become the spirits. Through the path of devotion (bhakti), a surrender to the erotic self-oblivion of becoming one, a man and a woman momentarily glimpse spiritually and symbolically the desired absolute union with divinity. Chicago, 1987. Meaning may be conveyed through various devices, such as metaphor (a dance in place of another expression that it resembles to suggest a likeness between the two), metonym (a dance connected with a larger whole), concretization (mimetic presentation), stylization (somewhat arbitrary religious gestures or movements that are the result of convention), icon (a dancer enacting some of a god's characteristics and being regarded or treated as that god), and actualization (a portrayal of one or several aspects of a dancer's real life). Divine Horsemen: Voodoo Gods of Haiti. Dance and religion merge in a configuration that encompasses sensory experience, cognition, diffused and focused emotions, personal and social conflicts, and technology. Masked dancing can be a metaphor for both normative and innovative behavior. Danses et lgendes de la Chine ancienne. The Spanish Franciscans used dance dramas, especially those depicting the struggle of the church against its foes, to explain the Christian faith to the illiterate New World Indians they hoped to convert. Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop of Constantinople, Turkey, thought of dancing at the graves of martyrs as a means to cast out devils and prevent sickness. In the so-called Dance of Death, a performer beckoned people to the world beyond in a reaction to the epidemic Black Death (13471373), a bubonic plague outbreak in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and England. Calcutta, India, 1950. Among the Dogon, death creates disorder. The young boys' highly lascivious tek-tek masked dances represent sexuality as well as the children who are its desired fruits. Faith in the Millennium. A rich source of historical material. In effect, ancestors return from the dead to rejoice on the occasion of an initiate's return from the training camp. Copyright 2022, Bible Study Tools. From the second century, Christians (e.g., Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Clement of Alexandria) described dance as an imitation of the perpetual dance of angels, the blessed and righteous expressing physically their desire to enter heaven. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. The women conducting the ceremony believe they are causing supernatural changes to take place as each initiate is "danced" from one group with its status and roles to another. Shaking the hand palm downward discarded the carnal; turning palms upward petitioned eternal life. For example, Hinduism generally merges the sacred and the sexual in a felicitous union. Hinduism has a pantheon of deities and is really a medley of hundreds of belief systems that share commonalities, as do Christian denominations. A discussion of different ways of manifesting divinity. Waterhouse, David, ed. Catholic missionaries allow syncretism among northern Australian aboriginal Tiwi that respects both native and Christian ideo-logies. Contemporary Western dance performances in places of worship, referred to as sacred, liturgical, or midrash dance (search for biblical meaning in the Torah through improvisational movement); public theaters; film; television; and on the internet perpetuate the tradition of dance explaining religion. Choreography with the camera loses immediacy of the place of worship or theater but gains excitement through access. At regularly scheduled seasonal times, at critical junctures, or just spontaneously, dances are part of rituals that revere; greet as a token of fellowship, hospitality, and respect; and thank, entreat, placate, or offer penitence to deities, ancestors, and other supernatural entities. Many people wanting to stay well or to cope with stress seek out nontraditional spiritual pathways. Sacred and Profane Beauty. Hallucinogenic and clonic cramp symptoms of bread and grain ergot poisoning, called Saint Anthony's Fire, led some of its sickly victims to move involuntarily in dancelike movements. Europeans recognized that non-European dance was intertwined with indigenous religions and moralities. In Ritual, Performance, Media, edited by Felicia Hughes-Freeland, pp. Rostas, Susanna. The dancer's circular path and turning movement aid the participants toward enlightenment by providing a means to realize that the deity is a reflection of one's own mind. The dance conveys this vision of life in telling the stories of the anthropomorphic gods. Among the Nafana of the Ivory Coast, masked dancing occurs almost nightly during the lunar month of the year. Symbolically spatializing things never seen, the Dogon represent heaven on earth. Misunderstandings of Paul's view of flesh, by which he meant to refer to the individual