A Dancer's Christmas is the seminal production of the Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble.  First presented in 1980, A Dancer's Christmas ran for twenty nine seasons until its final performance in 2008.  During this time, generations of audiences and performers fell in love with the magic of the production.  What began as a modest production among a group of friends eventually grew to a become a serious enterprise that brought featured dancers from New York and beyond to Boston for a special event at Christmas.

DIRECTORS NOTES FROM THE FINAL SEASON OF A DANCER'S CHRISTMAS
(December 2008)

When I created A Concert of Dances for Advent and Christmas in 1980 with the
help of Carol Coggio Faherty, I never imagined that this evening of dances in
celebration of this beautiful liturgical season with 12 dancers and an audience
of 75 people in Boston College's Trinity Chapel would become such an important
part of my life and the lives of so many.  It was in 1984, 25 years ago
this December that the presentation was called A Dancer’s Christmas for the
first time. This year, 2008 will be the final season of this profoundly moving
and joyful celebration of the Christmas season. It only recently dawned on me
that I have spent half of my life on this earth choreographing dances for A
Dancer’s Christmas! And what a gift it has been to me for so many years! The
greatest gift, of course, has been the relationships that have sustained A
Dancer's Christmas for these near 30 years. I couldn't even begin to mention by
name all of the dancers and staff who have returned year after year, some for
more than 20 years, dedicating themselves not only to A Dancer's Christmas but
to the community that had come to be through this "labor of love" on everyone's
part.

For me, A Dancer's Christmas is so much more than a Christmas "show." It is
really meant to be an example of the "Catholic imagination” at its best. At the
heart of the Christian message is the belief that the God of Infinite Mystery
enters into our world in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.  This
"incarnation” gives all of life the potential and promise of revealing a God of
love and intimate union with the human person. As a choreographer and artist I
have been blessed with the imaginative task of letting this awesome mystery of
the Divine become flesh and blood in the dancers and the Dance. That may be why
one of my favorite Carols is “Tomorrow Will Be My Dancing Day," which speaks of
God’s longing to "dance" with us, God's beloved. My desire has always been that
the dancers who perform, the staff members who work behind the scenes, and the
audiences who come to share the joy and beauty of this work will have had their
eyes opened to the remarkable wonder of a God who desires to be seen and
experienced in human grace and beauty.

There is one new piece of choreography in this the final year of A Dancer's
Christmas. It is danced to the familiar music of Shubert’s “Ave Maria," a piece
that along with “O' Holy Night” were two of my father's favorites to sing. I
believe that I chose this piece to be my final piece of choreography for A
Dancer's Christmas because my spiritual journey has brought me to the role of
pastoral leadership at St. Mary of the Angels in Roxbury in addition to being
pastor of St, Ignatius Church. There is a simple and striking beauty of the
image of Mary, the mother of Jesus surrounded by the Angels who dance with
her.  In the many years of A Dancer's Christmas I have been blessed with
the angelic presence of so many dancers who have brought to life my vision of a
God who loves to dance. To each and every one of these "angels” in my life, I
say Thank You!

        -- Rev. Robert VerEecke, S.J.