Nibley sees the ancient chorus and ancient ring dances as having temple-related roots. "Ring Dance" is also one of my favorite sculptures, a landmark of Appleton, Wisconsin where I live. The beautiful sculpture is a water fountain in Appleton's downtown City Park. It depicts children in swimsuits joyously playing as they interlock their ankles (not something from the Temple) and do a ring dance around the fountain. It's a monument to the joy of being young and the fun of human friendship and play. A couple of my photos of it are below.
Interestingly, the artist, Dallas Anderson, was a Danish convert to the Church who taught art at BYU for a while before coming out to the Midwest. He lived and recently died here in Appleton. I had a chance to speak with him briefly before he passed away. He was a kind old man, an intellectual, and a tremendous artists who had left the Church after running into some anti-Mormon literature that took the wind out of his spiritual sails. His story, what little I know of it from our brief conversation, reminds me of the need to be patient and understanding of good people who leave the Church for reasons that seem valid and hard to refute. It also reminds me of the need to make answers to anti-Mormon attacks easier to find. There are good, kindly people who have been led away unnecessarily. Some say they are better off, but they are missed, and I fear they are missing something of great worth.
All these thoughts--Nibley, the Temple, good people who leave the Church, and the joy of human friendship--are stirred when I see our famous Ring Dance fountain in Appleton.
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