Saint Augustine? Yes.
“Dancing demands a freed person, one who vibrates with the equipoise of all his powers. I praise the dance. O man, learn to dance, or else the angels in heaven will not know what to do with you. ” Doesn’t this quote make you love Saint Augustine the more? Even if, like me, a dance would be more like leaping up and down, as John the Baptist did in his mother’s womb when he encountered the pre-born Christ and the voice of salutation of His mother. I would have expected such words from Saint Philip Neri, not Augustine. Here is his full poem, In Praise of Dancing:
I praise the dance, for it frees people
from the heaviness of matter
and binds the isolated to community.
I praise the dance, which demands everything:
health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.
Dance is a transformation of space, of time, of people,
who are in constant danger of becoming all brain,
will, or feeling.
Dancing demands a whole person, one who is
firmly anchored in the center of his life, who is
not obsessed by lust for people and things
and the demon of isolation in his own ego.
Dancing demands a freed person, one who vibrates
with the balance of all his powers.
I praise the dance.
O man, learn to dance, or else the angels in heaven
will not know what to do with you.
Saint John Chrysostom says that when we receive the Eucharist worthily we should leave church like roaring lions.
Exiting the confessional, we should feel like dancing. Or, at least, have great joy — with or without feelings.
