CHURCH DANCING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 11

CHURCH DANCING.

AN AMERICAN SENSATION. DIGNITARIES DEFIED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, April 7. The recrudescence of dancing in some of the New York churches has again forced a heated controversy on the subject, and the storm centre again pivots around the doors of old St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, in New York, doors which had been closed by firemen and guarded by police reserves, but which have again creaked on their hinges under pressure of disappointed throngs eager to witness "the ritual dance of the Delia Robbit Annunciation," given for the first time since Bishop Manning peremptorily ordered its discontinuance as a violation of Protestant Episcopal Church rules. Among those who crowded the interior of America's most historic church to the limit of the fire laws were at least seventy-five members of the present by invitation of the Rev. Dr. William Norman (iuthrie, rector of St, Mark's, author of the libretto of the ritualistic dance, whose action in having it performed twice on this Sunday was generally accepted as an open delianee to Bishop "Manning. "But not so," said Dr. Guthrie. "I offered to let the bishop appoint twentyfive of a jury of fifty to judge the dance and he ignored the offer. What then ? I invited the clergy and the public to witness it and judge for themselves. The bishop's stand is autocratic. I take the democratic view, and on this dance I will stand or fall."

Whatever favour or disfavour the dance may have found in the minds of those who saw it, clergy and laity paid it the tribute of that rare, pin-fall silence always indicative of an almost breathless attention. And after the performance groups of clergymen and laymen gathered about Dr. Guthrie and told him they enjoyed and approved it all, while others remarked that, after witnessing the ritual, they could not see "What all the row is about." Atmosphere Aided Dance. The dance did not burst upon the spectator in a blaze of glory. The lights, the music, the service that preceded it, all led up to it, and aided in the creation of an atmosphere that put the mind of the spectator in a condition of utmost receptivity. The person gazing upon the spectacle was splendidly prepared by all that went before to credit the dance with all the good motives claimed for it.

One witness of the dance afterwards said: "Picture an ancient church where lights burn dim, with stained glass windows that make a golden afternoon without seem like the twilight hour, surpliced figures in pulpit, and in choir loft, minor strains of a great organ and the odour of incense all about. Then a voice, which seems to awe but does not quite subdue the organ which plays a soft accompaniment, reading in impressive style Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Aye.' Even then the audience seemed prepared, almost eager for the one thing it came for—the dance. But there followed a short address by Dr. Guthrie, in which he declared dances of to-day are so 'hopelessly degraded that one seldom 6ees anything worthy of the name.'"

"Dancing," the rector said, "is using the body to speak. But what we ordinarily see is mere offensive display. Today the religious dance is an innovation, and a difficult one. In this dance one ii.■ ie mistake—rose light instead of blue, . ■„:■ instance—would destroy everything. '. in ust be absolutely impersonal. You should not be able to recognise the features of your own daughter were she one of the dancers. Mother Of Arts. "I have been asked: 'But why have it at all? Why claim the dance is included in religion ?' I answer: Deny the normal forces of life, and they will break loose in abnormal expression. Disbelieve in the body, and the body becomes the devil's property. What we crave is an ideal body, an adequate instrument of an ideal spirit. Why try to pretend we have no bodies? I think we should have passed beyond the idea that the health and beauty of the body are no concern of the spirit. The arts, when they use the body, use the finest instrument there is, one that can do more than violin or organ. _he dance is the very mother of all the arts. "If you are merely 'civilised' people, then you are just spooks. Real people carry the dinosaur in them, and manage him. . My dream is of the whole man consecrate. Our religious life should not be a mere upper story affair."

And then the lights grew dim, and the "Hymn to the Madonna" sounded like a farewell to day. With almost funereal strides two black-gowned men drew great curtains that shut off the church sanctuary back of the pulpit, and with reverent hands carried to the front a great "Banner of the Annunciation." A harp had joined its softness to the organ's nutelike notes* ■ Even the twilight had faded now, and a pale moon seemed to have drifted slowly from behind a cloud. Slowly four white-robed female figures appeared. They were barefoot, and their flowing robes were of white silk, devoid of rustle. They represented Birth, Death, Pain, and Pleasure. They crossed and recrossed slowly to soft music. A fifth figure appeared—an angel representing the awakening of self-con-sciousness. Then the four who entered first became more alive. A sixth figure—the Virgin Spirit of Earth — entered and won, symbolically, them all. Birth, Death, Pain, and Pleasure, even the Angel of Consciousness paid her homage, and presented her with gifts. ■ The Virgin Spirit, however, turning to the Banner of the Annunciation, cast off her gift mantle, and offered her other , gifts to the Virgin Mother of Christ, ,The ' dance was ended, and the figures slowly I walked away. The audience seemed to take its first deep breath since the dance started. Many left the old church before the closing hymn and prayer.

An amusing little incident in -which \ three sailors were involved occurred on an Auckland tram ear the other evening. Two of the Jack Tars paid up their fares, but the third, who was somewhat intoxicated, absolutely refused.- The conductor ■ tried every- means within his power to induce the bluejacket to pay, but without avail. Accordingly the car was stopped and the unfinancial traveller was asked to leave. He refused absolutely to do so, whereupon one of his ship mates, who was evidently anxious to keep an appointment out in the suburbs, got. up, seized the offender by the scruff of the neck, and had him sitting in the street before the man knew what had happened. The relieved conductor then rang the bell, and the sailor, who meanwhile was holding his prisoner on the ground, hopped on to the car as it moved off.