Amy – Page 14 – Worship Dance Ministries

Worshipful Stretching Routine for Praise Dancers

Stretching tutorial — Click image for more information

Do you want to be more flexible?

Do you want to improve your dancing?

Do you want to prevent injuries?

Do you want to worship while you do this?

The Stretch and Adoration DVD by Pastor Lynn Hayden will help you do all of these. It’s a wonderful tool for the praise dancer. I’m using this DVD twice weekly as part of my studies in the Dancing for Him teacher certification class. I love it.

Read my review below to learn more and enjoy this short stretching tutorial in which I demonstrate one of my many favorite stretching segments from the DVD: Continue reading “Worshipful Stretching Routine for Praise Dancers”

Modern Dance Exercise Tutorial

Do you need ideas for choreography?

Do you want to grow in your dance technique?

Do you want to make your dances more worshipful and emotive?

If so, the Modern Dance I DVD, by Dancing for Him, is a fantastic tool for you. Watch this short tutorial, teaching how to do the hip joint opener and read my review below. This exercise is based on the Modern Dance I DVD by Lynn Hayden of Dancing for Him, You can purchase that DVD, in my store.

The Modern Dance I DVD gives you an introductory modern dance class for the dancer with a heart to minister through dance. It was designed to give dancers a movement vocabulary, using the fundamentals of modern dance. Beginning with floor work, moving to stretching and abdominal exercises, and finishing with across the floor work, Pastor Lynn first teaches each exercise, carefully instructing on proper form and technique, and then invites the dancer to practice the exercises with along with her and a team of worship dancers. I have used this DVD over and over in the two years that I have owned it. It has inspired my worship dance choreography. I love modern because the movements are emotive (using contractions) and earthy (using flexed feet and parallel position in addition to pointed feet and a turned out position) and fun. Because the DVD provides an introduction to modern dance, I find it provides a great model for the technique portions of my worship dance classes with children. Modern dance seems more accessible to the new dancer and to children than ballet. The parallel feet positions are easier for most children to imitate than the turned out position (and from there, I teach the turned out position.) It seems easier for children to learn to turn out after they have learned the parallel position. In addition, my older students are drawn to modern dance’s emotive and fun movements. For the worship dancer who wants to express his or her heart to the Lord and to tell stories of God’s work in their lives, and for the emerging dance teacher, this DVD is a powerful and effective tool. Click the image below for more information or buy now to order immediately You will love this DVD and gain great benefit from it.

: Modern dance instruction DVD cover

Price: $26

Continue reading “Modern Dance Exercise Tutorial”

What Dance Ministry Leaders Need to Learn from the School Dance Team

Welcome to part three of this blog series inspired by my local dance team’s stand out performance last weekend. If you haven’t read the first two posts, check them out before diving into this one:
Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team and What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew.

As praise dancers, we can learn from the excellence with which these dancers present. As dancers who know Jesus, we have an important message to speak to them. As dance ministry leaders, if we want to reach youth and keep them dancing for Jesus (instead of giving their gifts and their selves away to the world), here are five things we need to heed:

Young people want to dance. There were 250 students in this performance. Clearly there is a need and a desire for dance leaders and teachers. If you have ever wondered if you are called to reach the youth at your church, take time to pray and listen for that call. There are young people out there who want to dance and are looking for an avenue to develop their gift. Will you help them?
We need to invest in our own training. There are skilled young dancers out there. If we want a voice in their lives, we need to take the art of dance seriously and invest in our own training. This does not mean we can not speak to them until we can outperform them with our technique. But we need to be growing, learning, and gaining skill. It is our anointing that ultimately will enable us to have an impact on their lives, but having skill gives us credibility as well as something to offer them.
What you are doing matters. These kids are going to use dance for good or for evil. If we have the chance to plant seeds for righteous dancing, it could change the trajectory of their lives as well as all the lives they will impact through dance.
Get boys into the act. Women bring beauty, passion, gentleness and refined strength to dance. Men bring strength, humor, power. We are, together, made in the image of God. Dance is more complete, more impactful when you have both men and women dancing. I’m speaking to myself before I’m speaking to anyone else. I’m in my comfort zone with women and young girls. They think like I do, and they dance like I do. It’s comfortable for me to reach them. But this year I’m going to make it my goal to learn to dance with men, to learn from them with the intent that I can bring boys into dance.
Give your dancers something awesome to wear. The kids I saw dancing must have had a ball changing from costume to costume. Their costumes were fun, beautiful, playful, sassy, exciting, and sometimes provocative, depending on the dance. Now, our standards are not the world’s standards, and we are going to teach our dancers to cover up. I said more about this in my earlier post. Even so, these kids, especially girls, want to look beautiful and feel special. In my children’s dance curriculum, I have a whole lesson on teaching kids the difference between empty (vain) dancing and full (worshipful) dancing. So I’m not talking about catering to their vanity. I’m talking about meeting their God-given desire to be lovely (for girls). You can choose modest garments that are also fun and flattering. Don’t ask them to dress in something that looks like a potato sack. Lucie Poirier says, in her book Dancing for the Endtime Harvest that we are to dance for “beauty and for glory.” For an excellent resource on praise dance garments, I highly recommend Jocelyn Richard’s e-book Garments of Glory.

Continue reading “What Dance Ministry Leaders Need to Learn from the School Dance Team”

What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew

If you read my previous post, Ten Things Worship Dancers Can Learn from the School Dance Team you know how inspired I was by the talent, energy, and commitment at our local high school’s dance performance this past weekend. At the same time, I was also grieved at times and felt convicted that, as a praise dance ministry leader, I (and you) have a message that those girls need to hear. What grieved me the most was how sexual several of their garments and choreography were and how bold they were about this. Now, I didn’t expect to see circle skirts and palazzo pants at a public school dance team performance. While what is appropriate for the stage and studio is not always appropriate for the sanctuary, the converse is also true. I expected to see bodies. But what chagrined me was how outright seductive many the costumes and much of the choreography was. It was not just immodest, it was exploitative. During one dance, I wanted to search out the girls’ dads and say, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry you have to see your daughter doing this.” I don’t think the girls fully realized what their clothing and movements were saying. You could tell they were having so much fun and felt beautiful. I want those girls to know that they are worth more than that, to tell them to respect their own bodies and not offer them to everyone. I want them to know that the King wants them for His daughters. He wants more for them than that. Here’s what they need to hear from adults they respect: Continue reading “What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew”

Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team

This weekend I went to watch the local high school dance team perform. They had advertised in the local paper. We’re new in town, so I don’t exactly have a full social calendar, the ticket price was right, and I love dance in most forms, so off I went. Their performance inspired me, made me think, and convicted me as well. So, I’ll be writing a 3-part blog post this week:

Part I – Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team.

Part II – What I Wish Every Dance Team Member Knew

Part III – What We Worship Dance Leaders Can Learn from the School Dance Team Continue reading “Ten Things Worship Dancers can Learn from the School Dance Team”

My Seven Favorite Choreography Tips

I’ve been studying choreography as part of the Dancing for Him course this past month and have compiled my ten favorite choreography tips and how I used them in the most recent dance I choreographed:

1. Begin with prayer. The Lord knows the moves that will minister to others. All creativity comes from Him. Pray about which song to use. Once you have chosen a song, spend time praying through the lyrics, asking the Lord to give you a picture of what He wants this dance to look like.