acting selfishly, led to negative attitudes toward the body in general that he did not share. Commentary on the secularization of dance, believed by author to be the original art form. Although both men and women belong to the Gld cult (to seek protection and blessings and assuage their fear of death), only men dance, with masks portraying the appropriate sex roles of each character. Dance is frequently an element of the process by which symbolic meanings related to the supernatural world of ancestors, spirits, and gods are exchanged among performers and spectators. During the initiation to an ancestral cult, the Fang of Gabon carry religious statues from their usual places and make them dance like puppets to vitalize them. You Can Share a Gift & a Bible With a Fatherless Boy, Inspirational Bible Verses and Scripture Quotes. Paul, Robert A. Dancing Gods: Indian Ceremonials of New Mexico and Arizona. Among the Lango of Uganda, jok is liberated or generated in dancing. As former European colonies in Africa, Latin America, and Asia regained independence, they frequently reevaluated and renewed their devalued dances. Diviners, cult members, medicine men, and shamans are among those who participate in the first type "invited" spirit mediumship possession dances. 2022 . Encyclopedia of Religion. Western philosophy and Victorian prudishness have not, however, affected the Eastern Orthodox Church to the extent of eliminating dance in worship. Chicago, 1996. Good women in the Bible are tainted by using seduction (e.g., Judith). As a sensorimotor sign, the dance may indicate the deity's presence or a leader's legitimacy; as a signal, it may be a marker for specific activities. Religion and Dance. In Sri Lanka's Sinhala healing rites, an exorcist attempts to sever the relationship between a patient and malign demons and ghosts. Invited possession may be a mechanism for individuals to transact social relationships more favorably. The dancer is to dance as God is to creation. The Tibetan Buddhist dance ritual called Ling Dro Dechen Rolmo permits imaging the divine. Meeting the wishes of a spirit as part of exorcism frequently imposes obligations on those related to the possessed. L'enchantement des danses, et la magie du verbe. FOLK DANCE Dance plays an important role in celebrating South Asian life-cycle events and calendrical rituals, as well as relig, Ailey, Alvin Dance is a vehicle that incorporates inchoate ideas in visible human form and modifies inner experience as well as social action. Preface by Rabbi Norman Cohen. The dance itself is often characterized by a particular type of musical accompaniment. An overview of dance in the history of the Christian church and its reawakened use in the twentieth century. Possession legitimizes leadership among the Fanti of Ghana. Backman, E. Louis. Identifying with the moon, a supreme being believed to be both beneficial and destructive, they adopt stylized signs or moon stances; they also embrace tightly and mimic the act of sexual intercourse. In many parts of the world that have become somewhat modernized and secularized, participants in nonsacred theatrical dance often choose to explain religion, to convey or to challenge its models for social organization and gender roles, to effect change, and to honor the divine by infusing their dances with elements drawn from religions worldwide. Bibliothque d'humanisme et Renaissance 23 (1961): 296323. Choreographers interpretatively embody religious events in sensory storytelling or reflect theologically rooted affirmations and values without reference to specific stories in opera and dance concerts and on television and the Internet. Clive, H. P. "The Calvinists and the Question of Dancing in the Sixteenth Century." Representatives danced to renew the earth, pray for fertility or revenge for a murdered relative, and transfer medicine. Crapanzo, Vincent. The Midimu masked dancing of the Yao, Makua, and Makonde of Tanzania and Mozambique helps to explain religion by marking the presence of the supernatural (ancestors) in the affairs of the living. Men with immobile faces revolve in long white shirts with covered arms outstretched, slowly at first and then faster until they reach a spiritual trance. Dance may serve as an activating agent for a specific kind of change: giving oneself temporarily to a supernatural being or essence. Dancing at the graves of family, friends, and martyrs was be lieved to comfort the dead and encourage resurrection as well as protect against the dead as demons. Bloch, Maurice. Performers of the Tibetan sacred masked dance, or cham, are viewed as sacred beings. Association of Social Anthropologists Monographs 35. Adversaries of Dance: From the Puritans to the Present. Bharata Muni. Participants, at the low end of the socioeconomic scale and heavily represented in the laborer and shoe-shine occupations, adopt