Let Us Dance

I haven’t ever seen Footloose, but I’m pretty sure this is the general plot summary: A bunch of high schoolers in the 1950’s all attend the same Midwest school, a school notorious for its no-nonsense principal, Mr. Feenerston. Mr. Feenerston hates dancing (“it’s a sin against humanity” is probably his catchphrase) and has thus banned dancing at the school, Lakeside High. However, there’s an underground group of kids with crisco in their hair and DANCE in their souls that T.J. Feenerston just didn’t count on. When John Travolta comes to town, he leads a revolution reminiscent of 1789 in France, and the high schoolers wind up literally murdering Mr. Feenerston and all of the teachers and faculty through the power of DANCE.

I just googled Footloose, and it turns out that Kevin Bacon is actually the star. Regardless, take the same plot summary, and insert Kevin Bacon where I talk about Travolta, and I’m 90% sure that’s how the movie goes.

Here at Union University, a small (2kish undergrads), private, Southern Baptist school, we aren’t allowed to dance. It’s in the campus handbook, under the heading UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY VALUES STATEMENTS. Section V starts with letting the students of the University know that they can’t:

1. Breach the peace
2. Engage in reckless behavior
3. Break a city, state, or federal law

and MOST importantly:

Screenshot taken from Union’s Handbook

Don’t you dare dance. Seriously. Subsection G is literally “Don’t break laws” (aka no murder, burglary, rape, insider trading, etc.), and the very next section is “Thou Shalt not Boogie.” Granted, it states that no dancing can take place specifically at any Union University sponsored event, but this is still a strange rule.

The spring of my freshman year/fall of my sophomore year, I was involved with a certain group on campus. The people in this group planned an event which involved, shall we say, moving in a rhythmic way, and we planned to have the event on campus. However, we received an email from a certain administrator that this was not allowed at Union University, due to the no dance policy. Here’s the good part: the same administrator proceeded to offer his personal property as an alternative location for the dance.

This was a blessing, as we really didn’t know where we were going to have the dance. Looking back though, I’m confused. Why does the university have these policies if administration isn’t going to follow them? Granted, the letter of the law was followed in this instance, but this upholding of the rules seems to disregard the spirit of the law, a part that I see as integral to any legal system, even one for a Southern Baptist university. If we are going to be legalistic about the way in which we uphold rules, then there’s probably ways around open-dorm hours, drinking, plagiarism, etc. Seems a bit like a slippery slope.

We can open up the Bible and see dancing as a form of praising God: Ecclesiastes 3:4 “there is a time for dancing,” Psalm 30:11 “You turned my wailing to dancing,” and of course, 2 Samuel 6, where David danced before the Lord with all his might. It’s a mode of worship next to singing praises, and meditating. Aside from these spiritual aspects, it’s fun to dance, especially with friends, in community. I understand why dancing was once seen as sinful, even if I don’t agree with that. But why, in 2018 Anno Domini, does it say in the Union handbook that we can’t dance?

I’m mainly confused here, and maybe there’s an explanation for these policies that someone can explain to me in a few sentences, but I just don’t understand the current policy. First, why can’t we dance? Second, if we really can’t, then why isn’t this rule enforced? With all of these legalistic rules in place (and I understand the need for legalism sometimes, I really do), if they aren’t enforced, then none of the rules will really hold water, and the handbook will begin to look more like a list of suggestions.

There’s a lot of scathing jokes to be made about almost every denomination, and even every religion, but why are half of the ones about Southern Baptists related to dancing? It seems like a puritan rule that should have died out around the same time as Smallpox, but the rules and jokes have stuck around well after, along with this strange policy that prohibits something as harmful as plain oatmeal.

Photo by Tamara Friesen