Sydney Carter: Quotes about dance and ballet

Sydney Carter was British musician and poet. Explore interesting quotes on dance.
Sydney Carter: 52   quotes 0   likes

“I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.”

Sydney Carter

Lord of the Dance (1963)
Context: I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.

People , Dance

“I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.”

Sydney Carter

Green Print for Song (1974)
Context: I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.
Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did. The Shakers didn't...

Life , Reality , Singing , Time

“They buried my body
And they thought I'd gone,
But I am the Dance,
And I still go on.”

Sydney Carter

Lord of the Dance (1963)

Dance

“I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem
I had my birth.”

Sydney Carter

Lord of the Dance (1963)

World , Star , Birth , Sun

“They cut me down
And I leapt up high;
I am the life
That'll never, never die;
I'll live in you
If you'll live in me —
I am the Lord
Of the Dance, said he.”

Sydney Carter

Lord of the Dance (1963)

Life , Dance

“Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.”

Sydney Carter

Lord of the Dance (1963)

Dance

“Coming and going by the dance, I see
That what I am not is a part of me.
Dancing is all that I can ever trust,
The dance is all I am, the rest is dust.
I will believe my bones and live by what
Will go on dancing when my bones are not.”

Sydney Carter

Written as an epitaph based upon his lyrics to "Lord of the Dance".

Dance , Parting

“Faith is more basic than language or theology. Faith is the response to something which is calling us from the timeless part of our reality. Faith may be encouraged by what has happened in the past, or what is thought to have happened in the past, but the only proof of it is in the future. Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on. Even though (because it rejects a doctrine) it is now described as "doubt."”

Sydney Carter

This, I believe, is the kind of faith that Christ commended.
Obituary in The Independent (17 March 2001)

Faith , Reality , Past , Future