Dancing Divinely - by Mark Helpsmeet

Liberal and Evangelical Friends probably approach Quakers in Africa and Latin America quite differently, and it’s quite clear that Evangelical Friends have been the greater influence there so far. While Liberal Friends probably think of themselves as very interested in other cultures, Evangelical Friends have been the Quakers who seeded and nurtured thriving communities of Friends in several regions of the “Third World.” Though unprogrammed Friends are almost exclusively white and of the middle and upper economic classes, you’ll find that programmed Friends around the world are truly multi-ethnic and spread all over the economic spectrum.

Being aware of the relative “disadvantage” in terms of unprogrammed Quaker influence, I found one rather surprising point of connection as part of the 2008 Friendly FolkDancers tour to Rwanda. Because of historical and traditional evangelical Christian (and Quaker) attitudes about dancing, most Evangelical Friends are either tepid about or downright opposed to dance, and they conveyed this attitude to Rwandan Friends. Still, Rwandans love to dance and they’ve held onto it, even in the light of the disapproval of their American Evangelical “parents.”

So I was pleased to hear from some of the leaders of Rwandan Friends that the Friendly FolkDancers visit was particularly welcome because we brought with us proof that dance and Quakerism fit very well under the same roof! Though our silent worship was strange and challenging to many of them and though our religious vocabulary was less Christocentric and definitive, unprogrammed Liberal Christians danced divinely with the Evangelical Friends of Rwanda.