9 Ladies (and Men) Dancing: Christmas Daybook, 9
My Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you?
Watch: I have a confession. I have never seen the Nutcracker performed (live or on-screen) or even listened to Tchaikovsky’s score in its entirety. I loved sorting through video clips to share this curation with you today. I’ve arranged the clips loosely in order of the score with a few alternative clips thrown in. Enjoy!
Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite “Overture” - Dance Theatre of Harlem, 2020
Toys Dance in Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker - The Boston Ballet, 2020 (read more here)
The Waltz of the Snowflakes - The Royal Ballet, 2015
“Waltz of the Snowflakes” in an empty parking lot at the historic Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda, California - Post: Ballet, 2020 (read more about this event here)
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker - “Dance of the Flowers” - New York City Ballet, 2020
Grand Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker - Dance Theatre of Harlem, 2020
Misty Copeland and Sterling Baca The Nutcracker Pas de Deux , 2014
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - National Opera of Ukraine, 2020
Final Waltz - Bolshoi Ballet, 2020 (more about Olga Smirnova leaving Russian Ballet to protest the war with Ukraine)
Read: Psalm 1-4, 7; Isaiah 40:12-23; Ephesians 1:1-14; Mark 1:1-13
Pray: A prayer for Joy
God of joy unspeakable, you have not created us so that we should merely endure existence. You have created us rather for delight and you have filled our mouths with laughter. Turn our tears into songs of joy, change our wailing into dancing, and make our wilderness blossom with life, so that with the morning stars we might sing for gladness and with the festive throng we may come to your house with shouts of praise. We pray this in the name of the One who endured all things for the joy set before him. Amen.
— from Open and Unafraid: The Psalms As A Guide To Life by W. David O. Taylor
Do: I dare you to dance today -- somewhere, anywhere, even if only for a few minutes. You could at least do as well as this guy.
Maybe you’d also enjoy reading this piece I wrote a few years back: The Preacher’s Family Is A Dancing Family. [hilarious proof from Jordan and Kendra's wedding here].
“From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer or so that their crops would be plentiful or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate.” And that is the dancing we’re talking about. Aren’t we told in Psalm 149 “Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let them praise His name in the dance”? And it was King David — King David, who we read about in Samuel — and what did David do? What did David do?
What did David do? "David danced before the Lord with all his might, leaping and dancing before the Lord.” Ecclesiastes assures us that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh and a time to weep. A time to mourn and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of celebrating life. It’s the way it was in the beginning. It’s the way it’s always been. It’s the way it should be now."
-- Ren in Footloose (1984)
You might also enjoy this poem by Hafiz, the 14th-century Persian Muslim poet, who captures a lovely aspect of dance as prayer:
I sometimes forget that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy
My Heart is heavy for me to remember that I have been
called to dance, the Sacred dance of life.
I was created to smile, to Love
to be lifted up, and lift others up.
O Sacred One,
Untangled my feet from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might Dance
and our dancing might be contagious
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).