Dancing in worship
By Caroline Maas                                                        Tammoez 5678 august 2008

Focus on dance
The word ‘dance’ is not often used in the Bible. It appears in terms such as: rejoice, make merry, player, played, praise, joy, glad, celebrate, bless, twirl, spin, jump, hop and skip.
In Hebrew tradition, dance functioned as a medium of prayer and praise, as an expression of joy and reverence, and as a mediator between G-d and his people, thus bringing the Israelites into a closer relationship with their G-d. In the Aramaic language which Jews spoke, the words for ‘rejoice’ and ‘dance’ are the same. Psalms 89: 16 ‘In Your name they rejoice all day long’.
 
Hebrew tradition of dance
Dance was an integral part of Israeli life in the times of the Tanach. We find dance used as a greeting, as recreation, merrymaking, in celebration after military victories and to praise
G-d at festival times. At the Feast of Tabernacles, for instance, pious men danced with torches in their hands and sang songs of joy and praise, while the Levites played all sorts of instruments. Dance was always connected with the positive victory or deliverance from the peril at hand. Never in ancient Hebrew literature is dance described as mournful, depressing or being of a serious or solemn nature. Dance as movement was not free of certain prohibitions. A distinction made by the Israelites, came to be made between the early, holy dances of a sacred nature, and those which resembled pagan cults and ceremonies. In the following centuries various influences affected the dance in value and use, but it survived as a sacred dance form to worship.

Worship G-d or worship idols
To worship G-d in dance is biblical. The Bible commands it in Psalm 149:3 and 150:4.
It’s so important to know the reason why the Israelites danced in the past. You can read in Shemot (Exodus) that the Israelites where slaves and foreigners in Egypt. Remember that the Egyptians worshipped idols. But G-d saw the people of Israel and acknowledged them, rescued them and brought them up out of Egypt to Canaan. Because G-d heard their cry, saw how terribly the Egyptians oppressed them and remembered His covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov. The reason for worship-centered dances is to praise and worship the G-d of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, to fear, to love, to serve, to obey him with all your heart and all your being, and ‘with all your might’. The first worship leader was Moshe and the first dance leader was his sister Miriam. Read this in Ex 15, they were singing and dancing in the presence of G-d after crossing the Red Sea!
 
Dance to share
The types of Israeli dance included the circular or ring dance with hopping and whirling movements which were exuberant with joy. At the defeat of Faro’s armies following the crossing of the Red Sea, ‘Miriam, the prophetess, sister of Aharon, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances’. The following dance is very joyful.

The title of the song is “Bo’u Lefanaw ” written by Ruth Azuz from Psalm 100: 2-4. The song has two verses and one chorus Laj, laj, laj… In Hebrew we sing:
Bo’u  lefanaw birnana; de’u kie Adonai hu Elohiem.
Hu asanu welo anachnu; amo wetson mar’ieto. Laj, laj, laj….
Bo’u  sje’araw betoda; chatsrotaw bitehiela.
Hu  asanu welo anachnu; amo wetson mar’ieto. Laj, laj, laj….

The choreography of this dance is developed by Elze Erwteman, who founded the Davidic Dance ministry in Beth-Yeshua Amsterdam   
     
Speed             Medium                      Abbreviations:
Rhythm        2/4 / 4/4                    CCW    Counter Clockwise
Formation   Cirlce                     CW     Clock Wise
Direction     CCW                     FWD    Forward
Level             Beginner                BWD   Backward
                            OTS     On The Spot

Counts     Part A     couplet       
1 – 4         HH, CCW step with R and hop, step with L and hop -  pivot on ball of L
5 – 8         Still moving CCW , step BWD with R and hop, step BWD with L and hop
1 – 4         Face centre: R hop, L hop into centre of  circle
5 – 8         R hop L hop BWD out of centre of circle
        Repeat Part A

Counts     Part B        chorus Laj, laj, laj
1 – 4         HH, Yemenite R, on fourth count pivot on ball of R to R side
5 – 8         CCW Step together step step with Left foot leading.
        Repeat Part B (3 times)

Verbal Cueing   
Counts     Part A
1 – 4         Front – hop – Front – hop
5 – 8         Back- Hop – Back – Hop
1 – 4         Step – Hop – Step – Hop
5 – 8         Back – Hop – Back – Hop

Counts     Part B
1 – 4         Right – Behind – Forward – Pivot
5 – 8         Step – together – Step – together
        Repeat Part B (3 times)