Resources for Praise Dancers – Page 4 – Worship Dance Ministries

The Course: Teaching Worship Dance to Children is Online now!

I’m thrilled to announce that the online course, Teaching Worship Dance to Children is open for enrollment now. Praise God. I released a preview version of the new videos for this course and got great feedback (see the testimonials below). I also got some great ideas for improving the class. I listened to your feedback and added more live videos, suggestions for classroom management, and shared my favorite places to purchase garments for children and patterns as well. So take a look:

In this online course, you’ll receive:

• Teaching Children who Love to Dance to Worship when they Dance: Five short videos (46 minutes total) with study notes with ideas you can to help children worship wholeheartedly when they dance. $20 value

• And a Child Shall Lead Them – Audio Class: Two one hour audio lessons with slides and study notes taught by Amy Tang and Jocelyn Richard titled, And a Child Shall Lead Them. In this class, you’ll learn how to set a foundation for worshipful children’s dance, how to use And a Child Shall Lead Them – Ten Worship Dance Lessons for Children in the classroom to help children keep the right heart attitude for worship, to build a vocabulary of worship, to dance the scriptures, and to dance with their faces. You’ll also hear tips on how to start a dance class in the community. $20 value

• And a Child Shall Lead Them – Ten Worship Dance Lessons for Children, e-Manual with supplementary video downloads – The e-book version of Amy’s worship dance curriculum, including the e-manual and 2 supplementary videos (27 minutes total), will be available for you to download immediately. (Already own it? There’s an option to purchase the course without the curriculum.) This is a digital version of the book and videos. $29 value

• Bonus Materials: $18 value

The Lord’s Prayer Video – This (6 minutes) video will teach you gesture for the Lord’s prayer along with everyday movements to help children (or adults) remember it and have fun with it. This devotional dance is also a fun activity for dance classes and workshop.

Tips to Keeping Your Classroom Running Smoothly So You Can Teach – Amy Tang shares tips on how to keep children engaged, focused, and happy in class. She shares from her own experience teaching worship dance class and teaching in public and private schools along with some tips from other experienced teachers.

Suggestions for Buying or Making Garments and Props for Children – Amy Tang shares her favorite vendors for children’s praise dance garments and props, a couple of patterns for creating skirts for children, and a couple of simple tricks for dressing children beautifully without purchasing new garments.

•Access to the Teaching Worship Dance to Children Private Facebook Group – Here you’ll have the opportunity to build relationships with and learn from others who are teaching worship dance to children. I know I’m not the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to teaching worship dance to children. I’ve simply put what I’ve learned and what the Lord has given to me in a format to help others. You all have a wealth of wisdom and experience to share. While this page will give you access to me, it will, more importantly, give you access to each other. You can post ideas, suggestions, and questions, and resources. I will respond to questions asked and will look forward to you all answering as well. I think this could end up being one of the most valuable aspects of the course.

All the course materials can be watched online and accessed anywhere that you have wifi and can be dowloaded onto your computer, so you can keep them forever.

Read what others have said about Amy’s teaching materials for children:

God bless you and your amazing work! I am so glad I purchased the dance curriculum… what a powerful tool! And, might I add, Jocelyn is right, you have already done the work. I feel as if you are right here coaching alongside as I implement with my one worship dancer … she is 8 and has such a heart to dance for the Lord.. a true worshiper! More importantly… I am learning and being equipped as I study your course outline… Thank you, Amy! – Bobbi Andrade

Your teaching is so clear that anyone watching would be able to receive the tools they need to use your concepts. Your ideas were great. I love that you included some video as well. – Nanette

All the material sounds like great tools to use while working with children. I really felt the portion on Teaching children to dance devotionally is a SEED that will help them grow and instill in them a personal connection with HIM that will last a lifetime. Beautiful work! – Denise

It’s extremely helpful. It helped me learn how to “worship” and just not “dance” and how to teach same to children. – Merthene

Don’t change anything. I can tell that the lessons are always prepared in Love and of The Spirit to Worship The LORD. – J’Sue

The practical lesson ideas were so helpful for getting me started. I also love the various ways you’ve described that will help children dance for worship rather than just for fun. – Maria

These worship dance lessons are spelled out for you, she has professional photographs in this ebook for you. All the work is done, all you have to do is pray and get your children together and worship the Lord. — Jocelyn Richard, The Praise Dance Life

Purchase the Full Course: (You’ll receive an email with acccess to the course within 12 hours of making payment)

Price: $52

Purchase a hard copy of the manual with your course:

(You’ll receive an email with acccess to the course within 12 hours of making payment)

Price: $62 + shipping

Already own my children’s praise dance curriculum?

