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The following is the abstract for the lecture I presented at the November 2009 at the Known World Dance Symposium VII at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The presentation included a variety of slides.

Abstract:
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven[s]… A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…", so says the King James Version of the Bible, and most translations before and after have agreed. While Salome's dancing might have cost John the Baptist his head, and King David's dancing and leaping might have disgusted his wife, surely Ecclesiastes 3:4, in stating that there is "a time to dance," could not be more clear. And yet, it could be more specific. Ecclesiastes 3:4, and the Bible generally, gives very little advice as to when exactly is the time for dancing; says nothing at all about what sort of dances one should dance; and offers contradictory examples of how one should dance. (Ref. 1) These biblical gray areas, compounded by the difficulty of describing ephemeral movement in words, have generated controversy since the early days of the Church. Yet, it was the Sabbatarian and behavioural reform movements of the Protestant Reformation in England that made opposition to dancing a matter of State interest. Carried to North America by the Puritans and other religious refugees, the questions of when, what, and how to dance have continued to perplex and confound clergy, parents, and the State… even to today. Comparing early modern views on dancing with more contemporary dance debates reveals patterns in the way people define and distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate manners of dancing.

References:

1. God and friends, Ecclesiastes 3:4, King James Version, available at GodRules.net (Accessed 21 November 2007).

 

For more of my papers please return to: Papers, Essays, and Lectures.