What is the dance called when you move your feet? – Purpose Of Belly Dancing

  • by

The dance of the dead. He is dancing, and moving; and that is how it is to be performed.” 1 Corinthians 12:13-18, ESV (BKJV)

I like this passage as a commentary on the concept of a dance performed by a dead person, who is moving in a way that is not necessarily controlled by the conscious efforts of those who are dancing around them.

Dance of the dead

This section presents a variety of reasons why a dead person might dance around an idol, and I will attempt to explain why this is a valid interpretation of the biblical verse.
Özel* - Music For Belly Dancing (1977, Vinyl) | Discogs

Firstly, the Bible suggests that dancers are usually living or former human occupants of the body, and therefore the dancing seems to fit perfectly with the dead person’s death experiences. There are two passages in the Bible where people are described as dancing around corpses. Luke 13:2-4, and Isaiah 40:5-7. Luke seems to suggest that dancing around corpses is a form of worship. In Isaiah, a number of dead prophets were described as being “dancing around” Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Benjamin, and Zechariah.

Dancing around an idol may not be as uncommon as people might assume, especially because the Bible is filled with references to dead people performing rituals:

“I saw an unclean spirit, and I called to the Lord, and he answered me; and he touched me, and I knew him; I have done the work of an unclean spirit in him” (Isaiah 10:2-5)

“The dead who go by, go back into the tomb, and lie with a clean body; from the tomb comes none to us that dead person; no, from the tomb, no one is returned. And they are gone into the grave with him. And he that goes by hears the voice of death, and finds no rest from it, but is thrown to the earth, till the spirit of death comes upon him; and he dies.” 2 Kings 17:17,18

The dead people who dance around idols also seem to be performing rites or rituals. John 5:28 states that, “When Jesus came into the world, he breathed on us, and we saw His miracles; for He said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ and by the power that sits on Him, He helped us (John 5:28).”

So, by definition, the Bible says some dead people are performing rituals. A dead

belly dancing classes, belly dance drawing, professional belly dancers, belly dancing history, amazing belly dance