The question of whether “Liturgical Dance” is appropriate during Mass often arises, particularly when individuals witness what appears to be dance incorporated into religious services. Observations of these instances can sometimes evoke feelings of discomfort or irreverence, as if witnessing a performance more akin to secular interpretive ballet than a form of worship. This perspective touches upon a core reason why liturgical dance, as commonly understood in Western culture, is generally not permitted within Catholic liturgies.
In 1975, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship addressed this very topic with the document Dance in the Liturgy. This document remains a crucial reference point for understanding the Church’s stance on dance within liturgical celebrations.
The Vatican acknowledged that in certain cultures, dance holds a deeply religious significance and could be considered appropriate for liturgical settings. However, Dance in the Liturgy emphasizes that:
the same criterion and judgment cannot be applied in the western culture. Here dancing is tied with love, with diversion, with profaneness, with unbridling of the senses. . . . For that reason it cannot be introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever: That would be to inject into the liturgy one of the most desacralized and desacralizing elements, and so it would be equivalent to creating an atmosphere of profaneness which would easily recall to those present and to the participants in the celebration worldly places and situations.
This statement highlights the concern that in Western societies, dance is often associated with secular contexts, potentially introducing elements that could detract from the sacredness of the liturgy. The document specifically critiques what might be perceived as “pseudo-ballet” or artistic performances within Mass, noting:
Neither can acceptance be had of the proposal to introduce into the liturgy the so-called artistic ballet because there would be presentation here also of a spectacle at which [only] one would assist, while in the liturgy one of the norms from which one cannot prescind is that of participation [by all].
This underscores a critical point: liturgy is meant to be participatory for the entire congregation, not a performance for passive observers. The focus shifts from communal worship to individual spectacle when dance becomes a performance by a few for the many.
The Vatican reiterated this stance in 1994, when the same congregation clarified in the Instruction on Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy:
Among some peoples, singing is instinctively accompanied by hand-clapping, rhythmic swaying, and dance movements on the part of the participants. Such forms of external expression can have a place in the liturgical actions of these peoples on condition that they are always the expression of true communal prayer of adoration, praise, offering and supplication, and not simply a performance. (Instruction on Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy, 42; italics added)
This nuanced perspective allows for culturally appropriate expressions of worship, including dance, in contexts where it is genuinely communal and prayerful. However, it firmly distinguishes this from performances within Western liturgical settings. The key distinction lies in whether the movement is an expression of collective worship or a performance directed at an audience. What is often observed in Western churches and termed “liturgical dance” often falls into the latter category, hence its general prohibition within the Mass.
