Lord of the Dance

One day, there appeared on the scene, a man who decided to do something special with Irish dancing and Irish music. Everything that he did resonated deep down inside of me, in places that I sometimes forget about.

He was Michael Flatley. He introduced his own form of Irish dancing and surrounded himself with brilliant composers, musicians and, of course, dancers.

One song in his program was called Lord of the Dance. It gave its name to the great show which Michael Flatley took all around the world.

I've just bought the DVD of songs sung by the superb South African singer Laurika Rauch. As she sang, I realised that she was singing about Jesus and that for her Jesus was the Lord of the Dance.
This made me think of many things.

God's love of David who played music, composed songs and danced.
My poem "A Prayer for an Ancient Country."
How Krishna too used dance and song to carry his message to the people.

I thought how wonderful it is to think of your Lord as one who shares your love of dancing. Suddenly, life did not seem so serious. I realised once again that His love was not all about laws and commandments

It was like that morning, when I saw my Grandmother dancing and she did not know that I was watching her and seeing her in a new light. At the same time I was undergoing a fundamental change within me. I wrote about that incident in my poem "I Saw my Grandmother Dancing."

Here are the words of "Lord of the Dance", as sung by Laurika. I hope that it moves you too, in some way.

"I danced in the morning when the world begun
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun
And I came down from heaven and I danced on earth
In Bethlehem, I had my birth."

Chorus between every verse :

"Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance said He
I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the dance, said He."

Song continues :

"I danced for the Scribe and the Pharisee
But they would not dance
And they would not follow me.

I danced for the fishermen, for James and John
They came with me
And the dance went on.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame
The holy people
Said it was a shame.

They whipped and stripped and they hung me on high
And they left me there
On the cross to die.

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black
It's hard to dance
With a devil on your back.

They buried my body and they though I'd gone
But I am the dance
And I still go on.

They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life
That will never never die.

I live in you as you live in me
I am the Lord
Of the Dance said He."

Dear reader, I hope that this meant something to you.