Folk Dance In Worship

Folk dances express the ethos of a culture in much the same way that music and poetry do. Shared cultural sentiments and beliefs take shape in folk dance patterns that can be learned with little difficulty. These dance styles can be used in worship with many members of the congregation participating. Before examining the role of folk dance in worship, one must investigate the subject of folk dance, defining it, discovering its origins, and identifying its purposes. Most simply defined, folk dance is the dance of the folk or the common people. Dancers and scholars disagree as to what can actually be labeled folk dance. Discussions dwell upon the confusion between such terms and concepts as "folk dance," "primitive dance," "ethnic dance," and "stage dance" and on the distinction between folk dance and modern recreational forms of ballroom dancing. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Book 7 [1976 ed. ], s. v. "Folk Dance," 449) Whereas some authorities do not differentiate between the terms et…