The Origin of Dance

The origin of dance lies in the ancient human past. Just like birds and animals danced for mating, so it was then. The duet of mating and the need for communal expression were probably the two earliest motivations that brought on dance. The fight of two male animals for a female, for example, has its counterpart in the wedding festivities of certain Bedouins, which include a sword dance between two men.

In ancient times, the Plains Indians had dance movements of the wolf, antelope, buffalo and the beaver in their lodge ceremonies. The delicate butterfly is the object of a Samoan dance, and in Japan this creature is depicted with great beauty in the Kabuki drama.

 In Central America Aztec dancing rituals can still be traced. Among the Israelites, there were sacred processional encircling, ecstatic (trancelike), festival, victory, wedding and funeral dances for the rites of circumcision, which still do exist today in Africa and Australia.

Greek gods (such as Apollo, Ares, Dionysius, Pan, Artemis, Zeus, and Hera) were all worshiped through dance. Another example is the dance of King David before the Ark of the Covenant. In 1581, ten years after O-Kuni created the Kabuki theatre art in Japan, the first full spectacle ballet is recorded in the Ballet Comique de la Reine, presented at the court of Catherine de Medicis.In 1661, Louis XIV of France founded the Academie de la danse, and ballet, the theatre dance of the west was firmly established. Ballroom dancing had its origins as the folk dance of the aristocracy. As farmer and artisan jumped on the village square, the courtier and his lady stepped into the halls of court. By the time the 16th century arrived, dancing had become a major diversion of sovereigns and the court. The pavane, sarabande, galliard, and courante were known throughout Europe, and the lively jig was one favorite in England. The minuet appeared in the late 1600’s and was danced for two centuries. The gavotte which was originally a peasant dance was introduced to the court of Louis XIV. The faranadole and chaconne also belong to this period.                                               Dance is an innate expression of the mind and soul, responding to rhythmic sounds, beats or musical notes with corresponding body movements. Dancing is also one of the purest forms of worship; it’s an expression of love, joy and pure delight. If you love someone deeply, you dance for them; if you love music you dance to it, and if you love God, one of the profound ways that you express your love, gratitude to him, and your delight in him will be through dancing.        

In contemporary times, dancing has taken on diverse forms and has become more complex than in ancient times. A more systematic and structural approach has been introduced and added to make dance more dignified, and accepted than in the limited world of early man, when dance was only restricted to ancestral or temple worship. 

Despite all the various possibilities of how dance came into existence, God is still the author of this unique activity on the face of the planet. God has given us the ability to create dance for his viewing pleasure. When God looks down from His Abode and sees man dancing in love, joy and profound gratitude to Him with sincerity of heart, He is pleased. And in that state of ultimate pleasure, God bellows his entire sovereignty on the object of his pleasure. If a mere man like King Herod in the Bible, could be so moved as to offer Herodias’ daughter up to half of his entire kingdom for pleasing him with her dance, who at the insistence of her mother, demanded the head of John the Baptist and he ordered that it been given to her on a platter; talk more of God Almighty, the Monarch of the universe, who created all things, imagine what he can do in your life when you begin to dance just to please Him!         

References: Matthew 14:6-12; Psalms 149:3