Reclaiming Shared Sacredness: Through the Art of Dance

In Reclaiming Shared Sacredness Through the Art of Dance, the Fetzer Institute explores how liturgical dance and spiritual movement can serve as powerful mediums to perceive and honor the sacred in one another. Created as part of the Community of Freedom exploration and later shared with Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan, this case study embodies Fetzer’s mission: building the spiritual foundation for a loving world.

In a fragmented world, we are losing the ability to see others in their wholeness — to perceive the sacred presence within each human being. As a result, our relationships suffer, and our communities grow more divided.

The arts, particularly dance, are often dismissed in spiritual spaces — undervalued as tools for healing and transformation. In this story, we meet former professional dancers — now members of the Fetzer community — who have long known the transformative power of liturgical dance. Their perspectives reflect a broader cultural resistance to embodied expressions of the sacred.

Yet an unexpected outcome of this exploration emerges: through the reintroduction of liturgical dance in communal settings, participants begin to recover their capacity to witness the sacred in others. Movement becomes more than sacred performance — it becomes a spiritual practice of presence, healing, and connection. In embracing dance as sacred act, this community offers a vision of what is possible when beauty, faith, and embodiment converge to create a more loving and reverent world.