In June I published a post on a man dancing as “another model for evangelism” – living in such a way that people cannot help but catch the enthusiasm and join in. This clip in Antwerpen’s Central Railway Station in Belgium is once again a fun clip – but it might just give pause for thought about living our lives as a Christian community so differently that we provide joy in the lives of others and also draw others in to our different lifestyle…
Lord of the Dance
Dancing and worship
Play it again
This is BEAUTIFUL!! very breathtaking!!
This is actually a professional production of VTM, a Belgian commercial television station. 200 dancers cooperated in this event to promote a television show called ‘Op zoek naar Maria’ (‘Looking for Maria’). In the show wannabee musical stars got the opportunity to audition for the role of Maria von Trapp in a 2009 revival of the famous ‘The Sound of Music’ musical. There is also a ‘making of’ movie: http://www.vtm.be/mariadans/makingof.html
I share your thoughts. It would be great if Christians could provide joy in the lives of others like this. Funny thing is, though, that the joy of the Antwerp performance springs from the fact that the dancers are not leading different lives, but are in fact looking and behaving exactly the same as the rest of the public. It’s only when they start dancing that their identity becomes clear. So, is that where the analogy ends, or does it give us something to think about?
It looks as though a school group came up with the idea, music, choreography, camera operators, dancers, etc., and negotiated the details for this tremendously exciting dance experiment – i.e., if a few start dancing to this music, and we keep gradually adding more dancers, then bystanders will spontaneously join in and dance with us! Even people who “can’t” dance, don’t know the choreography, have never heard the music, or don’t speak our language! Sure enough – IT WORKED!
NOW – if we could only GET RID OF THE PEWS in the churches!!! They take up all of the dance space for the people! The ancient Orthodox churches got it right – NO PEWS. People stand, they move around, they sit down along the sides when they need to. Ahhhh. Wisdom!
Just remembered finding that Antwerp Flashmob video at your blog one day. This is what the churches in Haarlem (Netherlands) did last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AcoI5GglzM
PRAISE THE LORD!
I AM SOMNATH MONDAL, A PASTOR FROM INDIA. AS A CHOREOGRAPHER, I COMPOSE DANCE WITH GOSPEL SONGS. I BELIEVE, DANCE IS A MODEL OF EVANGELISM. THANK YOU.