Dance As A Spiritual Gift

Is expect quite a bit of flack from some church people over this post because dance is not widely recognized as a spiritual gift. I say it is so there :-p 

There were people in ancient Jerusalem who had the job of dancing in the temple. King David was criticized by one of his wives for making an idiot of himself by dancing in front of the ark when it was brought back to Jerusalem. He was so happy and full of spirit that he didn't care about his kingly dignity and threw himself into dancing.

Some churches do recognize that dance can have a spiritual aspect during intense worship. They call this, "dancing in the spirit". If you have never seen this in action, look at the Blues Brothers movie. 

A muslim sect called Sufis are somewhat famous for their dance that is a part of their spiritual practices. I believe that the term, "whirling dervish" comes from a description of Sufi dance. They spin rapidly during their dance. 

The spiritual gift of dance does not take place only during worship services. We can see it in action on stage at times. This is like the spiritual gift of music because there is ordinary dance talent and then there is the extraordinary dance that comes from dance as a spiritual gift.

Some cultures regard dance as a way of healing our environment and people. An example of something of this sort that is fairly accepted in today's society is healing arts that are not precisely dance, but if you watch them being done by someone exercising their spiritual gift of dance, it amounts to the same thing.

Tai Chi, Chi Gong and Reiki are the ones that I know by name and have had a small amount of experience with.

Most primitive cultures that have managed to save some of their traditions, practice dance as a part of healing ceremonies.

Music and dance are different than many spiritual gifts, because they can both generate a lot of energy, or grace. I expect that this is the reason for dance being a part of healing in so many primitive cultures. 

Music and dance are similar to each other as spiritual gifts because both can also give energy to an audience or onlookers. If you have ever been to a wonderful dance or music performance and then been unable to sleep afterwards because you were not tired, this is what happened to you. You were probably feeling a lot of spiritual energy stuffed into you.