It's nice that they finally bringing a bit of fun, music and color into the religion but who were they welcoming and why all the fanfare at this particular convention?
This is a far cry from the bland somber and dull affairs that the overly religious old white men in Brooklyn had going on back when I was "in". We were always told to be serious minded and to show dignity in our worship and above all else, never draw undue attention to ourselves. They would have used scriptures to show that instead of spending the time and money on putting together matching costumes and rehearsing dance steps, it would be better to spend it in the ministry since the end is so close and lives are at stake. Then again, people from other countries were all ways sort of regarded a cute and ethnic and were able to get away with having a bit more flair that we were allowed to have.
Did you notice in the one dance routine, the women who were wearing the white dresses were lifting the front of them up as they faced the men. Harmless I'm sure but this would have been far too suggestive and immodest back in the day.
It's great for the current JW's that things are changing and their human spirit and liveliness hasn't been vanquished altogether but what about all the bible base reasonings they once used on us to make us feel shame for wanting to express ourselves...did the Bible change in the last 8 years since I was a JW or did they spoil my youth for no reason ?