Five, six, ready — go.

Around the St. Mary Magdalen church hall, couples followed along, finding the rhythm as they moved in tandem. Laughter mixed with the music when steps went awry, followed by high-fives after finding success.

Besides the sugar push, left-side cross and right-side cross, the men and women gathered were also learning the themes of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, making the goodness of the human body and relationships with others visible. That’s the goal of Theology of Dance, a Chicago-based ministry founded by Mordini to teach the Theology of the Body through the lens of partner dancing.

“One of the big problems we have, I find, is that we don’t know how to use our bodies in the way God intended,” Mordini said. “So by learning to dance, you’re actually learning the language of the body that John Paul II talked about.”

Brendan and Crystal Stuesse, parishioners at St. Mary Magdalen in St. Louis, brought the ministry to St. Louis last year. The couple spent time learning about the ministry through video calls with Mordini and hosted the first local dance in January 2023.

A typical event includes a short theological talk, a dance lesson in a particular style and time for social dancing. On May 18, Mordini spoke about Trinitarian relationships before puttin’ on the ritz.

There are three important elements of a partner dance, he explained: the leader, the follower and the music. The leader is the image of the Father, who initiates the act of the love; the follower images the Son, who brings the act of love to its completion; and they’re united in the Holy Spirit, who is the “music who brings them together in their dance.”

“I never really understood the Holy Spirit until I started dancing,” Mordini said. “And once I understood that the Holy Spirit was imaged by the music and the dance — oh, this makes so much sense. I’m going to follow Jesus as He leads me, but I’m going to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and His music. That helped me understand how I’m supposed to relate to both Christ and the Holy Spirit at the same time.”

Brendan and Crystal Stuesse glided through the West Coast swing steps, attuned to each other through years of practice. Dancing has always been an integral part of their relationship — they became friends through the aerial swing dance club at Missouri S&T in Rolla. They reconnected after college at St. Louis Young Adult events and started going dancing together at venues like the Casa Loma Ballroom.

“It’s a hobby and passion that we both share and that we can share in a more intimate way than you could share a lot of passions,” Brendan said. “It takes both of us, together, to have a great dance.”

“It’s good to connect with the other person and learn to lead and follow each other,” Crystal added. “Which is good, because we need to lead each other to Christ, too.”

“We wanted to display our love for each other in the dance,” Crystal said. “We had a lot of joy, so we wanted to bring the joy to those viewing.”

Elizabeth Ruda and Alex Cass, who attend St. Monica Parish in Creve Coeur, were also among the couples dancing May 18.

Partner dances are not a choreographed string of moves that you perform the same way each time, but a framework that allows you to put the dance steps together into something beautiful, Ruda said. That analogy has helped her better understand the freedom that comes from following God’s design.

“In the spiritual life, you need a structure — otherwise, you’re going to be all over the place,” she said. “The rules aren’t to keep us confined, they’re to give us a path.”

As an adult convert to the faith, Cass has enjoyed being able to learn about the Theology of the Body while also practicing a shared skill and hobby with Ruda. He proposed — and she accepted — amid polka dancing at the January Theology of Dance event.

Dancing with his now-fiancée has pointed him to the original unity Adam and Eve shared with God, Cass said.

“I’m not a dancer — I have two left feet. But to be able to dance with her gives such an intimacy that I almost never want to stop,” Cass said. “And I believe that points to the greater unity we have with Christ and with God, as we should have been before the Fall.”

As the ministry grows, the Stuesses hope it can be a tool for evangelization, an easy opportunity for people to encounter the Church. That could be through a conversation with someone who asks where you learned to dance, or by inviting a friend to a Theology of Dance lesson hosted in a parish hall.

“People don’t always think: Catholic Church, dancing,” Crystal said. “We’re trying to change that.”

>> Theology of Dance STL

Theology of Dance STL hosts dance lessons and talks on the Theology of the Body every couple months. All are invited; come solo or with a partner. For updates on Theology of Dance events in the St. Louis area, find them on Facebook: Theology of Dance - STL.

Watch Theology of Dance in action: stlreview.com/4bS62v3