SCL

ha! no your not the only one–although my version is more of a graceful move-kind of like a conductor conducting a symphony.not great big sweeping gestures-just subtle fluttering and waves.hand dancing seems the only reasonable alternative to giving in to the urge to all out waltzing/ballet twirling around the sanctuary.(i wont be that free till i'm dead-you know when everyone will be doing their own freestyle dancing and no-one will think your nuts)

i also do this in my car when a particularly great song comes on-just the left hand -twirling out the window.

There is a song "Undignified" based on David's words to his wife in:
2 Samuel 6:22
I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes…

We have become too dignified worried about what others think instead wanting to please God with our praise.

David's wife became barren after she mocked him for dancing for God. I've heard it preached that many people in the church today are Spiritually barren because they mock those that dance for God.

WV: Moloa
Surely a hebrew word meaning getting lost in dance.

As a musician, I find myself quasi-air-drumming all the time. I used to tap the chair in front, but the whole row would shake. I catch myself an realize that, yes, my left hand is twitching near my left leg as if I were playing high hat, and my right id certainly banging out 2 and 4 on the snare that isn't there. Oh no, was that a drum fill? Did I just do an air drum fill into the chorus?

Of course I'd look less insane if everyone in my church didn't know me as a guitarist, not a drummer. I don't own drums. I've never played drums. Except in church. You know … in my head.

In the back of a hymnal i would read the 150 Psalm and pray "someday". When i read about how God's people praised God with song and dance i would think what has changed. We have had generations of making children be still & quiet, teaching them "what will people think?" It is unnatural for a child to be still during music, it is natural for them to dance. I believe God designed us that way.

WV: bussish
If you are from Texas you know what this is. The KJV is "bovine dung".

When we began a praise service 6 years ago and street children came. We taught them the love of Jesus and the freedom to sing & dance. 2 years ago the street teens came, some having grown up in the children's ministry. So we wait for the teens to grow up for the adult service.
The funding comes from several people that have never been in a service but believe in what we do. God makes it work & i give HIM the glory & praise.

I usually just tap the heck out of whatever is in front of me. I love to dance, but the space restrictions make any one who attempts dancing in my church look like they really need to use the facilities.

Along with the finger dancing, I like to get a little foot tap going every now and then. Kind of like my on own little church pew version of Crip Walking.

My hands are usually busy trying to grab my lightening-fast 2 year old as she runs towards the altar, the door, the sound booth, or anywhere else she isn't supposed to be. (The kids are in worship for the first 3 or 4 songs, which is great, I love that, but I usually spend the time chasing my daughter around the room.)

I have the second best vantage point for seeing what people are doing during church. I might miss more subtle hand moves because I am behind everyone, but it doesn't take long before the fingers get the hands into it and once that happens elbows and shoulders are sure to follow and then I know.

I personally love watching some of the older youth and young adults that were in fine arts because they fall back into sign language. Sure they try to keep it small, but if someone happened to pick a song they actually learned how to sign, trust me they need room once that happens, but fortunately it doesn't happen to often.

One of these days I should get it on film and use it as blackmail because I'm sure they don't know they are doing it.

Haha awesome, I thought I was the only one, although I'm a little different.

I play bass in the worship band and love it so I end up playing imaginary bass guitar while I sing on the back of the chair in front…

Oh, I do this all the time. Unfortunately I lack rhythm, coordination, and all those other things useful for dancing. I blame my Wesleyan upbringing – everyone knows Wesleyans can't dance.

My fingers break into classical symphonies on the air piano, flying left and right, hovering over the chair in front of me.

I haven't played the piano since 3rd grade (20 years ago) and never progressed past Twinkle Twinkle.

But my fingers don't know that.

A simply brilliant post, my friend.

The only hand dancing I do is hitting the down arrow key on the computer when it's time for the next slide of song lyrics to come up on the screen.

Hilarious, loved the "So You Think You Can Dance" reference. I just have to watch that show again tonight, I love it…I mean…quality time with the wife.

