Dance Theology
Dear Adiemus,
I think that people believe about the dance what they need and want to believe, a lot of times, rather than trying to look at the information available to us and draw a reasonable conclusion. It is sort of like anything else that human beings decide to turn into a religion. That which is sacred does not necessarily need to make sense or have a historical background in truth of any sort. That's what "faith" is all about.
Just look at the historical Jesus, for example. It was not enough that he came into a very violent place and thought very different kinds of thoughts in a time when no one else was really thinking them yet in his little corner of the universe. ( I think that was TRULY miraculous!!!!) No, we gotta have the guy raising people from the dead, turning water into wine, walking on water, etc. Some people are not satisfied with the true miracles in their religion or in their dance, so they create what they need.
For me this sublime humanness that the dance expresses is the very miraculous truth of the dance, but I guess that is just not spectacular or "deep" enough for some people.
What can we do about it? We can keep on dancing our truth and that's about it. Audiences seem to respond VERY positively to the realities of the dance when we dance well, because it touches them at their very human core also.
Regards,
A'isha
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