David Blanton- Dance as an Intrinsic Desire

The first part of Van der Leeuw's book deals with dance, its origins, place in religion and culture, and how it has changed through the ages. The most primitive forms of dance can be seen now as expressions of the unity between all things. Dance was simultaneously religious, agricultural, economic, and erotic. At the very end of the unit on dance Van der Leeuw writes:

"For van Lelyveld is not wrong in saying that in the West the feeling for rhythm has almost died out. Yet that is a theological mistake; for in the Bible, movement is everything; God is movement. His Spirit broods over the waters of chaos, his pillar of fire leads through the desert, his prophets bring disquiet to a people that loves quiet, his Son comes down to earth, his Spirit drives. His creation is no clumsy peice of work, but a progression into the world."

Evidently, rhythm and dance are an inherent part of creation. Man cannot escape it. It is in the rising and falling of the sun, the ebb of the tides. God designed the world in rhythm, in movement. Man then is compelled naturally to move. He cannot help but participate in the natural movement of things.

However, Van der Leeuw has highlighted how this participation with movement has been largely lost in the West, excluding the busyness of daily life. My question then, is has man's desire for movement really been lost? Or is it too intrinsic for him to truly severe himself from it? 

I would argue that man has not lost his desire for dance. The question now then is where is this desire manifesting itself? In the busyness of daily life it hardly seems like man has time for dancing. Yet, it could be found in modern man's desire for routine and fixed schedule. Perhaps the constant movement and flow from different responsibilities subliminally reminds man of his place in the ordered movement of the cosmos.