NEWS FEATURE: African-American Men Joining the Ranks of Liturgical Dancers

c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Ask Lorenzo Waters how he became a liturgical dancer and he tells of an indirect route. “I began dancing in college as a member of a dance troupe, just to increase my flexibility,” said the former hurdler. It wasn’t until he saw an African-American male dance troupe perform […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Ask Lorenzo Waters how he became a liturgical dancer and he tells of an indirect route.

“I began dancing in college as a member of a dance troupe, just to increase my flexibility,” said the former hurdler.


It wasn’t until he saw an African-American male dance troupe perform at a Fort Washington, Md., church that he realized dance could be a ministry. “The first time I saw it, it brought tears to my eyes,” he recalled.

Waters performed with the two other members of Men of Faith, an independent, Washington-area troupe at a recent “Men Standing in the Gap” afternoon service at Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

They are part of a trend that has evolved over the last decade among black men who have found their place in the church is leaping, twirling and kicking in physical praises to God.

In a domain dominated by women and whites, black male liturgical dancers bring congregations to their feet as they add a new dimension to the worship experience.

“Americans have this sense that dance of any sort is automatically feminine and effete and when most people see African-American males, I don’t think that’s what they perceive,” said John Thomas West, an African-American Catholic who directs the multicultural Valyermo Dancers in Los Angeles. “I think there’s something very visceral about a black male performing and that performance is rooted in … a unification of soul and body.”

Dance experts can’t state a specific number of African-American male liturgical groups but agree they are rare. Outside church walls their jobs range from computer programming to day care to fast-food restaurants, but inside, these dancers mix footwork with faith.

As the contemporary gospel sounds of Richard Smallwood and Vision’s “Anthem of Praise” blared over the speakers at the AME church in Southeast Washington, the Men of Faith joined two troupes from Allen Chapel in an opening presentation accented with knees lifted high, arms outstretched and synchronized steps.


Three members of the church’s younger troupe, Oil of Joy, later danced to Mary Mary’s “Shackles,” frequently lifting high crossed and clenched fists that seemingly were first bound and then released.

“They are not afraid to praise the Lord and dance,” said Micah Wortham, the worship leader for the service. “If you can shake your stuff in the club, you can certainly dance for Christ.”

Garry Brown, coordinator of Seed of Abraham, the church’s adult troupe, said his group has performed at prayer breakfasts, pastor’s anniversary celebrations and nursing homes in addition to regular services on the fourth Sunday of each month at Allen Chapel.

Both Brown and Michael Carter, who founded Men of Faith in 2002, cite David as their biblical role model. “And David danced before the Lord with all his might,” states the biblical book 2 Samuel of Israel’s second king.

“It’s important that men dance because David danced,” said Brown, after performing with two other members of Seed of Abraham. “We need to show that men praise the Lord.”

Carter said interpretive dance brings the third dimension to a service already highlighted by sermon and song.


“It paints the picture for the congregation,” he said. “When you have singing, people who are singing songs, it’s one way of ministering to the souls but when you actually see what the songs are saying, it really brings something to life. … It is the third component to the praise and worship.”

When Men of Faith performed Deitrick Haddon’s “Sinner’s Prayer,” each of the three men struck a prayerful stance with their palms placed together before continuing other coordinated barefoot movements. Dressed in loose-fitting white garments with gold trim, their arms moved rapidly as they symbolized temptation. Two dancers briefly lifted and carried a prone Carter as Haddon’s recording sang of deliverance from evil.

Carter’s group has performed along the Eastern seaboard at morning worship services and funerals and is scheduled to dance at a wedding in July.

While liturgical dance experts said sacred dance is rooted in the Bible they say it gained a popular resurgence in Catholic and Protestant circles in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks in large part to the work of the Sacred Dance Guild, an interfaith organization. But African-American churches at first shunned the practice.

“In many of the black churches, dance was seen as sort of akin to Satan worship for a long time,” said West. “I think as black churches began to reconnect and reclaim the African traditions, you began to perceive that dance was a critical part of religious expression for African-Americans.”

Male dancers in black church settings remain a rarity but are welcomed when they “step out on faith,” said Merle Wade, an African-American woman on the executive board of the Sacred Dance Guild.


“They are really heralded when they are seen,” she said.

At the Greater Allen Cathedral of New York, an African Methodist Episcopal congregation in Jamaica, N.Y., there are three divisions of male dancers. Boys younger than 13 are in “Boys of Valor,” teens are in “Lion of Judah” and 15 men make up “Royal Priesthood.”

Kathleen S. Turner, director of the church’s Allen Liturgical Dance Ministry, said her church introduced female dancers in 1979, but male dancers didn’t begin until 1996.

On Father’s Day, the men performed a theatrical dance about trusting in God. The men entered in street clothes _ police uniform, business suit, sweats _ literally crying out to God about how their overtime work or a lack of a job prevented them from being the dads they wanted to be.

They moved into a dance that featured a suicide attempt and a man falling backward from atop an altar rail into the arms of other dancers.

“God is a forceful God,” said Turner, explaining the contrast to more graceful dancing sometimes performed by women. “God is one who will come and intercede for his people quick and in a hurry. Women could never do what men can do.”

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