(You’ll receive an email with acccess to the course within 12 hours of making payment)

Purchase the rest of the course separately:

Price: $32

(does not include course e-manual or its supplementary video downloads)

Fabulous Choreography DVD for the Solo Dancer

If you get asked to minister through with short notice, do you have a solo ready to go?

Do you need help choreographing a powerful and meaningful dance for Resurrection Sunday?

Do you find yourself going to the same familiar movements when choreographing?

I had the chance to dance this past weekend at the concert for the Dancing for Him Conference I attended in Santa Maria. I’ve been busy with several projects and did not feel like now was the time to choreograph a new dance, but I knew it would be a blessing to be able to participate in the conference. So, I agreed to dance and revisited a solo I choreographed last year.

This dance is a signature dance for me in that it’s to a song whose words resonate deeply with me by an artist I love. It’s full of the expressive kinds of movements that I feel bring the words of a song to life. And I know it very well.

Do you have a dance like this, one you can pull out on short notice and dance with confidence and peace? If not, I encourage you to take the time to choreograph one. It will allow you to be ready in season and out of season to minister.

Below you can watch my dance. You may recognize this one, as I shared it last spring at a farewell ceremony at the church my family was leaving. Of course, I revisited the choreography last week. I prayed about it and danced to a verse that I didn’t use the first time I danced to it. But the song was still so familiar to me, not just the words and the choreography, but the heart of the message.

When at this conference, I purchased a fabulous choreography DVD that I want to share with you: Worship Expressions and the Solo Dancer.

gestures for worship dance — Click image for more information.

This DVD is like getting three DVD’s in one. In the first part, Pastor Lynn teaches a solo dance to the song My Hope. This is a contemporary worship dance that ministers. She demonstrates the dance, facing forward. Then she teaches it, facing backwards, or our sakes. And then she walks us through it as she faces backwards, talking us through the choreography. This makes it easy to learn, although it still takes attention and practice.

In the second part, Pastor Lynn gives Do’s and Don’ts for the dancer choreographing a solo, which are demonstrated by conference dancers.

After the Dos and Don’ts, there are a plethora of expressive movements to phrases that go with common expressions in worship songs. I loved that these were demonstrated in many ways: First, simply by individuals. Next, individuals embodied phrases while using techniques from dance composition to add interest and variety. After that, groups demonstrated worship expressions. Then, to make the expressions all the more powerful, groups combined many different expressions and group shapes. They were breathtaking.

I have all of Pastor Lynn’s DVDs and I can honestly say this is one of the richest and most dense of all Pastor Lynn’s DVD’s, equipping both the solo dancer and the group choreographer with a multitude of ideas.

Here’s a short tutorial I created from the DVD:

So, if you want to build your movement vocabulary, be inspired with more ideas than you can imagine right now, and gain practical wisdom for choreographing a solo (by the way, there are powerful ideas for group choreography as well), I encourage you to purchase this DVD. It will be a blessing and will bear fruit in your dance.

You can purchase it here or click on the product description for more details.

Price: $26

Dealing with Difficult Team Members

This is the fourth of a five part series on dealing with team related issues. If you haven’t read the previous issues. Make sure to do that.

All of the questions so far have related to team leaders. Today’s question is from a team member. It’s a question many people can relate to, whether on a dance team or in a small group. The details may differ, but the heart of the question is the same:

How do you deal with team members who dominate discussions?

How should you respond when someone rides roughshod over your questions or ideas?

Should you speak up during practice? If you don’t, will your ideas ever be heard?

I drew heavily from Lynn Hayden’s book, Team Terrificus in answering this question. I highly encourage you to get it, if you don’t have it.

Here’s her specific dilemma:

You are on a dance team and there is another member who interrupts when you’re talking to the dance leader and turns that leaders attention to them. You don’t get to finish what you were saying. Other times, you get a vision for the ideal that your leader is explaining, so you ask a question so you can get a better understanding, when a team member interrupts with her own ideal of that vision. The leader runs with the ideal never letting you finish that particular conversation. How do you handle this?

Having a team member who has a tendency to dominate can try your patience. Not taking offense when you are overlooked takes genuine humility from the Spirit.

