Dancing during Lent

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Anyone have any thoughts about dancing during Lent? People typically like to go dancing on the weekend, often times on Friday to blow off some steam. Once upon a time, dancing was prohibited during the entire lenten season.
 
My wife doesn’t dance during Lent. It is just the way she was raised. Of course, I don’t mind since I’m not a big fan of dancing. 🙂
 
TheAdvocate said:
Anyone have any thoughts about dancing during Lent? People typically like to go dancing on the weekend, often times on Friday to blow off some steam. Once upon a time, dancing was prohibited during the entire lenten season.
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I personally see nothing wrong with it. As far as I know, the Church doesn’t prohibit it anymore.
 
TheAdvocate said:
What about Fridays during Lent? What about Good Friday? I just looking for opinions.
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I am no sure if it’s prohibitted, but atleast out of respect for the death of our Lord (and common sence) one shouldnt really be dancing or drinking on Good Friday, My family has this tradition where tv, radio, & music are not allowed from Holy Thursday to the end of Easter Vigil.
 
TheAdvocate said:
Anyone have any thoughts about dancing during Lent? People typically like to go dancing on the weekend, often times on Friday to blow off some steam. Once upon a time, dancing was prohibited during the entire lenten season.
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in some places it is not permitted…such as Poland (local Church law)

but in many places it is not forbidden (of course chaste good dancing…I could not recommend perhaps disco-techs …at least from what i have heard etc)

I also would think it would not be fitting on Good Friday…
 
Dancing in general isn’t bad, but clubbing and “dirty dancing” is contrary to the spirit of Lent. Lent is about preparing oneself to be cleansed and brought closer to Christ in the celebration of the Resurrection, and I don’t see how dancing would help. Unless you’re waltzing or something…
 
TheAdvocate said:
What about Fridays during Lent? What about Good Friday? I just looking for opinions.
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I personally would find it distasteful and disrespectful to dance on Good Friday. I’m not sure if I would go as far as blasphemous, but definitely distasteful and disrespectful.
 
I think it depends on who you are talking about as well. I don’t agree with dancing and partying on good friday, but at other times during lent I think it depends on the person’s age and social environment.

For a college student to go out with friends and dance following completion of a mid term exam (during lent), I feel is acceptable. However if someone is merely looking for a fun night, it might be more prudent for them to stay home and read scripture during the season of lent.
 
PeaceSerenity said:
Dancing in general isn’t bad, but clubbing and “dirty dancing” is contrary to the spirit of Lent. Lent is about preparing oneself to be cleansed and brought closer to Christ in the celebration of the Resurrection, and I don’t see how dancing would help. Unless you’re waltzing or something…
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‘Dirty dancing’ is contrary to the Spirit full stop - can’t think of a worse occasion of sin.

I don’t think doing anything celebratory is really appropriate on either Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, unless in a very quiet way if it were your birthday or something. Even then I’d probably leave the celebrating until the day after.

On other days of Lent, I’d say moderate celebration is fine, assuming one doesn’t neglect one’s duty to abstain on other Lenten Fridays. Especially if it’s a Sunday which, every Sunday being a mini-Easter, should always be a little festive.

Mind you, there were all sorts of rules about Lent in medieval times - couples would abstain from marital relations for the whole season of Lent, people wouldn’t wear any jewellery or ‘festive’ (showy) clothing, they wouldn’t watch secular plays or the like.
 
I agree that an evening of dancing, like a weekend party, doesn’t fit with Good Friday. But, I know some people express themselves through dance. I think some people might feel moved on Good Friday to express their sorrow through a dance done in private (at home, for the Lord).
 
I think that there should be no excessive dancing during Holy Thursday or Good Friday because it would be focusing one’s attention towards things other than Christ’s Passion. That being said however, I would strongly recommend a night out to dance to take place shortly after the Easter Vigil Mass. 👍
 
TheAdvocate said:
Anyone have any thoughts about dancing during Lent? People typically like to go dancing on the weekend, often times on Friday to blow off some steam. Once upon a time, dancing was prohibited during the entire lenten season.
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For me, there is a time and place for everything. I love dancing but I feel, it is not the time to dance during the Lenten season. It is a time to be in silence and reflection. One should not think about dancing especially on Good Friday. We are in a time of sorrow and yes we will be in a time of Joy also 🙂

I will continue to dance later on in the comfort of my home 🙂

anyone feel the same way?

Happy Easter :):signofcross:
 
If I got some good news that was obviously Blessed by God. I don’t think I could help but dance. I dance to celebrate all the time. But during Lent when my thoughts are so often on the suffering of Christ dancing doesn’t seem to be in the theme for the day.

