A Dance For Maundy Thursday

The dance below is meant to express a note of joy in an otherwise sober service. The expression of joy in a service of sobriety reminds us of the gospel that is always present, even in the darkest moment.

Every day we should move as the resurrected body of Christ. Every Holy Thursday celebration should incorporate the joy of the Resurrection, even as we remember the crosses ahead; for the cross itself has meaning only in the context of Resurrection. The celebrational joy of the Lord's Supper moves us beyond ourselves and out into the world. The following simple historic Jewish and Christian dance patterns may be used with many of the hymns planned for the Maundy Thursday celebration. The Christian tripudium dance pattern is especially helpful to incarnate the recessional hymn of the celebration. The following descriptive material on the biblical and historical uses of dance in worship could be incorporated in the homily or presented as instructions just before the congregation is invited to do (or watch) the dances that embody our faithful response to setbacks or hardships. Dancing is particularly appropriate during Maundy Thursday celebrations because such celebrations are popularly associated with the Jewish Passover. The very word Passover (pesach in Hebrew) means "leaping" or "limping." Scholars conclude that such limping dances were a part of the original Israelite celebrations. They recall the Passover conditions prior to the Exodus experience. Such limping, or mourning, dances were common in Near Eastern religions and recalled the slavery condition of the people before their exodus to freedom. (C. H. Toy, "The Meaning of Pesach," The Journal of Biblical Literature 16 [1897]: 178–79; and Theodor H. Gaster, Passover, Its History and Traditions [Boston: Beacon, 1968], 23–25.) This pesach dance is appropriate for those who are without hope and those who are utterly dependent—people for whom God has not yet acted decisively. A likely recreation of this dance step is outlined by Jewish dance expert Florence Freehold: 1. Step forward with the right foot. 2. Flex the right knee. 3. Draw the left toes up to the right heel as the right knee is straightened. 4. Step forward with the right foot and continue repeating this limping sequence. (Florence Freehol, Jews Are a Dancing People [San Francisco: Stark-Rath Publishing, 1954], 56.) Dancers moving in a circle may demonstrate this limping dance as the speaker continues to provide background information such as the following discussion. In an effort to disassociate themselves from surrounding Near Eastern religions, Israelites eventually rejected all mourning dances and used only joyful dances in worship. The only other instance of mourning dance (pesach) in the Old Testament is the dance done by the priests of Baal mocked by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:28). That Baal dance was mournful for it was based on a belief that the world's problems were traceable to God being asleep or away. Until the return of God, there was little the people could do except the mourning dance. The Israelites eventually rejected the mourning dance and embraced only joyful dances. This expressed a belief that the world's problems were traceable to the fact that people were asleep to God, who was very much alive and active for them. The joyful dance was to wake the people up to all that they could do. (For a detailed study of these shifting emphases in Jewish dance, see Doug Adams, Congregational Dancing in Christian Worship [Austin, Tex.: The Sharing Company, 1977], especially pp. 83–94 on "Jewish Rejoiceful Dance and Recognition of Possibility.") Christianity followed in the Jewish tradition and stressed a joyful dance pattern used whenever hymns were sung in worship. The homily or instruction would climax with the introduction of the joyful tripudium dance, which contrasts strongly with the mourning Pesach step. It is this simple tripudium dance step that all would be invited to join in doing as they move out of the church singing the recessional hymn at the end of the celebration. The tripudium dance step was the most common dance step in Christian church processions and recessions for a thousand years. It fits with any hymn of 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 time. Tripudium means literally "three-step" and comes to be translated "jubilation" because of the joy it produces in those who do it. To do this dance, simply take three steps forward and one back, three steps forward and one back, time after time. People did not do this step in a single file or in a circle. Rather they did it in processions with many abreast, with arms linked in row after row. They would move through the streets and into the church, around inside the church during the hymns of the service, and then they would go back through the streets as a recessional. Moving three, four, or more abreast with arms linked makes this step much easier to do. One can hardly fall behind. This manner of dance, which has the character of a march that does not simply go in circles, is more reflective of a faith that believes in a God of history rather than of a view that sees the world caught forever in its own cyclical return. Taking three steps forward and one back, three steps forward and one back, time after time, leads to a spirit that sees setbacks in the context of forward progress. (For a more complete history of the tripudium step in Christian worship, see Adams, Congregational Dancing, 19–20, 96–97.) A most effective closing to a Maundy Thursday worship combines a meaningful gesture of benediction within the context of a joyful recessional use of the tripudium step. Through this dance, people sense a heightening of community, repentance, rejoicing, and rededication. The music leaders begin singing the recessional hymn (e.g., the simple "Alleluia" by Richard Horn as contained in Gather 'Round, edited by Paul F. Page and available through the Modern Liturgy Bookstore). After the congregation has joined in the singing and can continue without needing to look at any song sheets, the dancers and music leaders begin moving (with the tripudium step) around and around the altar Communion table as they continue singing. They do this not in single file, nor in rows of two or three abreast with arms linked, although the latter method is an alternative way of recessing. Instead, they move as a massed group. Each person places a hand on the shoulder of one person ahead of them (as a gesture of benediction). After they have moved around the altar this way for a time, one or more of them invite others in the congregation to join them as they continue to move around the altar. After a few more times around the altar, they move through the aisles of the church signaling others to join them in the singing and in the recessional, as all move out of the church.