"Dirty dancing" sprzed wieków : motyw tańca w tekstach śląskich kaznodziejów protestanckich z XVII-XVIII stulecia

Abstract

The aim of the article is an attempt to prove that the belief that the Lutherans especially strongly stigmatized dance, held by many researchers, is not confirmed in the light of the sources examined. The author of the text critically analyses the texts of three Silesian Lutheran pastors from the 17th and 18th centuries, namely Adam Gdacjusz, Jerzy Bock and Samuel Ludwik Zasadius. Both Gdacjusz and Zasadius accept “an honest” dance and criticize the one accompanied by other misdeeds, such as drunkenness, gluttony or hazard. According to Bock, on the other hand, dance demands to be reprimanded only if it constitutes an obstacle to work being one of the most important values for Silesians. None of the authors criticizes dance as such, but exclusively its manifestations connected with violating certain social norms. The very issue was similarly perceived by the Catholic preachers and moralists. Distrust of dance was connected with generally-understood morals of old ages, and went beyond faith in its nature.