By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Dance instructor Lisa Tuttle, right, practices ethnic
dance for spiritual expression. She rehearsed with Rebecca
Simmons, followed by Ann Marie Blessin, Ruth Marie
Quirk and Mary Osorio, at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church.

---

Guild revives
dancing as worship

Free performance tomorrow
will include native American and
Hawaiian traditions

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

MENTION dancing and it conjures up an entertainment image - a nightclub, a concert, an old movie musical, the kids' halau recital.

For Lisa Tuttle and a diverse collection of colleagues, dancing also evokes a spirit of worship.

"It is a wonderful way to express your faith," said Tuttle, a professional dancer and teacher. She is one of the planners of the Sacred Dance Guild's weekend workshop on Sacred Dances of the World, which opens tonight at Chaminade University.

A free public performance of sacred dances will be offered at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the university's Eiben Hall.

The performance will feature a sampling from the weekend seminars and include the worshipful dance traditions of Buddhists, Hebrews, Muslims, Christians, native Americans, Africans and Hawaiians.

"We've just forgotten that dance was sacred," said Ann Blessin, a member of the Sacred Dance Guild, which has chapters around the country.

The guild was organized 40 years ago with the goal of reviving the lost form of spiritual expression.

Dancing in church may strike many congregations as a new idea, but it is an ancient form of demonstrating respect for God or getting in touch with gods, she said.

Blessin said the prospect of watching reverent dance probably has wider acceptance in Hawaii than many other places because it's fairly common to see hula performed to familiar hymns.

Kuni Morita's portion of the workshop may be most familiar to local residents. She teaches Japanese folk dancing, the stuff that bon dances are made of.

"Sometimes people don't even know that bon dancing is to be together with the deceased ancestors and be joyous," Morita said. "They are with us, and we are supposed to be happy because we are together."

The folk dances tell simple stories about life rather than offer obeisances to a deity, she said. "It's become more cultural than religion."

Adela Chu will share a religious experience strange to Hawaii, chanting and dancing to a pervasive drumbeat in the Brazilian form of Santeria.

Believers seek to be in touch with "orishas," deities that combine beliefs brought to the Caribbean by slaves from West Africa and personifications of Catholic saints.

"People dance to get themselves into a trance," said Chu, who teaches Afro-Carribean dance. "With movement and drumming, you can connect with that part of that goddess in yourself. That is my connection, finding the places where we resonate with those deities. Part of the quest is self-realization."

Marianist Brother Dennis Schmitz and members of the Chaminade Community Dancers will demonstrate dance forms being used in Catholic worship.

Schmitz said "we have some form of liturgical movement" every week at the Sunday Mass at the campus chapel. The Rev. Mario Pariante, St. Louis High School president, participates.

Schmitz said the congregational recitation of "Lord Have Mercy" and a responsorial psalm are the usual vehicles for liturgical movement.

"Catholics have always had movement - standing, kneeling, genuflecting. It's just become mechanized," said Schmitz, who leads the Chaminade campus vocation ministry. "We hold hands during the Our Father and raise them at the end. That's a dance movement."

Tuttle said she has found Protestant congregations open to being spectators when dance is performed during a service. But getting them to join in takes time, said Tuttle, who operates the Northwest Dance studio.

Her GODances group dances regularly at services at Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church and has been on the program of the Council of Churches' Easter sunrise service for the past couple of years. They've participated in services at several churches, including Central Union Church and St. Andrew's Cathedral.

"To get a congregation to join in, you start with inviting them to move their arms," she said.

"You start with The Lord's Prayer, something they are very familiar with. We try to bring it in a way that is safe and comfortable. They are going to be uncomfortable doing something new.

"We danced at a ministers' conference in Minneapolis, and some were outraged that something so secular as dance would be included in services.

"Then some came up afterwards and said it was the most powerful thing they've seen," Tuttle recalled.

Let the spirit move you Registration for the Sacred Dance Guild's workshop will be from 6:30 to 7 p.m. today at Eiben Hall at Chaminade University. The cost is $60.