You can help your leader by saving your own questions and suggestions for a time after practice. Sometimes, when the leader is sharing his/ or her vision or choreography and one person interjects to ask a clarifying question or to share ideas, it opens a floodgate of questions and comments that might eventually have been addressed. If you can hold off until your leader has finished or even wait to talk to him/her after rehearsal, you help create a more peaceful atmosphere in rehearsal.

Also, do a quick heart check to make sure your frustration isn’t coming from pride. Can you lay down your desire to be heard? Trust the Lord to bring about His purposes through you. I’ve seen this principle hold true in many areas of my life. When I’ve had a burning desire to put forward my own idea, plan, take on an issue, but the door has seemed closed to do this. When I have taken the issue to God in prayer and laid it at his feet, He has surprised me by. To me, this is an example of James 1:xxx, “Humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God, and He will lift you up in due time.

If, over time, and after you have prayed about it, the issue persists and so do your feelings, take your dance leader out for coffee or lunch. Share with you how this person’s behavior is affecting you and how you feel about it. Be respectful and be vulnerable. It is possible that what you are feeling she also has also noticed. It may be that by you humbly sharing your heart about it, you will validate what she already sensed but needed confirmation on in order to act. Ask her if there is anything you can do to help.

Read tomorrow to hear some practical ideas about how to encourage men to participate on the team. These ideas have come from more experienced leaders than I and from other men themselves. You’ll go away with some ideas you can use.

Helping the Child who Loves Performance over Worship

Have you ever had a student on your team that didn’t seem to get the heart of worship?

Have you had a student who struggles to catch on but isn’t willing to work to learn?

Have you had a student whom you have questioned whether she should continue on the team?

Read on to hear about my experience with a student like that and how God led me to respond.

You have a team member, a young girl who loves to dress up and dance in front of people, but she doesn’t really seem to get worship yet. She resists working hard in rehearsal. As a result, when dancing, she didn’t know her part well. She has to watch others and appears nervous and self conscious. Even so, she is eager to be on the team.

I had this happen several years ago and was encouraged to discourage this child from participating on the worship team. I considered that, but because she really wanted to be on the team and because her mother, who was also on the team, had such a heart for worship that she really sought to impart to her daughter, I felt I needed to try to work with her.

My experience with this child prompted me to be more deliberate with my whole team in calling them to worship and minister and preparing them to do this. I clarified my expectations of dancers in our covenant (see earlier post).

In addition, I increased the time I spent praying for and with my team and the time we spent preparing spiritually for dance presentations. I asked everyone to be reading scripture daily and meditating on the words to the songs. I was more intentional about keeping the vision before the team, a vision to minister and worship so that God can work in people’s hearts.

I also guarded my own thoughts towards this child. I would say to myself over and over, “___________ is going to be worshipful and graceful when we dance.”

On the practical side, I adjusted my rehearsal times so that the children’s rehearsals were shorter than the adults, and sometimes were separate. I spoke to her mother and asked her to make sure the girl had a book to read if she needed to stay for the adult portion. Sometimes I gave her a task to do to be helpful during this time, like holding the camera while we recorded portions of the dance. And, finally, I had a mother who offered to bring a simple healthy snack to rehearsals. Giving the children a short break and food to eat, helped her stamina.

dance team solutions — Click image for more information.

This child really grew in her understanding of worship and ministry. In addition, she began taking a dance class outside of dance team, which helped her technique. The biblical principle for me was love, which bears all things and believes all things.

A fantastic resource for team related issues is the book Team Terrificus, by Lynn Hayden. She asks questions like this and many more that will help you solve team related issues by practicing the fruit of the Spirit and common sense wisdom.

How about you? How have you responded to children (or adults) on your team who seem to enjoy performing, but do not yet have a heart for worship?

Please share in the comments section (at the beginning of the post).

Read tomorrow to hear how do deal with a difficult teammate.

Do Technique and Choreograph Stifle Prophetic Dance

How do you hold together Spirit led, heart felt worship dance with dance technique and training?

Several worship leaders asked a version of this burning question. Their wording differed, the issue was the same.

I chose this scenario, perhaps an extreme example of the dilemma. I hope it helps.

You have a team member resists technique training. She has always danced prophetically and spontaneously. She says technique and choreography stifle the Spirit. How do you respond to her?

The biblical principle here is integrity. Separating worship from hard work and skill creates a false dichotomy. Seek to always maintain a connection between technique training and worship and ministry.

