Oasis Chorale dancing

[Grace]

Is this what JohnH is referring to?

Although I find the movements a bit weird, I wouldn't say it is dancing.

[Neto]

I haven't seen Oasis this season but I have seen them before and while they did some staging of the songs with movement and light choreography, it doesn't really bring to mind the connotations of the word dancing.

(And I am not a teetotaler when it comes to dancing for a bunch of different reasons.)

I'm curious as to what the "bunch of different reasons" are for dancing.

[Soloist]

I haven't seen Oasis this season but I have seen them before and while they did some staging of the songs with movement and light choreography, it doesn't really bring to mind the connotations of the word dancing.

(And I am not a teetotaler when it comes to dancing for a bunch of different reasons.)

I'm curious as to what the "bunch of different reasons" are for dancing.

1 word. Bees


I’ve only danced once and it was a disaster.
I have done clogging though as work which I suppose is dancing but I view it in its own category.
I won’t do that either anymore.

[R7ehr]

I haven't seen Oasis this season but I have seen them before and while they did some staging of the songs with movement and light choreography, it doesn't really bring to mind the connotations of the word dancing.

(And I am not a teetotaler when it comes to dancing for a bunch of different reasons.)

I'm curious as to what the "bunch of different reasons" are for dancing.

Joy, worship, thanksgiving - King David

[Neto]

Is this what JohnH is referring to?

Although I find the movements a bit weird, I wouldn't say it is dancing.

I agree - it's somewhat more like choreography, but also weird.

But one of my "pet peeves" is white people singing "Black music" 'WRONG". An African American friend at the Bible institute I attended my first year was in the school chorale group, and the (Mennonite) director assigned an 'African Spiritual' for him to sing, but insisted that he sing in in a 'white' style. He asked to do it 'the real way', but the director insisted. So he did it that way in all of the practice sessions, but when it came time for the actual presentation, he just couldn't bear to do it, and sang it "as it was composed", not as it was arranged in the sheet music. (He got a low grade because of that.) So I get tired of hearing white Mennonites sing African Spirituals 'wrong'. Sing your own music if you cannot do it right. (My friend was actually also ordained as a pastor in the Mennonite Brethren church in that city.)

I learned from another "Black Mennonite Brethren pastor" there that swaying helps to keep time, especially in choir arrangements. (Years later I visited his congregation in Dallas, Texas, where he served as a lay pastor, doing pulpit supply for other congregations that were temporarily without a pastor. This was under what was then called the BEE - Black Evangelical Enterprise. So I got to see their choir sing their songs right - he was also a part of the choir there. Loved the song "Lord, Don't Move That Mountain", which is a 'sing in the shower' song for me. I also really like the music of Rev. Gary Davis, which I heard for the first time in '75 or '76, on record.)

[joshuabgood]

I haven't seen Oasis this season but I have seen them before and while they did some staging of the songs with movement and light choreography, it doesn't really bring to mind the connotations of the word dancing.

(And I am not a teetotaler when it comes to dancing for a bunch of different reasons.)

I’m going to propose that I have more formal, academic instruction in dance than you do, plus far more experience actually dancing, ranging from my days in Montreal’s discotheques to modern dance performances to Messianic Jewish style dances to ECD. (I will admit to no experience with ballroom or salsa with speaking of.) Consider this an appeal to authority and indeed to formal fine arts education.

What Oasis does is dance. It has been trending this way for a while. I wondered about it a few years ago but dismissed the cocncerns from my mind.

A good side effect of this might be that plainer groups will stop letting Oasis come around.

While you may well have more experience, I am not unfamiliar. I performed in various musical theatre and opera at Liberty University throughout my years there and of course dance was a part of those...this was of course a Christian university so there wasnt inappropriate for the context dancing. I was also the principal of Brooklyn Theater Arts HS in NYC for a few years and we produced musicals and had full time choreographers on staff.

It just feels to me that the picture that comes to people's minds with your comment doesn't effectively describe I have seen Oasis do. This isn't even basic musical theatre stuff. I would describe as a very basic choir choreographed singing.

[Wesleyb]

But one of my "pet peeves" is white people singing "Black music" 'WRONG".

Do you feel the same way about a black choir singing a hymn from Isaac Watts or Fannie Crosby?

I used to feel the way you do, but now I find it interesting to hear music done in a different style than it was written for. A rock song done acapella or bluegrass style, a traditional hymn in country music or contemporary style, etc. It may or may not be as good as the original, but at least it's interesting.

[seinetsodumm]

A good side effect of this might be that plainer groups will stop letting Oasis come around.

Why is it a good thing if Oasis stops coming around?

[Neto]

But one of my "pet peeves" is white people singing "Black music" 'WRONG".

Do you feel the same way about a black choir singing a hymn from Isaac Watts or Fannie Crosby?

I used to feel the way you do, but now I find it interesting to hear music done in a different style than it was written for. A rock song done acapella or bluegrass style, a traditional hymn in country music or contemporary style, etc. It may or may not be as good as the original, but at least it's interesting.

No, I don't. Is that ethnic prejudice?

My feeling is that the hymns are much more culturally broad, the lyrics not being so tied to the specific struggles of a certain people group. In fact, very many hymns, such as those that use sea going illustrations, are not at all "culturally relevant" to any experiences I have had. (However, it is true that while my people have never been sailors, they DID sail across the ocean in ships that depended on wind for power. But it was also a short time experience in terms of their entire lives.)

[R7ehr]

Fundamentally, I’m personally not a fan of the touring Christian singing group phenomenon in the first place. I don’t think is really squares well with the concept of worship. And I guess the further out there into performance land it gets, the less I think it is appropriate.
At the same time, I do try to leave room for others opposing viewpoints on the topic.