The simplest are ancient, some say as old as our IndoEuropean language family. Hellenistic mosaics suggest several were known to fourth century and New Testament Christians, and perhaps to Jesus himself. Thanks to the wide diaspora of Greek immigrants and their strong ethnic loyalty, many American cities boast Greek folk dance groups who will gladly teach their fellow Americans how to join in. Greek folk steps also transfer well to classical western hymn tunes, and distinctively suit congregational dance. Their repetitive rhythmic figures fit almost half the hymns in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982.
Greek dances offer a folk vocabulary easily grafted onto American worship.
This sideways momentum also makes it easy to sing and dance at once, as each dancer can place one hand on a neighbor's shoulder, while the other hand holds a song sheet. For simplicity's sake, and especially for the sake of enrolling newcomers to St. Gregory's, we dance hymn tunes with regular lines of equal lengths. Of course we choose lyrics to match the readings or liturgical moment. Then we fit steps to the number of strong beats per line, and the internal rhythm and tempo. Note that the number of dance beats results from the musical rhythm, not from the syllables or word accents.