I’m loving the “Dance Dance Dance!” DVD and book by Lynn Hayden. I used the lesson from the DVD to teach this lesson in my worship dance class with children last week. You can purchase and/or DVD here.
The DVD has several parts: In it, Pastor Lynn unpacks the meaning of the word dance as it appears in the Old and New Testament. We learn that the bible is full of words that imply dancing, dancing in a circle, moving the body in a beat or rhythm, being stirred in rapid movement, and going around in a circle. Then she goes on to teach about Hebrew words found in the Old Testament and Greek words in the New Testament that imply movement. For each word, we learn how the Hebrew or Greek word is translated into English. These words are called the “locator words,” and they are the words we see in our Bible. Then, Pastor Lynn gives an amplified definition of the word, in which we see how much movement is implied by it. Next, a group of dancers embody scriptures where each of these words can be found. In the last section of the video, Pastor Lynn teaches a dance choreographed to “Psalm 23.”
The DVD is full of biblical and practical tools. It will equip you to teach others that there is so much more to dance in the bible than Miriam’s dance and David dancing before the Lord. When the bible says to “rejoice,” it means more than just “be happy.” The word gull or gil means to spin around under the influence of any violent emotion, to be joyful, to rejoice, to cry out, or to exalt. I have used the exercises in the DVD at dance workshops to get women and children bringing the scriptures to life. I love what different groups of people will choreograph to scripture. Do one word study each week at dance team practice to build a biblical foundation for dance for the team as well as to build their movement vocabulary.