And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. —2 Samuel 6:14
Let them praise his name with dancing . . . . Praise him with tambourine and dancing! —Psalms 149:3, 150:4
Religious and spiritual dancing are as ancient as belief itself. In many religious traditions—e.g., Native American, Christian, and Hindu—dance is considered a form of praise and worship; it can even be a central component of liturgical devotion. Some sacred dances are priestly and some are communal, but all attempt to connect the human with the divine by engaging the mind, body, and spirit in prayer, praise, or simple exultant joy. As someone has observed, “Dance is an outward practice that helps us travel inward.”1
I thought of all this when I attended the Christmas Revels in Oakland, California in December 2016. A revival of medieval Christmas celebrations, the Revels are held in England, the United States, and other countries. Although the focus of the Revels changes from year to year, it always includes song, dance, games, and dramatic performance based on or reminiscent of folk traditions from the British Isles. There is, for example, the singing of traditional Christmas carols; a Mummer’s play or folk drama based on the Legend of St. George and “the Seven Champions of Christendom” (which some interpret as a ritual reenactment of the seasonal turn from winter to spring); clog dances, couples dances, Morris dances, the ever-popular “Abbots Bromley Horn Dance” (in which the dancers sport deer antlers as headdresses), and the traditional “Lord of the Dance” with audience participation.
The Revels I attended focused primarily on Welsh folk traditions. It included readings and dramatizations from Dylan Thomas’s lovely poetic reminiscence A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Then dance and music were combined into a rendering of the Medieval Christmas song “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,” which takes its inspiration from the bridal song in the Song of Solomon. Some Jews consider the Song of Solomon as a metaphor in which God is the bridegroom and Israel his bride. Some Christians interpret it as a metaphor for Christ’s marriage to the Church. Either way, as the wedding day approaches, the bridegroom anticipates the joyful celebration:
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend play,
To call my true love to my dance!
In the Christian version, the bridegroom enters the drama through the Incarnation:
Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance.
Thus was I knit to man’s nature
To call my true love to my dance.
Additional verses chronicle the major events of Christ’s life, including his baptism, temptation by the Devil in the wilderness, betrayal by Judas, judgment before Pilate, and Crucifixion:
Then on the cross hanged I was,
Where a spear my heart did glance;
There issued forth both water and blood,
To call my true love to my dance.
In other words, God/Christ calls his bride not to a sorrowful death dirge but rather to a joyful celebration of the salvation resulting from the bridegroom’s loving sacrifice. He sings ecstatically:
Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
A related popular tradition of the Revels is the performance of “The Lord of the Dance,” a song by Sydney Carter set to the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts.” Through its various verses, it too tells the story of Christ’s life, including his crucifixion and resurrection:
I danced on a Friday when the world turned black.
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.
They buried my body, they thought I was gone,
But I am the dance, and the dance goes on.
They cut me down and I leapt up high.
I am the life that will never, never die.
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me.
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
At the culmination of each verse, the audience is invited to join in singing the chorus:
Dance, then, wherever you may be.
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he.
At the end of the song, the company members join hands and begin dancing through the room, adding the audience to its chain. All move in a serpentine motion through the theater and into the lobby—hundreds of revelers celebrating in song and movement the Lord of the Dance. It is a wonderfully joyful celebration.
Speaking of his composition, Carter said, “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.” He adds, “Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did.”2
In fact, in the apocryphal gospel The Acts of John, just before he is about to be crucified, Jesus says to his disciples, “Before I am delivered up unto them let us sing an hymn to the Father, and so go forth to that which lieth before us.” John adds, “He bade us therefore make as it were a ring, holding one another’s hands, and himself standing in the midst. . . .” (1:94). They sang a hymn/prayer, which includes the following:
Grace danceth. I would pipe; dance ye all. Amen.
I would mourn: lament ye all. Amen.
The number Eight singeth praise with us. Amen.
The number Twelve danceth on high. Amen.
The Whole on high hath part in our dancing. Amen.
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass.
Amen. . . . (1:95)
Jesus concludes, “Thou that dancest, perceive what I do, for thine is this passion of the manhood, which I am about to suffer. . . .” John adds, “Thus, my beloved, having danced with us the Lord went forth.” (1:96)3
I love the idea of Christ as the Lord of the Dance. It fits with the optimistic message at the heart of Mormon Christianity with its emphasis on joy and Christ’s triumphant victory over sin and death. As Psalm 30:11 says, “You turned my wailing into dancing.” Mormons, unfortunately, don’t include dance in our sacred celebrations although dance is a central part of our culture. I feel Mormonism holds wonderful possibilities of sacred dance.
The Hebrew and Christian traditions imagine both God and Christ dancing. My imagination is also turned to our Heavenly Mother. Like Miriam (Exodus 15:20), I see her, tambourine in hand, leading her daughters—leading all of us—in a joyful dance celebrating our return home. Mother, Father, Son, holding hands and leading us in that joyful celestial dance. That will indeed be our ultimate dancing day!
NOTES
1. http://sacreddanceguild.org/about/about-sacred-dance/ (accessed 24 March 2025).
2. Sydney Carter, Lord of the Dance and other Songs and Poems (London: Stainer & Bell, 2002), as quoted at https://stainer.co.uk/lord-of-the-dance/ (accessed 24 March 2025).
3. http://gnosis.org/library/actjohn.htm (accessed 24 March 2025).