However, on Sunday I do try to be joyful and this Easter Sunday coming I think I’ll be very joyful. My husband was supposed to have died says the doctors and he is now in Radiation Treatment so a little to a lot of celebrating is needed. For us Lent has been a purging of all our fear and I think dancing will be called for on Easter Sunday.

Of course, we’re spending a very strange Tridiuum. We’re staying with my JW mother in Law, going to Easter Vigil with her other very Catholic son and his family and spending Easter morning after Mass with our Atheist nephew who we believe is married to a divorced Catholic girl.
 
PeaceSerenity said:
Dancing in general isn’t bad, but clubbing and “dirty dancing” is contrary to the spirit of Lent. Lent is about preparing oneself to be cleansed and brought closer to Christ in the celebration of the Resurrection, and I don’t see how dancing would help. Unless you’re waltzing or something…
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What about little children who simply dance for joy?

I recall hearing something about John the Baptist. Or at least he leapt with joy. 😃
 
I’m pretty sure that dancing is not a sin, even during Lent. However, if you are engaging in the bumping and grinding type of dancing or any related forms of dancing, you should probably stop and reconsider what you are doing and this is for non-Lenten seasons as well.
 
I retired from New York City Ballet five years ago. One year we had a performance of La Bayadere scheduled on Good Friday. I asked my priest if it would be considered sinful for me to rehearse during Lent and perform on Good Friday, and he said no, since this was my job at the time. He did recommend that I spend part of the day in reading Scripture and perhaps attend Good Friday devotions, which I did. It hadn’t even occurred to me actually to question the morality of this entire issue, since I had never heard of a dancing ban for Catholics during Lent (at least, not in modern times.) But one of the other dancers had made a remark about giving up dancing for Lent (it was tongue in cheek, she had just twisted an ankle pretty badly) early that February, so I decided to check it out.

Since I retired from the stage, I rarely do any kind of dancing, even social dance, other than when I am teaching.

But I seriously doubt that you’re talking about doing classical ballet, anyways!
 
odile53 said:
I retired from New York City Ballet five years ago. One year we had a performance of La Bayadere scheduled on Good Friday. I asked my priest if it would be considered sinful for me to rehearse during Lent and perform on Good Friday, and he said no, since this was my job at the time. He did recommend that I spend part of the day in reading Scripture and perhaps attend Good Friday devotions, which I did. It hadn’t even occurred to me actually to question the morality of this entire issue, since I had never heard of a dancing ban for Catholics during Lent (at least, not in modern times.) But one of the other dancers had made a remark about giving up dancing for Lent (it was tongue in cheek, she had just twisted an ankle pretty badly) early that February, so I decided to check it out.

Since I retired from the stage, I rarely do any kind of dancing, even social dance, other than when I am teaching.

But I seriously doubt that you’re talking about doing classical ballet, anyways!
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I figured from your screen name…

Did you ever perform Swan Lake?

I probably mentioned in this thread that I dance around the house all the time, until recently. I’m still not sure what’s sinful about that.
 
I danced with that company for 22 years; we had eight runs of Swan Lake during my career there. I normally danced in the corps; the last two runs I had minor solo roles as well as in the corps. I never was a principal dancer with NYCB but had been a principal with a smaller company for a couple of years upstate before I started working for them. I danced the lead role in one eight-performance run.

I never have heard that dancing, either as an art form or as a social pastime, is considered sinful by the church, provided the dance is executed with decorum. Even though a considerable part of our repertory was modern ballets, we were never placed in a position where the average person would consider the performance indecent. There was no nudity; tight fitting costumes are really necessary to be able to execute this kind of athleticism (the same as a gymnast or skater,) and even the romantic pas de deux were not sexualized. After all, this isn’t so-called exotic dance!

Just to make sure, today I asked a friend of ours who is a priest about the supposed sinfulness of dance, during Lent or otherwise. He looked at me as if I had taken leave of my senses, and told me that he was not aware of anything in canon law that prohibits dance, either as a performing art or as social dance, provided that normal decency is maintained. He did say that Lent is a season of recollection and undue festivity is not in keeping with the spirit of the season, but it doesn’t really rise to the definition of sin. 🤷
 
Odile53,

I think people were thinking not about dance being wrong, but were wondering about festive activities during lent, a penitential time. I interpreted the original post as asking about a party, like going out with friends to dance in a club or bar. Myself, I would find that a distraction to my state of mind during the Triduum.

You can probably find a random/odd Catholic out there who is against the ballet, but I’ve not heard anything in Church teaching about it. I have read complaints in the saints about amusements like playing cards and social dancing, though. It’s been awhile since I read a saint who talked about it, so I don’t remember the exact nature of the complaint.
 
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