2. Keep your dance to 3 to 4 minutes, especially if it’s a solo. Unless you are very experienced and/or have a large group of dancers, it’s difficult to keep enough variety to hold the audiences interest longer than this. Continue reading “My Seven Favorite Choreography Tips”

Add Variety to your Choreography by Varying Stage Positions

This exercise, inspired by the Divine Choreography DVD by Dancing for Him is a great exercise to use with your team or dance class to see how something as simple as varying your position on the stage can add interest and variety to your choreography. Continue reading “Add Variety to your Choreography by Varying Stage Positions”

Learn How to Choreograph Dances that Minister

What do you need to make an impact in dances, inspiration or knowledge of choreography? In Divine Choreography, Lynn Hayden’s answer is both. She begins by explaining that “Whatever offering you bring to the Lord (if it is presented with a humble and submissive worshiper’s heart) will be a sweet smelling savor to our Lord.” (p.11) At the same time, she points out that “if a dance is interesting and has a lot of variety, it will, more than likely hold the audience’s attention longer and thereby minister more effectively.” (p. 22). So, she first instructs the dancer to pray over a dance, listen to the song over and over, to listen to the Spirit, and to consider fasting, so that the inspiration comes from the Lord. Continue reading “Learn How to Choreograph Dances that Minister”

Sometimes You Have to Get Out of the Way

Sometimes you have to get out of the way to see what another person/other people can do. I’ve been leading the dance ministry team at my home church for the past 11 years. Today my husband and I had our last Sunday at this church he/we planted 11 years ago and the church gave us a “farewell” reception. It was incredible – more than I expected, certainly more than I deserved. One friend shared a poem she wrote for us, another a funny and meaningful song about our family and ministry, another prepared a slide show, others shared stories and words of encouragement. Each one was moving, precious, inspiring. What floored me, though, was what the dance team shared. Continue reading “Sometimes You Have to Get Out of the Way”

Dancing for “them” or for Him?

Here’s another must have resource for worship dancers. Written by Lynn Hayden of Dancing for Him Ministries, Dancing for Him (to purchase, click here) is a guide to understand the heart attitude necessary to minister effectively through dance, to understand the scriptural significant of the movements we do and what effect they have in the spiritual realm, and it provides practical wisdom for a dance ministry team leader.

Dancing for Him explains how dance can be used in praise and worship time, for prophetic ministry to an individual or group, and for gospel presentations. It

The part of the book that provoked the most thought for me was in chapter 7, Performance vs. Ministry. pastor Lynn distinguished between several categories of Christian dancers: those who dance because they enjoy dance and like to dance to Christian music; those who want to take back the arts for the Lord; and those who dance solely to minister to the Lord and to minister to people.

I see myself in a combination of the categories. I began dancing in worship with no training and with the sole desire to minister to the Lord and people through dance. Over the past few of years, the Lord has enabled me to gain training so that I am now also I a moderately I skilled dancer with a desire to take back dance for the Lord. I don’t separate this from ministering to people through dance. I teach worship dance to children whose parents are so grateful to have a Christ centered environment for their children to dance in. I see offering dance to them as a ministry. The ministry begins with taking back dance for the Lord. But this is not separate from ministering to the children and teaching them to be ministers. Usually, we end a session of dance class with a ministry a presentation at a nursing home. I teach the children that this is ministry, not performance. We pray for the residents together, and they pray at home. They love dancing before other people. There is joy in the act of dancing. But they know the reason we are there is not to get applause or impress people, but to tell God’s stories and prepare the way for him to move in people’s hearts.

Like the children, I love to dance. Even when I’m not ministering, even when I’m not overtly worshiping (like when I’m taking a class in the studio), I love to dance. It’s a joy to move the body god gave me in a way that is beautiful; however, that does not compare to the joy and meaning I find in worshiping Gd through dance and dancing in ministry. So, I see myself in all three categories. The most important part of dance for me is worshiping the Lord. From there, it is a privilege to grow in skill and to minister to others.

This book will challenge you to ask yourself if you are dancing for “them” or for Him.

It will give you practical wisdom about how to use dance in praise and worship, in gospel presentations, and in prophetic ministry. It will also encourage about the power that God releases as we move before Him in worship and ministry.

It’s a fantastic complement to Pastor Lynn’s other book and DVD, Dance, Dance, Dance! which is available in my store.