I can't imagine a life without dancing

[clibbyjo]

Yep. I'm not LDS, but I went to a bunch of dances at a Mormon church as a teenager. (My friend's boyfriend was LDS, so we'd all go as a group.) Some of those kids could really dance--like, advanced swing dance stuff.

I am a terrible dancer, but I can't imagine a life in which moving to a beat is forbidden. Sometimes you've just gotta break out some moves.

And by "break out some moves" you are talking "Running Man", am I right? :dance:

[maybeizfundie]

eh. I can live without dancing. Got my fill of traditional old fashioned dancing in my childhood, and modern dance holds zero appeal for me. I deliberately and intentionally avoided any and all dances or dance-like activities all through highschool.

I love to watch my little men move to some good music, though. :D Don't have a problem with that, and our church doesn't either. We would have a problem with club-type dancing. Actual dancing, fine. Bumping and grinding, not so much.

[atheistjd]

I definitely couldn't live without dancing, or music with an "evil beat". :-P Weddings with no dancing are soooooo boring. :-P I've been to one. :-P it was seriously boring... anywho, I love dancing, and often embarrass myself in public places... :-D

We had no dancing at our wedding - or no formal dancing (no DJ, no Electric Slide, etc.)... with 40 guests it seemed a bit much, and my husband HATES dancing anyway. We did have a first dance though, and a soundtrack that got progressively more "dancey" as the night wore on and people had more to drink... So dancing definitely broke out :dance:

I agree a DRY wedding with no music might be boring, but it's definitely possible to have a nice small reception without :D

[contrary]

i am a terrible dancer, but i love it! many of my favorite times with friends were at dance clubs...to get lost in a crowd where nobody is paying a bit of attention to your moves, lose your self-consciousness, and let the music take over. ah. i need to do it again soon!

and for children...they're such natural dancers. the joy, the smiles, the total lack inhibition. i cannot imagine my children not dancing.

*edited because "inhibition" is not the same as "lack of inhibition".

[Rachel333]

I absolutely cannot dance in public (well, unless I'm fairly drunk, then I love dancing...), but I definitely dance in private. I think it's so incredibly sad when people stop their little kids from dancing. It's such a natural thing to do, and even Biblical. I really don't understand why it's so wrong to dance.

[luckylassie]

I can't imagine not dancing either. I think that fundy families thing that dancing makes men lust. I can understand if a girl were deliberately trying to make a man lust then that would be different. Dancing in itself (to me) is not wrong. So many cultures even use it for worship.

[lilwriter85]

I was about to write that I always found that whole "Baptists think dancing is wrong" thing odd, too. I was brought up Southern Baptist, albeit in a moderate/liberal church with liberal parents, in the 50s. I'd really never encountered that attitude among Southern Baptists. Maybe among Wesleyans or the Church o'God, but not the SBC. (There were no fundie Baptist churches in my hometown in the 50s.) My mom was active in the Baptist Student Union in college and was also in the Berea Country Dancers. She obviously did not think dancing was sinful. Historically Baptist Furman University has a tradition of the Viennese Ball every spring that dates from before the school cut ties to the convention and went independent.

lilwriter85, if Mormons are against dancing, it's sure a a new one for me. I thought that was one thing they did enjoy.

In the documentary I watched, the administrators at the school where the Mormon kids attended had decided on their own to ban dancing. I should have clarified that in my previous post.

[Hane]

I can't imagine not dancing either. I think that fundy families thing that dancing makes men lust. I can understand if a girl were deliberately trying to make a man lust then that would be different. Dancing in itself (to me) is not wrong. So many cultures even use it for worship.

This reminds me of something Garrison Keillor said on Prairie Home Companion about being raised a no-dancing fundie. He said that high school dances are such torture for the average, awkward teenage boy that "sin" would be the last thing on his mind!

[LynnKaboom]

I loathe dancing, so it wouldn't be a problem for me! :)

Word. I never learned how and every time I try I look like a complete fool, so that's one part of fundieism that wouldn't be too difficult for me.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I'm not a good dancer but I still can't imagine going without it. Reformed fundies tend not to have the same hangup about dancing as some other churches, we just couldn't do anything that would be considered "dirty dancing". A modern high school prom would probably make them faint! However, one of my friends married a guy who came from an IFB family (they bonded over escape from the fundie-farm) and I remember some of his relatives were horrified that the reception had dancing. I will never forget one very old lady swearing that "The Chicken Dance" was satanic.

:animals-chickencatch:

[clibbyjo]

I'm not a good dancer but I still can't imagine going without it. Reformed fundies tend not to have the same hangup about dancing as some other churches, we just couldn't do anything that would be considered "dirty dancing". A modern high school prom would probably make them faint! However, one of my friends married a guy who came from an IFB family (they bonded over escape from the fundie-farm) and I remember some of his relatives were horrified that the reception had dancing. I will never forget one very old lady swearing that "The Chicken Dance" was satanic.

:animals-chickencatch:

I HATE the Chicken Dance, it may be satanic!! I personally requested NO CHICKEN DANCE at my wedding and then the group of middleaged dancing women known for their group dances not only requested it,but broke out into the electric slide after that and then every other group dance available in 1992.(I swear they get together and practice wedding dances, they all move as a unit and like a crowd) I used that time to drink alcohol and talk to my friends.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I only like to dance if I'm in the right mood, and that mood usually involves a few glasses of wine. :) (Although, O Latin, if you think the fist-pump is bad, the only kind of dancing I excel at is weird swaying goth dancing...) My pet peeve is people who don't respect others' desire NOT to dance - and especially those who think nothing of grabbing someone's arm and trying to drag them to the dance floor! Dancing can be a lot of fun, but your friend who isn't dancing isn't necessarily boring! ;p

[Olive Plant]

As they say in "Footloose," "there is a time to dance." Anybody who thinks dancing is contrary to Scripture hasn't read it that well. In your underwear, even (like King David).

[darkplumaged]

And by "break out some moves" you are talking "Running Man", am I right? :dance:

Naturally, or some sweet disco moves, a la Saturday Night Fever. The only moves I have are laughable ones, either intentionally or not so intentionally.

And I, too, cannot stand the Chicken Dance or the Electric Slide. You'd think the latter would have died a natural death ages ago, and I don't see how anyone over age 10 can stand to do the Chicken Dance.