Liturgical

Yesterday afternoon was the first rehearsal for our liturgical dance. One of the teachers from Ballet Academy and I will be doing liturgical dance as part of our church's 11:15 "contemporary" service on Easter.

Liturgical dance isn't any specific kind of dance--it can be ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, African. It just means using dance as a part of worship.

It sounds like some new kind of invention from the '70's, like guitar mass or . . . clown ministry (*shudder*). But dance and ritual movements have been used in worship for centuries--yes, even in Christian worship! The trick is to do it well. I've seen badly-done liturgical dance, and it's embarassing!

But Rachael is an excellent choreographer, and the piece is going to be very nice. I'm the only one of the dancers at our church who can make it--Easter is a busy day for those with family in town. I guess this is one advantage of NOT having family in town--one can truly participate in the big holidays at one's church!

I'm not new to liturgical dance. In fact, it was how I got started back in dance when I was in my late 30's--after not dancing since college. My current ballet instructor, Suki, began a liturgical dance troupe back in 1999, and I danced with them for a few years. We did about 6 dances a year, at various churches in town. Suki's also a great choreographer, so the dances were very nice.

The dance we're working on now, though, will be even better. Suki's troupe included a lot of non-dancers, usually retired ladies who wanted to try dance, so she was somewhat limited in what she could include in the dances. I admire her inclusiveness.

Still, I think our Easter dance is going to be very satisfying--for the performers and I hope for the congregation as well.