 Dancing at the all-night WYD "vigil": "Front to front to front, my baby"  "Back to back to back, my baby!"  "Side to side to side, my baby..." From World Youth Day Toronto, 2002 |
Posted on 12/13/2002 4:33:46 PM PST by NYer
Youth in Oneonta express themselves through movement
STAFF WRITER
Youth at St. Mary's Church in Oneonta are bringing prayer to the parish in a new way: through the lyrical movement of liturgical dance.
Interest in dance began with a 1995 production of the Marty Haugen musical, "Tales of Wonder." Previously, said youth minister Michelle Gardner, the young people "didn't think that [liturgical dance] was something that the community wanted." But when parishioners reacted favorably to the musical, dance was integrated into the youth ministry program.
Ms. Gardner stressed that the troupe's liturgical dance is not a performance, but "a way of praying. It was about giving something that you had and finding your own personal style of prayer."
Signs of faith
Kelly Cyzeski, 17, describes the choreography as "simple movements that allow people to reflect on what is being said in the music."
While the word "dance" often conjures images of leaps, twists and pirouettes, Ms. Gardner said that such agitated movements do not have a place in the program at St. Mary's. She calls the choreography "minimalist" and said that the teens are concerned about "leaving room for the people to pray."
"We pray as we do the movement, and the movement is our prayer," Kelly asserted. "We give it life."
Link to youth
Dance has also become a way that St. Mary's connects to young people. Dance has been incorporated into the Confirmation program and stands as something youth can do to "reach their spirituality," according to Ms. Gardner. "It's beautiful. They're happy. They're praying, and they don't even know it."
For teens whose spirituality is centered not in silent prayer but in action and experience, dance can be a prime way to express to God their hopes, prayers, aspirations and devotions. Because liturgical dance requires a different sort of commitment from the body than traditional silent prayer, says Ms. Gardner, it can help young people further involve themselves as active participants in liturgy.
"It makes teens say, 'I can bring all of me here? They don't just want a little part of me?' When they get up there and move, they feel they are a part of it -- not watching it, not hearing it -- but a part of the prayer process," she said.
Involvement
Youth involved in the dance troupe eventually involve themselves with other aspects of Church ministry, according to Ms. Gardner. They go on to be catechists, music ministers, lectors and Eucharistic ministers, and involve themselves in youth events and social ministries.
"The dancers 'get it,'" she explained. "They find that the community they are in makes this possible. [The parishioners are] very accepting at St. Mary's and truly celebrate these young people. They welcome a variety of prayer models and liturgies, and celebrate each other's gifts."
Kelly, who has been dancing since the age of five, said that liturgical dance has helped her to feel that she was "actually accomplishing something."
Branching out
This year, the dancers are concentrating on expanding their ministry. According to Ms. Gardner, they would like to take their unique brand of liturgical dance to conferences and other parishes; to that end, they're currently creating a video library of their repertory to show other parishes and dioceses.
Another goal is to keep the program alive, so future teens can connect with the sort of hands-on faith the program advocates.
"Some of the images of prayer that children take into their heads are hard for kids. Sometimes, it appears like prayer is a sad thing," Ms. Gardner said. "But prayer can be a celebration."
FROM THESE DIRECTIVES, from the NATIONAL CONFERENCE of CATHOLIC BISHOPS, all dancing, (ballet, children's gesture as dancing, the clown liturgy) are not permitted to be "introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever."
As I type this, my 11th grade confirmandi students are dancing down the aisles at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Latham, NY. They have been assured by the DRE that this is an appropriate religious expression, now confirmed by this article that appeared in today's edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Evangelist. Last Monday, I handed a copy of the linked article, banning ALL liturgical dance from the liturgy, to the DRE. It would seem that she has the approbation of Bishop Howard Hubbard who authors this newspaper.
Please help me by freeping the editor. Email: james.breig@rcda.org . By joining your voices with mine, perhaps we can stop this from spreading to a diocese near you.
"The story is that of a tumbler--tombeor, street-acrobat--who was disgusted with the world, as his class has had a reputation for becoming, and who was fortunate enough to obtain admission into the famous monastery of Clairvaux, where Saint Bernard may have formerly been blessed by the Virgin's presence. Ignorant at best, and especially ignorant of letters, music, and the offices of a religious society, he found himself unable to join in the services:- -
For he had learned no other thing
Than to tumble, dance and spring:
Leaping and vaulting, that he knew,
But nothing better could he do.
He could not say his prayers by rote;
Not "Pater noster", not a note,
Not "Ave Mary," nor the creed;
Nothing to help his soul in need.
"Tormented by the sense of his uselessness to the society whose bread he ate without giving a return in service, and afraid of being expelled as a useless member, one day while the bells were calling to mass he hid in the crypt, and in despair began to soliloquize before the Virgin's altar, at the same spot, one hopes, where the Virgin had shown herself, or might have shown herself, in her infinite bounty, to Saint Bernard, a hundred years before:--
"Ha!" said he, "how I am ashamed!
To sing his part goes now each priest,
And I stand here, a tethered beast,
Who nothing do but browse and feed
And waste the food that others need.
Shall I say nothing, and stand still?
No! by God's mother, but I will!
She shall not think me here for naught;
At least I'll do what I've been taught!
At least I'll serve in my own way
God's mother in her church to-day.
The others serve to pray and sing;
I will serve to leap and spring."
Then he strips him of his gown,
Lays it on the altar down;
But for himself he takes good care
Not to show his body bare,
But keeps a jacket, soft and thin,
Almost a shirt, to tumble in.
Clothed in this supple woof of maille
His strength and health and form showed well.
And when his belt is buckled fast,
Toward the Virgin turns at last:
Very humbly makes his prayer;
"Lady!" says he, "to your care
I commit my soul and frame.
Gentle Virgin, gentle dame,
Do not despise what I shall do,
For I ask only to please you,
To serve you like an honest man,
So help me God, the best I can.
I cannot chant, nor can I read,
But I can show you here instead,
All my best tricks to make you laugh,
And so shall be as though a calf
Should leap and jump before its dam.
Lady, who never yet could blame
Those who serve you well and true,
All that I am, I am for you."
Then he begins to jump about,
High and low, and in and out,
Straining hard with might and main;
Then, falling on his knees again,
Before the image bows his face:
"By your pity! by your grace!"
Says he, "Ha! my gentle queen,
Do not despise my offering!"
"Quelsque jo soie, por vos soit!"
Simple possession of Marty Haugen music is a venial sin.
Possession for the purposes of public performance is a mortal sin.
An entire evening of Marty Haugen music is a latae sententiae excommunication. ;-{)
Dancing at the all-night WYD "vigil": "Front to front to front, my baby" "Back to back to back, my baby!" "Side to side to side, my baby..." From World Youth Day Toronto, 2002 |
Are your 11th graders dancing during a Novus Ordo or are they just dancing inside the church building?
By joining your voices with mine, perhaps we can stop this from spreading to a diocese near you.
Good luck trying! But I hafta tell you that the trajectory is on the side of the dancers. The Novus Ordo is in perpetual "adaptation" and "renewal." So even if dance is still forbidden this year, there is every possibility that it will be permitted next year. Remember that V2 allows all sorts of things during the Novus Ordo under the umbrella of "inculturation" -- which is to V2 what the "Commerce Clause" is to the Constitution.
Dancing at a Youth Rally....obviously Satanists<>
Useful idiot.
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