Embodied Gospel: The Power, Purpose, and Prayer of Ballet Technique

By Elizabeth Anne

The book, Embodied Gospel: The Power, Purpose, and Prayer of Ballet Technique, explores ballet technique as a physical practice revealing Jesus Christ through its core steps, positions, and patterns. The history of ballet points us to a foundation of unique codes and symbols previously forgotten in the technique. As this revelat

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elizabeth Anne
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985619614

Elizabeth Anne

Elizabeth Anne is a professional dance and movement minister, author, performer, choreographer, and educator. She has an MFA in choreography from UCLA and a BFA in dance performance from Towson University. Her awards include grants from UCLA, Towson University, The Golden Key International Honor Society, The National Society of Arts and Letters, Washington Ballet, Boston Ballet, The HARID Conservatory, and The Ballet Academy at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) in Austria. She is a graduate of the Washington School of Ballet. She then joined the professional company under the direction of Septime Webre in 2001 as a paid apprentice, performing corps de ballet roles in many famous ballets, including the choreographies of Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine. She has taught and performed dance for over 20 years by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. She has been an adjunct professor at public, private, Ivy League, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) while being a director of a local dance studio in Maryland. She has taught primary and secondary dance education in public and private schools as well as dance conservatories including The Washington School of Ballet, City Dance Conservatory, and Maryland Youth Ballet. Additionally, she has championed and pioneered integrative dance classes for over 15 years with students of all abilities including those within the Special Olympics and the Hussman Center for Adults with Autism. As a leader, she has served on the board of directors for the Maryland Council for Dance and the Maryland Dance Education Association.As wonderful as these credentials are, she considers them nothing compared to the immense privilege of knowing and serving Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior! These credentials are only stated to give Him glory, as without His faithfulness, grace, and mercy, she would have none of them. She and her beloved husband have now dedicated their lives to the Father's work and are loving it!

Book preview

Preface

Art reveals the power of the intuitive,

capturing the reality hiding beneath the culture.

—Makoto Fujimura

In this book, we will first discuss some foundational revelations about the dancing and moving body as worship and then move to the revelation of how ballet is an embodied Gospel of Jesus Christ. My objective is to unveil the hypothesis of how ballet was codified referencing (in part) a Judeo-Christian worldview. As we discuss the framework of biblical ethics within ballet, we will use biblical typology (symbolic faith representations in the Bible) as a source to help us clarify the revelation. Ballet’s dance typology reveals itself by physically embodying concepts, such as the cross, in prophetic acts that are symbolic yet powerful in worship and prayer. Since this book is igniting a discussion around the biblical references contained in ballet, I hope you are offered a new, diverse perspective on the scope and practice within the art form.

I want to be clear that, even though I will be focusing mainly on ballet, I am not directly, or even indirectly, inferring that ballet is the proverbial Eurocentric foundation of all concert dance. Nor am I inferring that ballet is the only and best way to worship the LORD in our bodies, because it is one of many ways that are all excellent, needed, and different. The concept of an embodied Gospel comes from the idea of sharing and living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ practically through our physical bodies as a form of worship to God, whether in an art form such as ballet or in everyday tasks.

I am limiting my scope to ballet (versus all concert dance), as that is the revelation I have been given and charged with to write about and discuss. This book is written from a place of personal revelation, via Holy Spirit, regarding the notion of ballet technique as an important form of worship and prayer within the Judeo-Christian faith context. However, the application of this revelation can be performed in any ballet class and in any place around the world. It is not confined to faith-based environments. This is because the application of this revelation is carried out privately and internally before Him. It is between you and Him during the class. Offering up a ballet class as a personal act of worship to the LORD is the same process I go through when writing a book. The act, whether dancing or writing, is birthed out of the ongoing relationship I have with our Heavenly Father the Judeo-Christian God called YHWH or LORD. As an observer and participant in God’s great performance of Himself that we call life, I now realize He has chosen another way to point to and reveal the beauty of His Son Jesus—ballet technique. I had always felt that ballet was graceful, as well as beautiful to watch and perform, and I sensed His presence more when I danced ballet than any other form of worship or dance activity—this book answers the question why.

I would like to be clear that I am a highlighter pen, so to speak, here to point out the knowledge I believe is already before us in ballet technique. I am sure you will develop more revelations about ballet as prayer and worship, and I would love to hear from you if you do! Please see the copyright page the stay in touch page for information on how to write to us. For bulk orders and testimonies, please email [e-mail].

As a presupposition, we will approach ballet technique as worship and prayer founded upon the New Testament scriptural revelation of Jesus Christ, not from the lens of general spirituality. The Jesus Christ in whom the Bible states all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17 BSB). Jesus is the cornerstone upon which we stand when approaching prayer and worship (Isaiah 28:16). Jesus is the gate by which we enter and the partner with whom we dance (John 10:9). In this book, prayer is understood as communication between us (humanity) and the LORD, through and with His Holy Spirit. It is a wholly reciprocal relationship between both parties being marked by humility, faith, and surrender in the individual approaching Him. It is a divine exchange between humanity and a Holy God who gave His Son up for us, so that we might enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4 KJV).

