I just love Betsey’s music and dance. It’s a way of freeing the body with music and movement and getting closer to God. Thank you Betsey and colleagues — the videography was very well done.
Marie Gibson
Welcome to The Dancing Word
Do you have a sense that body and spirit are connected? Would you like to explore and celebrate this connection? Welcome to The Dancing Word. I offer resources, images, classes, prayer videos, and publications to foster connections between body and spirit, tradition and creativity, scripture, dance and life.
Each of us comes into the world by incarnating, taking on the flesh, blood, and bones of our own bodies. And yet we all know that being in a body can be one of the most challenging aspects of being human! When we embrace the mystery of humanity and Spirit folded together in us… we can open to the possibility of prayer and artistry inviting us to the joy of our embodiment.
Perhaps you’d like to see some videos and consider dancing along with them? Please scroll down to catch a glimpse of some wonderful video offerings where you can begin to tap your toes or lift your arms as you are called into the dance! Also, read more about my work with Abbey of the Arts to learn about our online global community of Dancing Monks.
Perhaps you’d like to see how dance can be part of church? I’ve been dancing in church settings for over 50 years, and so please explore how my own experience of dance ministry has unfolded and how the gift of storydances has come to birth.
Perhaps you’d like to explore some live classes, liturgies or retreats? Check out my calendar to see how we might find our ways to dance together. And click on Store to see what resources might support you in your own journey.
For more on the unfolding story of the dance read my post at Abbey of the Arts or visit the About page.
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May the Spirit that led you here continue to guide you on the dancing path!
CalendarI Will Live Until I Die
March 5-8th
St. Louis, MO
My dear dear friend, ValLimar Jansen has rewritten her musical on the life of Thea Bowman in a new & dynamic Broadway style, and St. Louis is the place to see it! We have a handful of performances the first weekend in March. I will be playing (and dancing) the role of Sr. Thea’s closest friend in her last decade of life, Sr. Dorothy Kundinger. What an incredible honor! Sr. Thea is one of the handful of African Americans being considered for sainthood in the Catholic Church, and she was a powerful force for uniting folks from different walks of life.
Seeds of Hope: Stories for Lent!
My longtime friend, Fr. Michael Sparough has a great commitment to making scripture relevant for our time, and I am delighted to join him in this creative venture! Each day for 40 days, you will receive a story to break open the daily scripture readings. The stories are enacted by
Fr. Michael Sparough SJ, ValLimar Jansen, Dev Kennedy, and me!
What a beautiful way to ponder the possibilities of how scripture is calling you this Lent.
The Love of Thousands Dance Collection is Released!
The Love of Thousands: Dancing with Angels, Saints & Ancestors is a collection of 20 prayer dances plus teaching videos created by Betsey Beckman to accompany The Love of Thousands CD and prayer cycle.These resources companion Christine Valters Paintner’s book The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness. Dances in this collection celebrate Angelic Guides, Mystics and Saints, (including Julian of Norwich, Clare of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Mechtild of Magdeburg, and Angela of Foligno,) Ancestral Wisdom and Blessings, Grieving the Passage of our Loved Ones, Pilgrimage, Ancestral Earth, and Spiritual Healing. Dances were filmed at sacred spaces in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, California, France, Spain, Bali, and Uganda.
The collection features guest artists Soyinka Rahim gsp, Leah Mann, Karin Stevens, Vania Bynum, Agnotti Cowie, Corey Action, and the Friends of Hope Cultural Center in Uganda.
The Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle Video Podcasts
I am pleased to announce the release of the video podcasts for The Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle at Abbey of the Arts! Featuring seven days of morning and evening prayer, this collection accompanies Christine Valters Paintner’s book The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness. Each day offers prayers, readings, movement videos, time for silence, and closing blessings. The prayer cycle is available as text, audio and video podcasts. Many of the songs can found on our album The Love of Thousands: Singing with Angels, Saints, and Ancestors.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Our latest collection of dances at Abbey of the Arts accompanies Christine Valters Paintner’s beautiful book – The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints & Ancestors Walk with us Toward Holiness. I am currently working on completing all the dance offerings to embody the songs on the accompanying CD: The Love of Thousands: Singing with Angels, Saints & Ancestors. When I began to dream about how to depict the ecstatic feeling of dancing with a whole collection of saints on the “other side,” what came to mind is a church in San Francisco called St. Gregory of Nyssa where the rotunda is full of beautiful icons of saints through time — all depicted dancing together in a ring! I just knew that I needed to step foot into this holy place and join in the dance with this circle of heavenly saints.
My beloved friend, Soyinka Rahim, introduced me to some wonderful dancers in the Bay Area, and we got permission to film this beautiful song, Holy Holy Holy in the sanctuary of St. Gregory of Nyssa. Enjoy this offering, and may the saints dance with you!
The Dancing Word Video Collections
In collaboration with Abbey of the Arts we’ve created a series of DVDs and videos to inspire your dancing.
The Love of Thousands: Dancing with Angels, Saints, and Ancestors
Birthing the Holy: Dancing with Mary and the Sacred Feminine
Monk in the World: Moving with Mystery
Earth, Our Original Monastery: Dancing Our Way to the Divine
The Soul's Slow Ripening: Dancing the Sacred on a Celtic Path
Dancing with Monks and Mystics
Testimonials
“During the workshop, Betsey told the story of the Creation using her whole body. When she got to the part about God blowing the breath of life into humanity, she used her whole body to blow the ‘breath of life’ into us. A radically new awareness broke through for me in that moment: I began …
Sharie Bowman