Danced Prayers

I really enjoy watching others dance. I don’t mean performances by skilled dancers from professional companies with astounding technique who have trained hard and long, and whose passion for dance radiates through their every move and captivating stage presence. Let me clarify, I really enjoy watching others dance, when they are dancing because they must, must use every part of their beings to express praise, thanksgiving and prayer before their Creator who made their very beings.

At the dance rehearsal for the Anglican IGS celebration service today, I found myself watching C when her group was practicing and mine wasn’t. As the musical prelude went on and all the dancers stood with arms raised and open in ‘praise’ position, my eyes fell on C. While all dancers had their arms in the same raised positions (with the children fidgeting when their arms got tired the way children’s arms do), there was something about C’s stance that was different. She wasn’t just waiting for the prelude to end, she was praying. Her lips were not moving; her eyes were not even closed. But somehow, that’s what was communicated to me when I watched her. Prayer.

And so I watched her all through the rehearsal. Beyond getting the steps right, beyond perfect ballet technique, beyond the perfect dancer’s body, I saw someone who was pouring out her entire heart to God, crying out to God with her very being what her words were inadequate to express. With every fibre of her being, I saw her crying out desperate, passionate prayers to God— prayers for her husband and children, prayers of heartfelt worship and adoration to God her maker. For C, dance was the best language for prayer, as dance allows for that desperate ‘reaching beyond’ the most urgent and heartfelt prayers in spoken languages can hardly.

C used to be able to join us for weekly dance practices, but fighting pressures from having to spend time with her family during that same time slot has since stopped her. I know that C loves to express praise and prayer to God in this manner, and I know that she has missed the weekly time to do so with us. So all the more having had less of desired the joy is all the more intense.

C, thank you for telling me today so plainly through your dance that God is worthy of your adoration, that all you want to do is to express praise to Him, that though things in your life may not always be sunny, that God is still worthy to be praised, adored and sought after for all your family’s needs.