these thots were birthed by reading the shaker expereince in america by stephen stein,

shaker dances often looked like/were inspired by secular forms (ie the minuet, the sqaure dance, the line dance) this could be geographical--the barn dance and the shaker dancing (one shaker dance, first noted in the 1830s was called the square order shuffle--mentioned in more secular s/dancing manuals, a century later) were both from england folk dancing, but as they became more formalised, they seemed more directly anglo...

this reminds me that even those caught in xtc often obey societal mores, i am reminded that the pentecostal tradtion, has several kinds of heavily ritualised movements that are repeated in seqeance (ie arms up over he head, palms extended, jumping up and down, being slain in the spirt, shaking and qauking) some of these movements are reminscent of the work of the shakers--but more indviulistic/less communal... (compare the 19th century social mores and codifed movement of american xtc with the 20th--using shakers and the Toronto Blessing as examples, when the xtc became too uncontrolled, uncodifed and strange for mainstream holly rolelrs, the blessing was considered evil and satanic.)

(also the first hymns, from Meachem until the Indiana congreations were wordless, ie speaking in tounges (how do we define words irt glossalia?) (meachem thot words would distract from the feelings of the meetings (meaning distracts from meaning--an experenice beyond langauge--but god is language, god is about the creation of speaking--(Jn 1:!) (one of the central issues, continually of this)

Meachem "(wordless songs) wean the belivers from that class of songs which they had formerly used and which was surcharged with a mixture of theological doctrines that could not be made to harmonize w. the testimony of the cross of christ" (from the intro to a fascimille of the 1908 canterbury hymnal. (connect dancing to wordless songs, and talk about the control of logos that makes catholics nervous of liturgical dance--this might be an entry to that rivarly)


when the hymn book was codifed, slightly after the history was written by the indianna meeting houses, was the start of elborate communal dances (strange though, because hymn books make this kind of dancing difficult, they had to find a way to do both, which might explain how these dances resembeled those already known (AA/Feild work too?)--which were atteneded by mocking spectators from as far away as boston or nyc

one wonders why the shakers would let in these gawkers--the shaker realtionship with evangelism is often complicated, alot of them connect to the quietest traditon, (they were at first called shaking quakers) and the evangelical life was less direct, however they did have an extensive history of missionary work--was this opening up an attempt at this, or was it a way to show how harmless this was, or was it an attempt at transperacy (e do nto hide yr light under a bushel)

the qaukers became less and less xtc, less and less connected to the english tradtions of radical protestantism, in america--it is almost as if the shakers took the place of the qaukers, there is a history there, a sort of mirroring of the mainstreaming b/w the two (do not assume a narrative exists when it does not)

the meeting houses, the services, etc, the hymn book, the history, et al--all of it had the langauge of work (from a fascimle of the v, late 1908 hymn book of CAnterbury NY (remember that the first hymnals were invented when indiana and other western shakers came from already established protestant tradtions (and musically "many of the tunes avoided awkard intervals by using a gapped scale, much like anglican-american folk music ix)--this hymn book was 30 yrs after that--so in many ways it is closer to the presby/baptist hymn books cribbed in the 1870s--much to meachems regret, so we have this narrative: fuck everyone else, crib it anyways, steal whole heardtely--im qauting the hymn book cause its easier to find qoutes in 10 pages then it is in 600)

the dances relate to farm work, they were formalizing and making aethetic the work they did outside (as is the traditon fo folk dancing)

Agrian Hymns (also realise that they called the sunday service "the work", something they never called the communal daily work):

Summer Land (49)
Sowing (74)
Christian Growth (84)
My Choice (108)
Sowing to the Spirt (114)
The Christ Work (129)
Best Gifts (160)
Endless Growth (171)
Thanksgiving (173)
Unclouded DAy (192)
Secuirty (193)
Cheif Delight (201)
Growth (208)
True Wealth (213)
The Vineyard (212)
The Harvest Home (218)
Commital (228)
Saftey (233)
Harvest Hymn (236)
Press On (243)
In The Valley (244)

To Do with This
SEe how the folk dancing tradtions of the Anglo-American Tradtion worked w/o religious
see the codifiaction(sp) of other movement
see how other hymns dealt w. themes of agrian work (#s)
tie this into hte hymn/xtc traditons of oneida/lds/?
work the tension b/w words and actions
see how conversion patterns worked in NH,Ky,NY, Mass., Ohio)

(there are several first person accounts of men actually getting hard and cumming in the middle of these dances, making literal the metaphar of sexual communion w. god, tie that in w. the lds/mother ann incarantioin of god stuff)