I'm more of a a chair back drummer (though in real life I play the violin), each hand busting out a different rhythm. Then if I'm really into it, my head will start bobbing and the shoulders might start swaying. But it builds slowly, and I'm probably the last person to notice it.

My favorite part is when the worship leader does the hand dance. You know, the attempt to be subtle, telling the drummer to get the rhythm right, but everyone in the congragation can see…yeah.

I definitely hand dance too.

First "The Soup". Now, "So You Think You Can Dance". If you ever reference "How I Met Your Mother" I'll know we're TV soulmates. (Though you could have already done that as I've only been reading the blog for a month or two.)

I'm a pianist, so if my hands aren't occupied with clapping, they are usually dancing. I can't help myself.

My friend, you are coming dangerously close to pantomime. I'm scared for you and your legacy.

I'm usually standing there in that "watermelon toss" position that you mentioned in your hand raising post. With my eyes closed. Swaying. Because, after your post about clapping, I don't even try that anymore. Hand dancing? That would just be a train wreck. So I'll just sway and wait for someone to toss a watermelon my way…

I'm a sound/visuals sort of guy, so during (corporate, sung) worship I am busy pressing buttons. I really love it, to be honest, enabling and serving others in that way helps me to connect to the truth of Christ.

When I'm not doing that, yeah, the hands are in the air. I'm not ashamed of it. Except in front of those really cool guys that wear much cooler jeans than me, then I look all stoic and sing from the bottom of my soul with a mournful look on my face, as if it say 'those designer jeans are stopping you being *this* connected to God.

Ok part of the above was a joke.

Peace

I'm a thigh slapper. When everyone stops clapping, but I'm still in Gloria Estefan mode, I start slapping my thighs. First to the beat. Usually on beats one and three. Then the right hand keeps with the one and three and the left hand starts getting a little crazy.

I think my left hand wanted me to be a step dancer with all the crazy yelling and clapping/slapping.

I do the pew drumming… and I've never played drums (but I am a musician)… as a child I was quite into air or pew piano but I did kind of out grow that one (as I do play piano I think I can be excused on that one)

The most insane bit is the occasional conducting with my foot during choir specials… (thats when the urge to conduct along is too great but I'm not about to look like my highschool choir director conducting down the highway…)

I thought I was alone.
Is there a program for this, like a 12 step thngy? There should be.
I need to be able to stop and feel like I'm in a safe environment, maybe with other people who snap and tap and do little wavey moves.

….and speaking of yesterday's post, which I forgot to comment on YESTERDAY, it was really great. Just what I needed that day. And every day. Amen.

Once, when I was visiting a church, the woman in front of me was doing something I can only describe as "looking like she was pretending to do sign language." (Per Nick above, it definitely wasn't real sign language – but you're right Nick, that's one of the many hazards of Fine Arts.) Anyway, now I know what she was doing! (It was a Pentecostal church…she could have just DANCED.)

I do the "Praise Team March". You know, the praise team stands up there and there's nothing to tap on and you really can't do the air guitar/drums so then end up marching in place. Seriously, start paying attention… it's funny.

I usually sit in the front pew, so it isn't at all conducive to hand dancing. If I happen to be in a different seat, though, I usually find myself doing it, mostly because it's the closest thing to hand-raising that I can get away with (sometimes I'll do the ninja) without my oh-so-Baptist church family worrying that I'm turning Pentecostal on them.

oh, and @mo. The Bible doesn't say Michal became barren, it just says she never bore any children. It's more probable that David no longer felt the need to call her to his chamber, especially when he had so many other wives. I feel a little sorry for Michal, to be honest. Yes, she should have allowed David to worship freely without chastising him for it, but the unfortunate fact is that David's passion for God never did translate into proper treatment of Michal. From the beginning of her marriage she was nothing but a pawn in the David-Saul struggle, and she knew it.

I am so totally a hand dancer. That combined with my sweet feet tapping skills equals a pretty nice show during service.

Fortunately my hands are almost always on the keyboard giving them something to do 90% of the time.

