Remembering a "Spirit of Vatican II" moment in liturgical dance
This has been around for a long time, but well worth revisiting if you haven't seen it for a while. And if you HAVEN'T seen it, well ... it's an absolute MUST! You gotta LOVE this guy!
As for ‘liturgical dance’ –I can accept it in theory, at least in cultures where dance plays a large traditional role—but I’ve never seen an example in person that wasn’t completely silly and distracting. You can scarcely get white folks to sing at mass; what makes anyone think they should get up and dance?
As for ‘liturgical dance’ –I can accept it in theory, at least in cultures where dance plays a large traditional role
Yep. Africa (specifically Ethiopia I believe) is often invoked as a justification of liturgical dance. I've only seen one video of African liturgical dance, and it was during the procession and looked nothing like the nonsense we see in the West. My understanding is that after the procession all the dancing stops, but I could be wrong. Second, why don't all these pro-lit dancing types switch rites if they want it so bad? It is allowed after all.
C.S. Lewis argued that he wanted fewer hymns sung in his Anglican church because the congregation was flat-out bad at singing and we should offer to God's glory what we do *well*, not what we do badly. That's a pretty good argument against liturgical dance as well. (But not the only argument!)
Great comment, Rachel. Lewis somewhere also compares liturgy to a dance, but only to say that therefore its form should not keep changing. Only then, can one master the steps of the dance, forget about what his feet are doing, and concentrate on his PARTNER! Excellent point!
As for the 'inculturation' argument for places like Africa, I would suggest that this should never be taken as a pretext or excuse for neglecting to INCULCATE in native converts the liturgical patrimony of Catholic tradition.
As for ‘liturgical dance’ –I can accept it in theory, at least in cultures where dance plays a large traditional role—but I’ve never seen an example in person that wasn’t completely silly and distracting. You can scarcely get white folks to sing at mass; what makes anyone think they should get up and dance?
ReplyDeleteAs for ‘liturgical dance’ –I can accept it in theory, at least in cultures where dance plays a large traditional role
ReplyDeleteYep. Africa (specifically Ethiopia I believe) is often invoked as a justification of liturgical dance. I've only seen one video of African liturgical dance, and it was during the procession and looked nothing like the nonsense we see in the West. My understanding is that after the procession all the dancing stops, but I could be wrong. Second, why don't all these pro-lit dancing types switch rites if they want it so bad? It is allowed after all.
C.S. Lewis argued that he wanted fewer hymns sung in his Anglican church because the congregation was flat-out bad at singing and we should offer to God's glory what we do *well*, not what we do badly. That's a pretty good argument against liturgical dance as well. (But not the only argument!)
ReplyDeleteGreat comment, Rachel. Lewis somewhere also compares liturgy to a dance, but only to say that therefore its form should not keep changing. Only then, can one master the steps of the dance, forget about what his feet are doing, and concentrate on his PARTNER! Excellent point!
ReplyDeleteAs for the 'inculturation' argument for places like Africa, I would suggest that this should never be taken as a pretext or excuse for neglecting to INCULCATE in native converts the liturgical patrimony of Catholic tradition.