« More on Garrigou-Lagrange | Main | Very Quiet Day Today »
June 7, 2004
For the Liturgical Dance Afficianados Out There
Sorry, I don't like it. Not even a little. At best it is an unnecessary and usually vaguely pagan looking thing suggesting more the Eleusinian Mysteries than the Church, and at its worst, it is as described here. You can make all the abstract arguments you like, within the American Church, it has yet to be done in a way that enhances the spirit of reverence and worship. And that is part of what liturgy should be about--not the exaltation of the individual.
Posted by Steven Riddle at June 7, 2004 3:19 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.stblogs.org/scgi-bin/mv/mt-tb.cgi/9307
Comments
I think what was described there was bad theatrical dance, not actually "liturgical dance." The school where I photograph ballet stages a "sacred dance" concert every year or two. Much of it is mediocre and occasionally embarrasing (though never as ghastly as that jesuit's piece), but occasionally something really works, both balletically and religiously, e.g., Balanchine's "Prodigal Son." Note that this is *theatrical* dance; it's performed on a stage, not during a Mass.
Posted by: Don at June 7, 2004 9:24 PM