I can’t come anywhere close to covering all the points in favor of social dance, or refuting the many arguments against it– but I’ve given a shot at some of them today. I know most of our readers and most of the editors share my opinions on this (as I have danced with many of them) but I’d like to hear what you think of how I come to my conclusions.

In 1848, in his book ‘A Fable for Critics’: the poet James Russell Lowell published these sarcastic words:

He who esteems the Virginia reel
A bait to draw saints from their spiritual weal,
And regards the quadrille as a far greater knavery
Than crushing His African children with slavery,
Since all who take part in a waltz or cotillon
Are mounted for hell on the devil’s own pillion,
Who, as every true orthodox Christian well knows,
Approaches the heart through the door of the toes.

While Lowell was not being sincere, many Christians have taken this stance with all sincerity. Dancing has been called vile, dangerous, “unfriendly to Christian life and growth”¹ and just plain old uncouth.
And yet, despite all the fiery sermons that have been preached, the question persists. Is dancing (particularly social dancing) an activity that is lawful for Christians?
I believe the answer is a firm and resounding ‘Yes’. Christians can and should dance. But what is the biblical basis for this position? How can this view be defended against all of the arguments that have been raised against it? (Please note that I will not be discussing the merits of liturgical dance. That’s an issue for another day).

When I first considered the morality of social dancing, I went straight to the family copy of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and copied down all the verses that mentioned dancing. Experienced scholars will most certainly tell you that this is not the way to go about studying an issue, but it was informative. In the King James Version of the Bible, dancing is referenced around 20 times. Almost all of these instances refer to dancing in worship, and almost all of this dancing is done alone, or by one sex alone.
So how does this relate to social dancing? It’s difficult to say. There are no descriptions of the dances of the saints, and there are few significant references to dancing outside of worship.
Jeremiah 31:3 says, “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.” The contrast is between rejoicing, including dancing; and mourning (not including dancing). We see this again in Psalm 30:11, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;” and again in the parable in Luke 15:25, “Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.”
We see the parallel to this in Lamentations 5:15: “The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.”
The obvious conclusion one has to draw is that dancing is a sign of joy. It marks the end of mourning, and is done in celebration. The example from Luke is particularly telling: Jesus didn’t stop in the middle of the parable to point out the opprobrious wickedness of the prodigal’s family in allowing dancing to occur at their party! When Jesus told us a story about celebration, he included music and dancing. I think He did this intentionally, as He did everything.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that it was obvious to Jesus that people make music and dance to celebrate things. And nor did He consider it worth reviling. And neither should we.
But the question still hangs– should men and women dance together? From what I understand of Jewish culture, men and women did not dance together. But there were plenty of other divisions of the sexes that Christians do not and should not observe today. To argue that men and women should not dance together because the Jewish people didn’t would place you in the awkward position of also arguing that men and women should not sit together in church.
“The Israelites didn’t do it this way” is not a good argument. If the Israelites didn’t do it because God forbade it, that is a good reason. But you won’t find a command forbidding social dancing in the Bible; not between Genesis and Malachi, and not between Matthew and Revelation. Social dancing is never explicitly forbidden in the Bible.
But can we do something just because it’s never forbidden? Should we do something not forbidden, but not commanded? Well, yes. There are many things that are good and lawful, though not commanded. Things like serving birthday cake, or planting a flower garden, or reading devotional books are things that are never commanded, but are certainly permissible, even good for Christians to do. And how do we know these things are good? Because they mirror the commands of scripture. They build up brothers in Christ. They encourage us to offer praise to our Creator for His good gifts. They cause us to further deepen our relationship with our Head.
I will be bold and say that the same is true for social dance. It builds community between Christians, it inspires thankfulness, and it gives us a microcosm of Christian living.

When dancing with a woman, a man must lead– and he must lead well. If the dancing is to be done correctly, the man cannot passively allow or force the woman to control the dance, and he cannot roughly drag her around the floor. The excellent male dancer honors his partner in body and in will: He shows that she is glorious.
The woman’s duty is to follow– not limply and lamely, but with spirit and direction, responding to her partner’s lead. She is to trust and cooperate, and not blindly, but as a decision maker. The man can raise his hand as much as he wants, but the woman has the final say in when to twirl.
In many forms of social dance, particularly American folk dancing and contra dancing, each pair of dancers interacts with all of the other pairs of dancers on the floor. They are not separated as a single couple, but are always interacting as part of a larger group, and are always working in community.
There are many other aspects of social dancing that are pictures of the life we are called to live, such as the men protecting the women from the ‘dangers’ of the dance floor (there’s a reason dances are arranged the way they are: if anyone runs into anyone, most dances allow for this to be the men), the unity the music provides, and the dedication and service required for dancing to be facilitated.

But the most remarkable thing about dancing, particularly social dancing, is summed up well in a quote that has been attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo:

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 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.

1. Dancing as a Christian Amusement by George C. Heckman, President of Hanover College,Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1879