Liturgical Dance

[Brendan]

The labyrtinths in the centre of cathedrals used to map the steps of a ‘dance of the heavens’.

Whoever told you that one fed you a line of bunk.

The labyrinths of the great cathedrals, particularly Chartres, were mini pilgrimages that were prayed in a fashion very similar in to rosaries.

The Chartres Labyrinth, for example, is divided up into 12 sections, and the each section was devoted to a particular part in the Life of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Crucifixion. Each section had a associated Psalm that the pilgrim chanted while reflecting on the particular ‘Mystery’.

The last section was devoted to the Passion, and the pilgrim finished the section crawling on their knees, chanting the Miserere ( Psalm 51) and beating their breasts.

Hardly Liturgical Dance.

 

[Rebecca_New]

PSSSSSDL82—this is a verrrry fervid topic on ca forum-it ranks above holding hands during the Our Father-just thought you would like to know

 

[DL82]

I just did a quick Google search, and learned that the term is actually “prefect.” Ya learn something new every day

Does that mean he gets to wear a special badge on his uniform and sit in the teachers’ common room at lunchtimes?

 

[puzzleannie]

Haha … I can just imagine our lovely Papa Benny getting a conga line going in St Peters during the event ‘eins und zwei und CHA-CHA, eins und zwei und CHA-CHA …’

well I watched it on EWTN and you are wrong, it was the typical Bavarian knee-slapping by overweight deacons wearing leiderhosen.

 

[DL82]

PSSSSSDL82—this is a verrrry fervid topic on ca forum-it ranks above holding hands during the Our Father-just thought you would like to know

Thanks for the warning. And thanks for the info on the labyrinths too.

Am I wrong in thinking there were dancing nuns in the Middle Ages too?

On the other hand, maybe the idea of dancing in church is not such a great one - I’m reminded of the dancing priest in Father Ted
:extrahappy: :irish3: :doh2:

 

[puzzleannie]

I have heard that this used to be commonplace. The labyrtinths in the centre of cathedrals used to map the steps of a ‘dance of the heavens’.

the labyrinths in the medieval cathedrals had nothing whatever to do with liturgical dance, now or then. They were meant, like stations of the cross, to replace symbolically the pilgrimage to the Holy Land when it became impossible for a real pilgrimage due to Moslem takeover of those lands.

Nowhere in the Latin Rite is there a place for liturgical dance. See concurrent thread. A procession, even with rhythmic movement, such as cited in OP, is not dance.

 

[lizaanne]

Is there anywhere in the Roman rite where they still dance?

See here: adoremus.org/Dance.html

Liturgical dance is not allowed in the Roman Rite. And priests can’t just make up their own interpretation of this. Period.

~Liza

 

[Erich]

PSSSSSDL82—this is a verrrry fervid topic on ca forum-it ranks above holding hands during the Our Father-just thought you would like to know

Someone (I forget who) who posts on these fora has a signature something along the lines of “There will be plenty of time in purgatory for liturgical dancing.”

 

[puzzleannie]

Someone (I forget who) who posts on these fora has a signature something along the lines of “There will be plenty of time in purgatory for liturgical dancing.”

those who foisted this and similar abuses upon us will have to watch badly trained inept “dancers” with figures not built for athletic pursuits, wearing cheap unflattering draperies, cavort about to banal music with unsingable lyrics for several thousand years of purgatory (if I have anything to say about it). They will also have to contend with proud relatives of the dancers jockeying for video and camera angles.

 

[DL82]

From the article by Cardinal Arinze, it seems that there is no place for dance in ‘the West’, where dance hasn’t played a part in Christian worship in the past.

Point taken.

What if a parish has a large number of members of African or Asian descent? Would it be acceptable in the context of their culture? Would it matter whether these people are 1st generation African immigrants or African Americans who have been living in ‘the West’ yet with distinctive elements to their culture, for hundreds of years?

 

[Brendan]

What if a parish has a large number of members of African or Asian descent? Would it be acceptable in the context of their culture? Would it matter whether these people are 1st generation African immigrants or African Americans who have been living in ‘the West’ yet with distinctive elements to their culture, for hundreds of years?

What does a Mass look like in their home country? Would we find dancing at a Mass in the Cathedral of Manilla; how much does Cardinal Tumi of Douala see dance in his liturgies?

Perhaps they should look at those as their models.