Worship dance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Worship dance is any kind of dance that is undertaken for the specific purpose of religious worship.
As a basic element of human expression, dance is found within many of the world's religions, and is frequently associated with worship. However, use of the term worship dance appears to be restricted to Christianity and Messianic Judaism.
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[edit] Hinduism
From a Hindu point of view, the whole Universe is being brought into existence as the manifestation of the dance of the Supreme Dancer, Nataraja. In the Hindu scriptures every god has his or her own style (lasya and tandava respectively represent two aspects of dance). We read about 23 celestial beings called Apsaras who dance to please the gods and express the supreme truths in the magic of movement.
The dance in Hinduism used to be a part of a sacred temple ritual, especially in South and Eastern India, where the female priestesses devadasi's worshipped different aspects of the Divine through the elaborate language of mime and gestures. Natyashastra is the most ancient and the most elaborate scripture describing every element and aspect of this sacred art-worship.
The temple dance gradually evolved into what is known today as the South Indian Classical Dance that still preserves many ritualistic elements of Hinduism. Some of the classical Indian dancers are believed to be incarnations of apsaras.
[edit] Messianic Judaism
A distinctive style of worship dance has developed within Messianic Judaism. Known as messianic dance or davidic dance (named after King David, who famously danced before the Ark of the Covenant), it takes a similar form to Israeli Folk Dancing.
[edit] References
Christian
- Gagne, Robert, Kane, Thomas, VerEecke, Robert (1999). Introducing Dance In Christian Worship. ISBN 1-56929-030-X.
Messianic Judaism
- Silberling, Murray (1995). Dancing For Joy - A Biblical Approach To Praise And Worship, ISBN 1-880226-62-6
