Beautiful Motion

I absolutely loved chapter three in Van der Leeuw’s section on dance, referred to as beautiful motion. In this chapter, he talks about the enmity between dance and religion, caused primarily because of the connection between dance and theater and eroticism.

He says that Christianity has been “the outspoken enemy of the body and all sensual pleasures, which it never considers innocent.” And that “Christianity knows no innocent sensuality, nor the glory of the body.” Dance brings out the glory of the body, and is always putting it on display in some form or other, often serving for “the mutual attraction of the sexes.” A religion that exalts virginity about all else must hate “the enticements of the moving body” and “cannot stand for beautiful movement.”

This is not true Christianity, however. It is a Christianity that, as Van der leeuw puts it, has forgotten its Jewish heritage (David danced before the Lord with all his might!) and adopted the Greek idea of the evil of the body.

“True Christianity knows that body and soul were both equally created by God, equally attacked by corruption, and equally saved by Christ.” It’s as equally right to suggest that the movement of the body could express the holy as that words and speech could express it… both the body and the soul have been redeemed! It’s also as equally wrong, however, because nothing on earth could fully express that which is “wholly other” and corruption resides in every human expression. However we have been commanded by God to glorify him with all our powers, and we have been created in His image. So let us dance.

eks