Spend time with the team sharing your heart about technique and its value in dance ministry. Emphasize that our focus, in practicing technique, is on helping each person to grow, not on attaining some level of perfection.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “In all you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Ecclesiastes 9:10, it says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

From these passages, we know that God wants us to do our very best in whatever we do. Technique training equips us to do this. Emphasize that it is a gift to be able to improve in technique as a dancer. It enables our body to better demonstrate what the Spirit moves us to communicate. In addition, it gives us credibility to bring God’s messages before more people, when we have honed our skill.

As it says in Proverbs 22:29 it says, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

By using praise songs for technique practice, you will help keep the team members’ hearts worshiping even when learning technique. By teaching how different movements and steps can be used to communicate the heart of different worship words or expressions, your team will see technique as a tool to help them more faithfully embody worship. In these ways, try to win your sister over to the value of technique without confronting her straight on.

If the dancer still seemed uncomfortable with or resistant to technique and choreography, invite her out for coffee or for lunch. Listen to her heart for dance ministry and ask her about her experiences dancing prophetically, seeking to understand.

Ask her if she feels called to be on the team, understanding that part of the mission and vision God has given you involves helping the team grow in skill. Assure her that, when choreographing, that you pray and listen to the Spirit.

If you sense a true heart for worship and desire to serve, invite her to lead some spontaneous times of worship in team practice. If you sense that her prophetic calling was genuine and powerful, give her opportunities to dance spontaneously for portions of songs, asking her to prepare by listening to and praying over the music, but give her the freedom to dance her part spontaneously.

Divine Choreography DVD cover — Click image for more information.

For more help, take a look at the Prophetic dance book and DVD by Lynn Hayden, of Dancing for Him, as well as her Divine Choreography book and DVD on .

There are so many gifted and wise worship dancers who read these articles, so please, chime into the discussion. Add your input in the comments section (which is at the beginning of the post).

How do you hold together Spirit led dance and technique and choreography?

What part does each play in your ministry?

What else would you tell this leader?

Read tomorrow’s post about a worship leader who had a girl on the team who really didn’t grasp the heart of worship, affecting not just her participation in ministry, but affecting the whole team.

Raising Up Young Dancers who Truly Worship

How do you help children who love to dance to truly worship when they dance?

How do you get through to their hearts to establish a mindset for ministry?

How do you help them get beyond their self consciousness to truly worship?

How do you help them use props with a purpose, to use them as tools and not as toys?

How do you strengthen their ability to lead and choreograph?

How do you encourage them to worship in private, so their dance flows from their own relationship with the Lord?

I’ve been asked these questions. I’ve asked them myself.

Answering these questions is my passion, and God has enabled me to teach worship dance to children in a way that touches their hearts and enables them to touch the Lord’s heart and the hearts of those before whom they dance.

Even though I’m talking about children and my lessons were written with children in mind, all of this applies to adults as well. So if you are leading a team of adults or teens, this will help you as well. All of the principles apply.

In this online course, you’ll receive five 5-7 minute videos with ideas you can to help children worship wholeheartedly when they dance.

This is a review version, so it will be available to you online through February 21. After that, I’ll take it down and combine it with other valuable resources for an online course.

So, take advantage of this window of time when the course is available for no charge. I hope it will bless you.

Unlock Movement that Speaks

Do you want to dance in a way that speaks?

Do you want to speak to the Lord more intimately when you dance?

If a picture says a thousand words, a dance can say so much more. Sometimes we need help unlocking movement that truly speaks.

I’m full of joyful anticipation for the Worship in Motion praise dance workshop on January 31 in Pasadena, CA. If you live anywhere near me, I hope you will come. I’m so thankful to say the workshop is filling up quickly.

After spending Saturday afternoon with Marlita Hill, who will be teaching at the workshop, I felt like our vision and the gifts God has given us will truly come together to help dancers speak powerfully through their movement.

Marlita will be teaching on choreography, speaking to these questions/concerns:

How do I get started?

I only know a few movements, and I want to know more.

How can I get my dance to connect more deeply with the music?

Can I dance powerfully if I don’t have much experience?

And I will be teaching on how to dance devotionally, so that before we speak for the Lord, we speak to Him, though movement. She’ll be speaking to these concerns:

I want to deepen my connection with God when I dance.

I want to dance spontaneously with greater freedom and confidence.

So, if you resonate with any of these questions/concerns/desires, join us. Click this button to learn more and to register.