the nomenclature of the Spanish military hierarchy and perform dances reenacting the conquest that were derived from Spanish representations of the Moors and Christians. People dance to explain religion, convey sanctified models for social organization, revere the divine, conduct supernatural beneficence, effect change, embody the supernatural through internal or external transformation, merge with the divine toward enlightenment, reveal divinity through creating dance, engage in self-help, and convey religious themes in secular theater and recreation. Living in the masks, the Bedu spirits bless and purify the village dwellings and their occupants and metaphorically absorb evil and misfortune, which they remove from the community so that the new year begins afresh. Dance in preconquest Mexico was devoted to deities and agricultural success; its performance, as well as its representation in artifacts, appears to have served contemporary sociopolitical designs: to create, reflect, and reinforce social stratification and a centralized integrated political organization encompassing diverse, geographically dispersed ethnic groups. 21 Jun. To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication. In Turkey the followers of the thirteenth-century poet-philosopher Mawlana Jall al-Dn Rm, founder of one of Islam's principal mystic orders, perform whirling dances. Meaning in dance relies on who does what, and on when, where, why, how, and with and to whom it is done. The myths and metaphors of religious codes present basic propositions concerning expected behavior between leaders and followers, other than relations between the sexes. A discussion of dancing milkmaids as a metaphor of human souls. Brigham Young, who led the Mormon migration from Illinois to Utah, discovered that dance was a means to strengthen group morale and solidarity through providing emotional and physical release from hardship. The classic Indian sacred treatise on dance, the Nya stra, describes dance as an offering and demonstration of love to God, a cleansing of sin, a path of salvation, a partaking of the cosmic control of the world, and an expression of God within oneself. Dancers were pierced through the breast or shoulder muscles and tethered with thongs to the central pole of a ceremonial lodge altar. Dance appears to be part of a cultural code or logical model enabling humans to order experience, account for its chaos, express isomorphic properties between opposing entities, and explain realities. Austin, Tex., 1980. ." Chap. In Zambia, Wiko Makishi masqueraders, believed to be resurrected ancestors and other supernatural beings, patrol the vicinities of the boys' initiation lodges to ward off intruders, women, and non-Wiko. When different religious groups come together, one may dominate the other, sometimes leading to complete acceptance or syncretism. "Dancing the gods" is considered an admirable achievement. How Can We Experience Gods Power through Prayer? Seattle, 1978. The dance, metaphorically at least, conducts supernatural beneficence. Their bodies become the demonic spirit's vehicle, constitute evidence of its control, and convince spectators of the need, as the healer prescribes, for a change in social relations that will exorcise the demonic spirit and transform the patient from illness to a state of health. The Hamadsha women fall into trance more readily and dance with more abandon than the men. The Sun Dance of the hunting peoples of the Great Plains of North America was an elaborate annual pageant performed during full summer, when scattered tribal bands could unite in a season of plenty. Dancing is mentioned often in the Bible and is used throughout the Old Testament as a means of worship and praise to God. Thus fear of the supernatural entity's indifference is allayed. De Zoete, Beryl. The oru seki (spirit) dancing occurs in the ritual to solicit a special benefit or to appease a spirit whose rules for human behavior have been infringed. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Individualistic impulsive movements evolved into ordered, well-rehearsed patterns. Such codes are danced for all to see. "The Representation and Reality of Divinity in Dance." The Jews dance to praise their God in sublime adoration and to express joy for his beneficence. Bloomington, Ind., 1983. Islam generally disapproves of dancing as a frivolous distraction from contemplating the wisdom of the Prophet. The northern Paiute and peoples of the Northwest Plateau believed that ceremonies involving group dancing, a visible index of ethnic and political alliances and action, would bring about periodic world renewal. A description predating Kapferer's A Celebration of Demons (1983). Dance becomes a medium to exorcise and appease the being, thus freeing the possessed individual and ameliorating his or her irksome ascribed status or difficult