A Time to Dance

In her new book, A Time to Dance, Margaret Fisk Taylor recreates the exciting religious response her country-wide "symbolic movement" workshops have engendered in children, young people, and adults.First of all, A Time to Dance is a "how to" book. It tells, graphically and step-by-step, how to be a leader of a dance choir, how many members there should be, what kind of robes to wear, and, trickiest of all, how to get men and boys to join the group. There are descriptions of dance dramas, processions, narrative outlines and special programs for religious holidays.A fascinating section on the history of religious dance begins with the biblical "David danced before the Lord with all his might," and continues through the early Christian church and the medieval miracle and mystery plays.A third section brings to life the renaissance of dance movement in twentieth century religious worship.