Published on
September 28, 2012
Video length
1 mins

Dance can be used to highlight any of the liturgical seasons. These videos highlight the many uses of liturgical dance.

People tend to associate liturgical dance with girls in angelic white dresses. But like other art forms, dance can be used to highlight any of the liturgical seasons. Liturgical dance is functional; it takes place within the liturgical flow of worship. Done well, liturgical dance can help the congregation glimpse the Creator or visualize scripture.  

Dance can bring healing, express joy, and proclaim good news. Dance also brings unity. It can be homiletic, prophetic, prayerful, meditative, or celebratory.

Julia Start Fletcher, a coordinator of worship arts at Millbrook Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, MI, and dance instructor at Turning Pointe School of Dance in Holland, MI, provides video examples of liturgical dance.

Recent Media Resources

Video Psalms/Scripture Visual Arts
Surprised by the Psalms

Anneke Kaai studied fine art and painting in the Netherlands at secular schools in the 1960s and ’70s. That experience compelled her to express her Christian faith through her art. She has painted many works based on scripture, including three series of paintings on the psalms, which she sees as a bountiful resource of imagery for the full range of human feelings in relation to God.

May 5, 2026 | 90 min video
Video History Music/Song
Psalmody in Black: The Psalter as Human Expression

This workshop explores the deep connection between the psalms and the breadth of human emotion through musical settings by Black composers. Interwoven with reflections on the history and function of the Psalter, this program reveals how these timeless texts continue to speak to the spiritual, emotional, and cultural experiences of our shared humanity. 

May 1, 2026 | 90 min video
Podcast Justice/Reconciliation Psalms/Scripture
Andrew Wilkes on Doing the Work of Liberation and Justice with the Psalms as Our Guide

Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.

April 10, 2026 | 14 min listen