Pastor Ed Lapiz Day by Day Ministries Cultural Redemption
The Soul of the Filipino in Dance
The Redemption of Dance for Christian Worship
BY: PASTOR ED LAPIZ
There are matters concerning bodily movements in Christian worship that might as well lead to the ultimate question: To dance or not to dance?
To clap or not to clap? To raise hands or not to raise hands?
To kneel or not to kneel?
ED LAPIZ
Pastor Ed Lapiz is the founder and Artistic and Dance Director of KALOOB Philippine Music and Dance Ministry. Read more
The Dugso is a dance for fertility among the Manobos of Western Bukidnon. It is performed to invoke the Divine to bless the land with a bountiful harvest.
The Philosophy of Redeeming Dance
Redeeming dance for Christian worship is premised on the following principles:
1. Created arts, especially music and dance, came from God and must be used for God’s glory. Satan does not own anything. He is not a creator but only a thief and a destroyer. Creative arts, like most of creation, were only grabbed, distorted, and misappropriated for himself by the evil one.
2. God’s people, who were themselves redeemed by the blood of Christ and who are inheritors of the earth, must repossess such arts for Christian use and God’s glory. The whole creation has been groaning for redemption! Dance can be very powerful tools of evangelism and worship!
3. Philippine dance forms, like most indigenous dances all over the world, are neither “pagan” nor “evil.” As non-living things, they do not have inherent, nor are capable of, morality or immorality.
That is why redemption of dance is imperative. Christians must repossess the arts and thus dispossess evil forces of such powerful tools. As Christians redeem, reclaim and use dance and other art forms in the worship of the One True God, we not only strengthen our armory but we also weaken and deprive that of the devil! Not to redeem and use dance in Christian worship and teaching is to concede and consign it to the exclusive misuse of the world., but we also weaken and deprive that of the devil! Not to redeem and use dance in Christian worship and teaching is to concede and consign it to the exclusive misuse of the world.
It is the heart of the dancer and the object of worship that define the morality of the art form. As the power of dance as tool of worship and communication is beyond doubt, the same power becomes gravely destructive, if not lethal, in the hands of the devil.
The same dance as performed at the Folk Arts Theatre, home of the Kaloob and of Day by Day Ministries.
A YouTube user uploads footage from the movie King David but replaces the original soundtrack with the song, “Dance like David Danced.”
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Pastor Ed Lapiz Day by Day Ministries Cultural Redemption
While the insignia of KALOOB can be taken as a graphic representation of a person dancing, it is actually an ancient Tagalog script for the syllable “KA”. The point above it gives it the form of a dancing person. In the Filipino language, “KA” connotes a sharing that promotes oneness. KALOOB uses dance to promote a unified understanding of a diverse culture. Integral to the mission and vision is the establishment of a true Filipino identity that is defined by a solid cultural heritage.