We are exploring how ballet technique can be viewed through the lens of poetic prayer in the body via symbiotic movements and references—we call these movements prophetic acts since it is physically making known a deeper spiritual reality that has power and weight in the unseen realm. A dancer can then partner with Holy Spirit to allow a tangible flow of divine grace to be manifested while praying and speaking the Word of God through the physical, stylized steps in the technique. It is a personal choice to offer up a ballet class as prayer and worship, and it will always remain so. Traditionally, ballet has not been thought of as a spiritual discipline, but the LORD has revealed to me that He desires to restore the biblical roots of ballet to the Body of Christ. This will then support the growing community of Holy Spirit-filled dancers within the study and performance of ballet culture. I believe this book’s assignment is to unveil Jesus Christ within ballet and make available the option to consciously honor Him within it.

May the revelation in this book ignite a passion for dancing with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and a sober knowledge of the immense privilege that we have in Christ Jesus. My hope is that this book would contribute to the already rich conversation in the genre of liturgical and sacred dance.

May we all recognize the fact that we dance with Him every day

and will continue to do so for all

eternity!

Amen.

Introduction

Ask of Me, and I will surely give the

nations as Your inheritance,

And the very ends of the earth as

Your possession.

—Psalm 2:8, NASB 1995

It all started when I was teaching private ballet lessons to a delightful, eight-year-old dancer at a private school in Bethesda, Maryland. At the time, I was a busy professional freelance dance educator teaching at several colleges, conservatories, dance studios, and schools, whether public or private. It was the spring of my fourth year freelancing in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas when a school director approached me with the opportunity to privately coach this young ballet dancer who had been in my group class. I agreed and expected a routine session of classes.

Once we began our lessons, this young dancer demonstrated that she was highly precocious and intelligent for her age. She had the ability to draw conclusions between abstract and concrete thought regarding ballet technique and its application. One particular day, we were practicing two foundational body positions in center work called croisé and effacé. She then asked me, "Ms. Liz, what does croisé mean?"

To be honest, in all my years of training and professional experience at advanced conservatories in the United States and Europe, never once had our technical classes discussed the actual meaning of most steps—the emphasis was on the physical form and its execution. I expressed to her that I did not fully know (beyond its basic definition of crossed), and I would return the next week with some research.

I went home and began a simple search of the French terms we ballet artists use every day in class. When I saw the meaning of croisé, I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. As I read, I beheld the definition describing croisé as an action that makes the sign of the cross on or over (a person) especially in sanctification of a vow to fight the foes of Christianity.¹ Whoa! Albeit this definition is now deemed obsolete by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary due to this being primarily used back in 1600s and 1700s. I believe the transition from the original definition was an attempt to distance ballet from its Christian roots not by Merriam-Webster, but by the ballet community at large over time—whether knowingly or unknowingly. Now, the current working definition of croisé literally describes the abstract ballet pose all dancers know—a crossed position of the body.² Interesting. Then, when I found the meaning of effacé, I shouted in total excitement so loud that those around me said, What’s up? What happened? What I saw was the root word for effacé meant to expunge or to blot out (to remove completely) and to pardon an offense! The revelation started to pour into my Spirit of the Gospel of redemption from sins due to the cross of Christ and His sacrifice—it was being revealed through the technique and I never knew it! I saw what He had been doing for centuries, although it had gone unnoticed.

It was mind-blowing, and I knew it was the LORD, via Holy Spirit, leading me to see the connection between the physical steps we call ballet and His written Word, the Holy Scriptures (or Bible). From the very start of this revelation, the root meanings of the French words made the intangible presence of God I felt when I danced ballet into a conceptual and tangible reality. It gave context as to why I felt His presence in the studio so much more when dancing ballet.

What was taking place was a light being turned on in the darkness. This cataclysmic moment led to several encounters in and out of the dance classroom regarding the revelation of how ballet technique and its practice can be worship and prayer in communion with Him, the one true King of kings and Lord of lords.

As I began to investigate this growing revelation, I spoke with my friends and colleagues Vincent and Abigail Hardy, artistic directors of Zion Dance Project, about this growing revelation and we discussed how, over the years, we had all felt the Spirit move in us when performing ballet, but this new revelation made crystal clear the glory of His presence we felt in the Spirit—even in the classroom and technical training settings. It also addressed the very real challenges we had all faced in the ballet classroom—such as harmful negativity, criticism, and fault finding. It gave us practical tools to address the sometimes negative atmosphere the enemy had created within the art form. As with any revelation, it provided a springboard to believe and understand, enabling us to surrender and submit ballet and its practice afresh as an offering to the LORD and Jesus, His Son.

Having said all this, as I reflect on this book, it astounds me to think