Sharpen Your Tools – Complementary Seminar tonight

There are two sides to worship dance:

There is the intimate side of worshiping God through movement for the joy of it and to express love to Him.

And there is the more public side of leading others in worship and dancing in ministry, using the art of dance to to bring God’s message to people.

For the first aspect of worship dance, training is not necessary. It can enhance our joy in worshiping Jesus, but anyone can worship, regardless of their training. God gave us all bodies and He is pleased when we use them to express our love and commitment to Him.

For the second aspect of worship dance, training is important. It enables us to better communicate God’s word. It allows us to hold the attention of those to whom we hope to minister so that they can receive the message we have. And it gives us credibility which opens the door to serve.

Jocelyn Richard and the Certification Program — Jocelyn teaching at one of the live training seminars.

Today I want to share about a very valuable way to get training, to grow more skillful in the art of dance, more knowledgeable in the bible, and more wise in business so that your impact is greater. Continue reading “Sharpen Your Tools – Complementary Seminar tonight”

Celebrating My Graduation from Dancing for Him Teacher’s Training Course

Today I’m celebrating having graduated from Dancing for Him‘s Worship Dance Teacher’s Training Course.

For years I led others in worship dance, choreographed praise dance presentations, and eventually taught worship dance in a studio. For most of that time, I was self taught, or really Holy Spirit taught.

About 3 years ago, I came across Dancing for Him and read about their two year training course. My heart leapt. I wanted to take it.

As a dance teacher, I wanted a certificate that said that I was qualified to teach what I was teaching. And I wanted the confidence that comes from systematically studying dance and dance ministry.

I prayed about it for 2 years before God opened the door financially and in my schedule to enroll in the class.

It’s been an incredible year. I have learned so much in terms of technique, dance and the bible, and dance ministry leadership. Read on to find out what I learned and watch a 4 minute video about the course. Continue reading “Celebrating My Graduation from Dancing for Him Teacher’s Training Course”

Prophetic Dance – Being God’s Mouthpiece

What is prophetic dance?

Is it a buzzword to make our dances sound more spiritual?

Is it only for a few who are particularly gifted?

Does a prophetic dance have to be spontaneous?

If I feel called to dance prophetically, how can I mature in this gifting?

In the Prophetic Dance DVD and book, Pastor Lynn Hayden demystifies prophetic dance and gives a multitude of suggestions for how you and your team can practice hearing from God and delivering his message, and she also gives some helpful cautions to those wanting to be a mouthpiece for God to others.

Read on to hear specifics and to watch a 4 minute video teaching I created from on prophetic dance, including a short dance I felt the Lord gave me for a specific group of people.

In her book, Prophetic Dance, and the DVD that complements it, Pastor Lynn gives clear teaching on what prophetic dance is and offers a multitude of ways a dancer or dance team can practice prophetic dance. She begins by giving a working definition of prophecy: to minister the heart of God to another. In prophecy, we call those things into existence that be not as though they were.

As dancers, we deliver the prophetic word through movement. The movements we use are not just beautiful or interesting, they carry meaning in the spiritual realm. So, as we dance under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Lord uses our movements to bring about healing, deliverance, and release of captives.

Pastor Lynn explains that prophetic dance differs even from other forms of worship dance. In prophetic dance we use music (or the spoken word) written/spoken in the first person, and our movements are directed towards the people. We make eye contact and gesture towards the people in order to deliver a message to them from the Lord.

This is different from when we dance to praise songs that are written to or about the Lord. In those songs, we are gesturing towards the Lord, speaking to Him. We hope to draw others into praise by ourselves embodying praise and worship. But in prophetic dance, the message is for the congregation or for the individual, and so we direct our focus towards them.

Pastor Lynn also debunks the common misperception that prophetic dance must be spontaneous. While often the movements are spontaneous, because we are listening to the Holy Spirit for what He wants to say in that moment and to whom, they can also be choreographed. The Lord can give a message ahead of time about what He wants to say to a congregation or individual and, as we pray and listen, give us choreography for a dance. That dance, because it is a word from the Lord to the people, is prophetic.

The book and DVD are full of activities that a dancer or dance team can use to grow in the ability to hear from God and communicate His word through dance. Pastor Lynn encourages dancers and groups to practice, to relax, to trust that He will speak. She also gives several safeguards, mindful that speaking for the Almighty God is a tremendous privilege and responsibility that we don’t take lightly.

Please share in the comments your experiences with prophetic dance.

How did you know what the Lord wanted you to say through movement?

How was it received?