This has been a perplexing question, and one that most people have failed to answer simply because they possess little or no insight into the concept of dance and the rhythm of life.
For many generations dance has been married to music much so that a divorce of such seems ludicrous and totally outrageous. Who has ever heard of such a crazy concept of dancing without music? Dance has never been portrayed anywhere without some kind of music or sound.
Have you as a dancer considered what you would do if the music suddenly stops? What if you suddenly became deaf? The true praise dancer is one who knows how to praise God with or without music. When the music suddenly ceases, the worship dancer continues, because his worship is not in the music but in the knowledge of whom he worships. The dance continues because it is not an act that is based on circumstances but a sacrifice that is fueled by contrition, adoration and passion. So without music the dancer moves to the rhythm of the music within his soul, and to the rhythm of the music of the breath of life.
Just as the trees sway and bow their heads to the force of the wind, and just as the birds flap their wings and render a melodious tune unto God, so does the dancer make melody in her heart unto the Lord, and like the trees she moves not to music but through the force of the wind of the Spirit, and in freedom, she raises her hands in humble surrender, she claps her hands, leaps for joy, runs, jumps, stomps, bows, kneel or lay prostrate before the lord.
Dance is simply the sacrifice of the living. It is a language; it is an expression, and acknowledgement of thanks by the body for the breath of life, and the gratitude of the spirit for freedom. It is worship. Basically, dance is what the worshipper does when music is not enough. Music engages the mouth and probably the hands as we play instruments like the piano or the guitar, but dance engages the whole being, it never ceases, it will outlast the song and the music and it will exist as long as life exists in the dancer.
Dance is the movement of the dancer’s limbs at dawn. It is the thanksgiving of the dancer’s heart for a brand new day and yet for life. It is the offering of the dancer upon waking long before the beating of the drums or the playing of a musical note, or the rendering of a song. Yes dance is the response to the music of the dancer’s heartbeat.
Whether there is external music or not, dance exists in the heart of the living. The question is, unto whom shall my dance be rendered?
Sukky Macaulay Fagbohun.