But if I'm not a part of the worship team…I do thigh slaps, foot stomps, and head nods, which are dangerous thing to do while driving a car…

Am I the only one who taps out rhythms on his chest? It starts with a heartfelt moment (and the right hand gets pressed to the heart), but then the song builds and before I can drop them, they start pounding away a rhythm on my sternum. Anyone? Anyone at all?

@Christina …yes Saul used his daughter as a pawn & yes she was bitter as she showed when she mocked David. Bitterness keeps us from praise & happiness.

I go to church with cool people. There the types that, to look at, you'd think would discourage this sort of thing. But our worship music is very folky, poppy, bluegrassy so there is footstomping and head bobbing along with the chair drumming so you don't feel much need for full-on hand dancing.

That doesn't mean that my part of the church family are actual snobs, they're just cool.

hello…my name is kyle and i'm a hand dancer…it all started when i was introduced to the drums in 4th grade…from then on i couldn't help myself. no, it hasn't affected my life much…it's annoyed my wife a bit…but in all reality, sometimes i feel i can kick out a phatter beat on the chair back in front of me than the dude (or dudet) that rockin' the solo on stage…

i wonder what would happen if someone developed a chair back that was more like a whoopie cushion? that way there would be NO closet hand dancers…only an awkward chorus of supposed gas passers…and probably a fair amount of giggling…from the youth pastor.

What do I do with my hands when I sing songs at church? Hold the hymnal of course!

@Jonathan,

I've used my sternum for a snare before. Just not in church.

@Brizo Brown,

You win!

I was introduced to sign language in high school. It has become my "style" of worship. I love it. My whole body is worshiping the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the Universe! It's as close to dancing as I can get away with in a Baptist church!!

Have you ever seen the young lady who travels with and signs with Sandi Patty? If that doesn't move you, you've been dead at least a week!

Ok, so I couldn't dance if my life depended on it…but…I love the air drum on the back of the seat in front of me. Please tell me when you start your church-with-many-names you will have a hand dancing/air drum choir instead of hand bells!

LOL, this concept is totally foreign to me. I've seen dancing, twirling, hopping, but not hand dancing. Way to reference popper Phillip though, that helped me with the visual.

Not big on the hand dancing myself, but one of my favorite worship experiences ever was watching the 8 year-old son of my small group leader lose himself in the music one Sunday morning — he started doing air guitar and kept it up for the rest of the song. I don't think he knew or cared that anyone was watching him.

I usually attend church where you can dance in the aisles, but I have a hand dance move for you. You can lift your hands palms up and move them up and down to the beat. That is how my church dancing usually starts. Have fun, and remember, everyone worships differently.

My son used to pull the pencils out of the pew in front of them, sit down, and drum his way through the service. He was good. But at 15, he's much too cool for that now. Instead he just plays air bass.

My daughter is teaching herself sign language, so her fingers are going through the whole service. No idea what she's really saying.

And @mo, good call bringing up the song "Undignified" — a great song for middle schoolers to let it all out!

WV: untrac: I don't mind people drumming on the pew if they can keep untrac with the beat.

It cracks me up when we sing "I could sing of your love forever" and we get to the "Oh I feel like dancing" because I go to a fairly conservative church and no body is dancing. I, however, would happily twirl and sashe.

Love it! Hand dancing is the best. When I sing on praise team I never know what to do with my hands–I think hand dancing in front of everyone may be a little too much for our church.

How awesome that we worship a God who can take all the praise we can give Him in all the ways we can think of.

Like Brizo Brown, my church still uses hymnals, so that keeps my hands occupied. However, that's not to say that my fingers don't do the ninja under the hymnal. And when I'm in my car or at home (or visiting a church that puts the words on the screen), you better bet my hands are busying hand dancing, air drumming, and/or air guitaring the whole time!

Good 'So You Think You Can Dance' reference. Stamp of approval!

You crack me up. Hand dancing. Ah.

I remember there was a guy in church who would just jet his arms,both as straight as possible, at an almost nazi-like degree. We just called him superman.

(Oh and I'm glad there's a reference to sytycd, too.
Longest acronym ever.)

What do I do with my hands when we sing at church?

I interpret those songs into American Sign Language for the deaf man who sits on the front row.

Is that considered hand dancing?