situation. Male Brahmans (members of the priestly class) taught dance to males who performed only as young boys (gotipua s), to males who performed in all-male companies (kathakali), and to women dedicated to serving in the temples (devads s). Nevertheless, some Christian groups still ban dancing. FOLK DANCE When a desired situation occurred following an instrumentally intended dance (for example, rain followed a danced request), the dance was assumed to have causative power and sacred association. In the West Sepik District of Papua New Guinea, the Umeda people convey gender status through the annual Id dance, a ritual for sago palm fertility and a celebration of survival in the face of physical and mystical dangers. During the first part of the Middle Ages, dancing accompanied Christian church festivals and processionals in which relics of saints or martyrs were carried to call attention to their life histories. No action may be taken against him, for in his mask he enjoys the immunity of the Chirombo. This permitted concentration on new feelings and intent. Leeuw, Gerardus van der. Deren, Maya. Spontaneous movementan outlet for the emotional tension endemic in the perpetual struggle for existence in a baffling environmentdeveloped into patterned, symbolic movements for the individual and group. Permeated with religious tradition, dance continually changes. Nobles, priests, and commoners, old and young, male and female, each had distinct dances and spatial levels for performing at the pyramid temple. Kapferer, Bruce. The brisker the dance, the more likely Ndem is to grant requests. In the Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud, dance is referred to in various contexts as an important ritualized activity and as an expressio, POWWOW, a Native American gathering centered around dance. Dance is a means of religious concentration as well as of corporeal merging with the infinite God. New York, 1963. Mary Wigman was, https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dance-dance-and-religion. The spring Dumje ceremony purges the forces of repression and guilt that oppose the erotic impulses so that life may continue. Such variables can convey gender roles, class status hierarchies, race, and other group identities. Lincoln, Nebr., 1980. New York, 1940. Sendrey, Alfred. They honor and propitiate the female oria (spirits) and their representatives, living and ancestral, for the mothers are the gods of society and their children are its membersall animal life comes from a mother's body. "Symbols, Song, Dance, and Features of Articulation: Is Religion an Extreme Form of Traditional Authority?" These men, the dervishes (the word refers to a person on the threshold of enlightenment), strive to detach themselves from earth and divest themselves of ties to self in order to unite with a nonpersonified God. Although the Greeks, Hebrews, and Christians took part in ancient fertility and sustenance dances, some of these dances took the form of unrestrained, sensual rites. Staring at the sun, they danced without pause, pulling back until the flesh gave way. Association of Social Anthropologists Monographs 35. Reprint ed. The power of dance in religious practice lies in its multisensory, emotional, and symbolic capacity to create moods and a sense of situation in attention-riveting patterns by framing, prolonging, or discontinuing communication. December 1, 1989 Some culturesfor example, in Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Brazil, and Korearecognize that a person's poor physical condition and related fear and helplessness may also be associated with difficult social relationships that the person feels helpless to remedy by himself or herself. Some people seek a "high" through vigorous dance and the release of endorphins. Similarly among the !Kung San of Namibia, dance activates n/um, that potency from which medicine men derive their power to protect the people from sickness and death. Socially sanctioned ritual abuse with ribald and lewd movements and gestures in a highly charged atmosphere is permitted in the Bedu masked dance mentioned above. Specific knowledge of dance practices associated with the supernatural is acquired through initiation, divination, oracle, observation, and copying. "Dance: Dance and Religion The Talmud, ancient rabbinic writings that constitute religious authority for traditional Judaism, describes dancing as the principal function of the angels and commands dancing at weddings for brides, grooms, and their wedding guests. . Danced enactments of legends send messages of patriarchal dominancethat it is acceptable for men to lustfully wander outside of marriage, whereas, in contrast, women are supposed to be faithful to their husbands, forgive them, and bear their children in spite of the pain, risk of death, and agony from high infant mortality. Urbana, Ill., 1997.