The Body as Sacred Offering: Ballet and Embodied Faith / New York City Ballet Dancer Silas Farley

Silas Farley, former New York City Ballet dancer and current Dean of the Colburn School's Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, explores the profound connections between classical ballet, Christian worship, and embodied spirituality. From his early exposure to liturgical dance in a charismatic Lutheran church to his career as a professional dancer and choreographer, Farley illuminates how the physicality of ballet can express deep spiritual truths and serve as an act of worship.

Episode Highlights from Silas Farley

“The physicality of ballet is cruciform. The dancer stands in a turned-out position... the body becomes the intersection of the vertical and the horizontal plane.”

“Sin makes the soul curve in on itself, whereas holiness or wholeness in God opens us up.”

“We are Christian humanists. We don't need to be intimidated by beauty.”

“There's knowledge and insight in all the different parts of our bodies, not just in our brain.”

“The mystery of the incarnation is that when the creator of all things wanted to make himself known to his creation, he didn't come as a vapor or as a mountain or as a bird. But he came as a man.”

Resources for Ballet Engagement

• Local community ballet companies/schools
• “B is for Ballet” (ABT children’s book)
• “My Daddy Can Fly” (ABT)
• Celestial Bodies, by Laura Jacobs
• Apollo’s Angels, by Jennifer Homans
• Silas Farley’s Podcast: Hear the Dance (NYC Ballet)
• The Nutcracker (NYC Ballet/Balanchine)
• Jewels (1967, Balanchine)
• Agon (Balanchine/Stravinsky)

About Silas Farley

Silas Farley is a professional ballet dancer and choreographer. Dean of the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, Silas is a former New York City Ballet dancer, choreographer, and educator. He also currently serves as Armstrong Artist in Residence in Ballet in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

His work includes choreography for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Houston Ballet, and the New York City Ballet. He hosts the Hear the Dance podcast and creates works that integrate classical ballet with spiritual themes.

Silas also serves on the board of The George Balanchine Foundation.

Show Notes

Silas Farley’s Early Dance Background & Formation

• Silas Farley: Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina; youngest of 7 children (4 brothers, 2 sisters); multiracial family (white father, Black mother)
• First exposure through charismatic Lutheran church’s liturgical dance ministry
• Saw formal ballet at age 6 when Christian ballet company Ballet Magnifica performed
• Dance initially experienced as form of worship before performance

Liturgical vs Classical Ballet

• Liturgical dance:
  • Amplifies worship
  • Functions as embodied prayer
  • Not primarily performative
  • Historical examples: David with Ark of Covenant, Miriam after Red Sea crossing
• Classical ballet:
  • Performed on proscenium stage
  • Requires specific training
  • Focuses on virtuosic movements
  • Explicitly performative
• Both forms serve as offerings/vessels for transmitting energy to audience

Technical Elements of Ballet: Turnout, Spiritual Turnout, and Opening Up

• Foundational concept of “turnout”—rotation of feet/hips outward
• “That idea of turnout makes the body more expressive in a way. Because if our toes are straightforward, like the way we're designed, you only see a certain amount of the leg. Whereas if the body stands turned out, you see the whole inside of the musculature of the leg. It's a more complete revelation of the body.”
• Creates more complete revelation of body’s musculature
• Physicality conveys “spiritual turnout” - openness/receptiveness
• “Spiritual turnout: that you are open   and receptive and generous. And that's embodied in the physicality of ballet.”
• “So much of what developed as ballet as we know, it happened at the court of Louis the XIV in the  1660-1670s.”
• “It's not artificial, it's actually supernatural.”

Physical & Spiritual Connections in Ballet

• “Our walk  with God is that he's  defining us so that we are becoming open. We're open to him. We're open to receive his love. We're open to be vessels of his love. We're open to receiving and exchanging love with  other people.”
• Freedom within the constraints movements and positions
• Swan Lake: “They're so free. They're almost like birds. But that's come through a lifestyle of discipline.”
• “You get a hyper awareness of your own