Song and Dance Celebration in Caribbean Christian Worship
In my article Liturgy & Culture in the Caribbean — What is to be done? I reflected on the importance of song and dance celebration to the people of the Caribbean. One does not mean here the unfortunate tourist image of the lazy, guitar playing, calypso-singing, limbo- dancing island boy, but what it does mean is that in spite of poverty and the scars of our colonial past, the people of the Caribbean have an ability to celebrate to laugh, to sing, to dance and to enjoy themselves with minimum preparation. The poet Basil Smith expresses this truth in his poem Tom Tom.
Give me Tom — Tom abeng, abeng, abeng!
Carve my features in the likeness of a bronze Yoruba mask!
Give me personality the rhythm of the drum and make my blood boil to the temperature of the Sahara!
Teach me to dance
The way my grandmother has forgotten and don’t hide the face of Shango from me
Then and only then shall I be a man
There are two very significant things to note in this poem. First, Shango is a Yoruba God and devotees to the cult are found in many Islands and Latin-America, e.g. Trinidad and Tobago. Through the medium of the dance one finds Shango. Secondly, one finds oneself through dance — dancing here is prayer. This poem is authentic West Indian Theology and it parallels what Dr. J. C. McLelland suggests in his book Crown and Crocodile. He says, “man’s song and dance are self-expression but they are also done for others, for the other. It is before God that the dance comes into its own, for it claims imitate God’s own way of creation”. Unfortunately, as he pointed out, orthodox Christian theology neglected this fundamental truth and perhaps the only theologian in our time to understand and to take seriously this truth is Karl Barth.
The true motion of God, is the motion of God the dancer
But it is also remarkable that, the Asian and African religions have always looked upon deities as divine dancers. For example, Osain, a deity in the Shango cult is asked to participate in the dancing: This is the way, he will communicate to the devotees. So, too, in the Hindu Tradition, Krishna and Siva are great dancers. This is a significant concept, but is unfortunately neglected in orthodox Christian circles. It may be noted that the Spiritual Baptist make full use of them.
Yet no one was able to relate this feature as Sidney Carter did in his well known hymn: The Lord of the Dance. While inspired by the life of Jesus, Carter noted that he was partially inspired by a statue for the Hindu God Shiva as Nataraja (Shiva’s dancing pose) that sat on his desk. The melody was adapted from the Shaker Hymn Simple Gifts. The Shakers were known for their communal dancing. The Simple Gifts was written during what the Shakers called an “Era of Manifestations” or “Mother’s Work.” During this time many Shakers received what they considered “gift” songs from the spiritual realm.
Carter notes that in Lord of the Dan
I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.
This understanding and emphasis of God the Lord of the Dance, God the Singer is a major contribution that the Church in the Caribbean could make to the Theology of Christian Worship. Hence worshippers in the Caribbean Churches will emphasise and express in their Liturgies that God is dancer and divine singer, a God of movement and motion not to the static unmoved mover of Aristotle which the “Death of God” Theologians felt impelled to get rid off in their new Theologies.
Knolly Clarke, November 2017
About the Author:
Now well into his eight decade and Dr. Knolly Clarke is former Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port of Spain. Even though he officially retired from the Anglican Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago, he still serves as priest in charge at Christ Church, Cascade a small parish in suburban Port-of-Spain. Dr. Clarke currently lectures in Morals, Ethics and Values at the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies. Knolly also Chairman and Dean of the Sehon Goodridge Theological Society.
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