Dances to avoid: quadrille, dirty dancing, etc.

[Maria]

I was doing some online research, and I came upon these talks by Elder Barsanuphius of Optima:

• Talks with Spiritual Children (Part I)
  January 2, 1911 ...

  One man had a dream of people dancing the quadrille, and an angel of the Lord taught him, saying, “Take a look at what they are doing.” And he saw it: “Lord, this is actually a desecration of the Cross of Christ.” In fact, the French quadrille was invented during the era of the revolution to trample on the Cross—you see, either four or eight people dance it, so that it turns out to be a cross.

  A schema-nun had a similar dream. It seemed to her that the dancers were engulfed by flames and encircled with ropes and demons were leaping about and gloating over the destruction of the people.

I do not think that I have heard of the Quadrille before, but it does not surprise me that a diabolical dance would be invented by those supporting the French Revolution. However, in high school gym classes, especially during the rainy season, it was required that we perform ethnic dances. That one may have been included for our "edification."

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/elderbars_talks1.aspx

[Matthew]

The Optina Elders were God-illumined and I am sure their words are true.

[Maria]

I guess we did do the Quadrille when I was in high school as it was a form of Square Dancing.

I remember the call to SACHEZ IN and SACHEZ OUT where we waltzed in and out of the center of the square (Quadrille).
I had problems with the call to SACHEZ to the RIGHT and SACHEZ to the LEFT as I tended to confuse right with left. I was not the only one, so there was a lot of confusion and bumping going on in certain squares.

Thus, I did not enjoy Square Dancing. For me, it was not relaxing as one had to listen carefully to the call over the loud music. And let's face it, it is a diversion. One cannot pray and do square dancing.

On the other hand, Greek dancing, where the movement of one's feet becomes automatic, can be a very liberating and prayerful experience especially at the Pascha dinner following the midnight services. I often felt like I was flying as I danced with others Christian arms entangled forming a semi-circle as we rejoiced in the Resurrection of Christ God.

[Maria]

The Optina Elders were God-illumined and I am sure their words are true.

Yes. Perhaps some dances were started with innocent intentions, but other dances seem far more insidious.

The infamous dance, in which Herod was deceived and promised his step-daughter whatever she wanted, comes to mind. This seductive dance led to the beheading of St. John the Forerunner.

Perhaps the Quadrille was originally a horse routine as described in this Wiki article below, but it could have been changed to mock the Christian Cross. And if you look at the accidents shown in that Wiki article, where people bump into one another, surely this could have been planned as a form of immoral entertainment. Today, this type of physical contact seems part of most routines as seen in Dancing with the Stars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrille (thanks to jgress)!

I remember in high school, some Fundamentalist Protestants were allowed an exemption from dancing, so school officials planned other activities for them or sent them to the library. These Protestants were rebuked and criticized by many of my schoolmates for obeying their parents and for taking a stand.

[Jean-Serge]

Well the quadrille comes from the contredanse, nothing to do with trampling or mocking the cross...