Dances For The Seasons Of The Christian Year

The seasons and feasts of the church year offer numerous possibilities for congregational movement and choreographed dance. Significant dimensions of these celebrations are best experienced through such action. The liturgical celebrations during the seasons provide variety, color, texture, emotion, and richness of theme to what would be a rather unexciting "ordinary time. " Each season has its own particular symbols as well as those that are part of the ritual throughout the year, such as bread and wine, water, and oil. In Advent, the symbols are darkness and light; at Christmas, light and birth, evergreens, and angelic choirs; in Lent, ashes and palms; in Easter, water, light, oil, flowers, and signs of new life; at Pentecost, fire, wind, and dancing people. There is a dramatic sequence to the events of the year that call forth special ritual response in symbolic moments. These "moments" are most often built into the rituals of the year, such as the Easter vigil. The problem that of…