Many of us have heard the term liturgical dance before.

But what exactly is liturgical dance?  First let’s define the word liturgical.  Liturgical means public worship. It is derived from the word liturgy which means a fixed set of ceremonies or rites that are performed in public within a religion.

For example, baptism, and communion are liturgy rites in the Christian faith.

What is dance?

Dance is defined as a series of movements , to move one’s body rhythmically, to leap, to skip from excitement, and to dance with joy.  Dance is a way in which you can convey a message through movement.

There’re certain attributes that need to be present in a liturgical dance ministry piece. First the dance should bring forth a message of comfort strength or joy to others.

If we put these two definitions together, it means liturgical dance is dance that publicly worships the Lord and conveys a message.

The movements need to glorify God. 

The dance should have a devotional quality about it, that can be seen in the movements done by the dancers such as bowing and the extension of hands to the heavens praising or worshiping the Father.

God created us to praise Him with our body, mind and soul.  He gave us the ability to move to walk to jump to clap and to wave. Psalm 149:3 says praise the Lord with dancing.

The Bible should be your guide

There are many different styles of dance such as Lyrical, Jazz and Hip Hop. No matter the style, if it is presented as a Liturgical Dance it should always glorify and reverence the Lord and bring those watching into a deeper and more intimate depth of worship with the Father.

Using the Bible as their foundation liturgical dancers use movement to express and communicate the word of God to a lost and weary soul, to those in need of a healing, and as a word of encouragement to the saints