Choreography – Worship Dance Ministries

When is a Ministry Dance Complete?

Pentecost Praise Dance and Christmas Eve Worship Dance

I’ve been thinking lately about what makes a dance “complete.” When is it ready to minister? How do you know? What activities are critical to have in place before we minister?

What prompted this was rewatching a dance I ministered at my church last year at Pentecost. There are some beautiful moments where I see the joy of the Lord on my face and see His beauty and anointing on the choreography. There are other moments when I can see uncertainty on my face and, honestly, I feel nervous watching. myself dance because I can see I was uncertain about the movements.

In contrast, I had a sense of completion after dancing to What Child is This? on Christmas Eve at the same church. I knew I had completed my assignment, and I had a sense that the congregation was blessed. I was fully present to the congregation and to the Lord as I danced.

The responses I received to both dances were quite different. I actually had someone come up to me after the dance at Pentecost and say, with a chuckle, “I liked your dance. It reminded of those hippies at Woodstock.” I’m not kidding. This was a new believer. I knew right then that my dance had not hit its mark with him. Another person asked, “Where did you learn to dance?” and still another, “What type of dance was that?”

I’m not saying the Pentecost dance was bad or even that it was without effect, simply that it was incomplete.

In contrast, on Christmas Eve, I could sense the congregation was moved and experienced joy when I danced, that they entered more fully into the Christmas story, having seen an embodiment of the incredible story of Christmas. I did not need to receive verbal feedback. I sensed the dance had done its work, or rather that the Lord had worked through it.

So, what makes one dance complete and another incomplete?

Here is what came to me, as I reflected:

The movements have become part of us. We are sufficiently rehearsed that the choreography is in our muscle memory. Or we have spent enough time in personal worship so that inspired movements come to us in the moment.
We have prayed over the lyrics and they have become part of us. When we move, we are connected with the words and the message of the song and so can lean into the movements as a way to communicate these.
We have prayed for the congregation, considered their needs, even received a word or picture from the Lord about what He might want to do through our dance.
We have released the results to the Lord. We don’t need to please or impress people or prove ourselves. Our hearts are focused on pleasing him and we give it our all, not worrying about what others will think. We are free now to dance for the joy of it, trusting Him to do as He pleases with our offering.

You can watch both dances here:

I’d love to hear from you.

Do you see these differences in the dances?
Can you add anything to my list?
Do you think that it’s possible for every dance we offer to be fully “complete” before we minister?

Anointed Teen Modern Praise Dance

I’m so excited to share with you the dance my class of modern dance students shared at our homeschool graduation celebration (there is a fun surprise in the middle, too).

With every dance, there is a story, a story of our weakness, our labor, our faith, and of God’s provision, faithfulness, and revelation. I want to share the story of this dance because the Lord taught me something that is changing me.

If you have followed me for long, you know that I often question myself, my calling, often wrestle with doubts about my fitness.

I feel like the Lord taught me something that is shifting that for me. Let me tell you the story from the beginning: Continue reading “Anointed Teen Modern Praise Dance”

When you wish you hadn’t said “Yes”

Have you ever agreed to dance and wished you hadn’t?

Have you ever contemplated backing out of a ministry assignment the night before?

Do you ever question your call to dance in the middle of an assignment?

I do these things more often than I would like to admit. : Last Saturday evening, the night before I was to dance at my own church for Pentecost, I seriously contemplated backing out. In this post, I share what kept me from doing that and what I learned about the choreography process that may help you as well. I also (spoiler alert) include a video of the dance I did end up sharing. Continue reading “When you wish you hadn’t said “Yes””

When You are Juggling Choreography Assignments

What do you do when you are asked to choreograph but feel your plate is already full?

Is it okay to reuse choreography from a dance?

How do you take a solo dance and turn it into a group dance?

This year, while I have been far more silent on my blog than I would like, I’ve had the joy of being very active in choreographing and dancing, in teaching live classes, leading an online study group, and choreographing for another church.

If I someone had presented me with all the assignments at once and asked me if I could take them on this year, I likely would have declined a couple of them.

However, with each opportunity that came my way, I felt the inner “yes” and went ahead, and for each assignment, I have been given what I need to complete it. More than that, I have experienced a synergy between the assignments that has been a joy and a delight.

So, I want to share my stories with you so and give you some tips that will enable you to, under the Lord’s leading, complete more than you think is possible. I also hope it will help you see how the Lord is constantly at work, weaving together the details of our lives into His larger tapestry. Continue reading “When You are Juggling Choreography Assignments”

Modern Dance for Worship

worship modern dance The bible says there is a time for everything, a time to weep and … a time to dance. Last week I shared with you my dance of lament.

This week, I share with you a dance that brought me joy, even during a difficult time. I have the privilege of teaching beginner level modern dance to these young women at Ecclesia Classes. They shared this dance at our Christmas presentation last week. I hope it blesses you.

If you are looking for a good modern dance workout that you can do at home, I highly recommend the Modern Dance I and Modern Dance II DVDs by Lynn M. Hayden.

The wraps the girls are wearing were created by Minister Pamela Stovall at The Master’s Touch Creations.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.

Did you dance or shepherd a group who danced at Christmas? If so, to what song did you/they minister?

Do you have a favorite technique training DVD that you use? What is it?

Thanks for joining the discussion and allowing me to be part of your life.

Dancing to the Spoken Word

worship dance poetry Is it okay to dance without music?

While music and dance go hand in hand, using the spoken word without music can be very powerful, especially to tell a story, bring a word from the Lord, or to teach through your dance.

If you find a portion of scripture that jumps off the page to you, you don’t have to find a song about that scripture to use it to minister. You can put the spoken word to movement. Likewise, if you find a poem or quote that you think would speak powerfully to others, embodying it with movement can really bring the word to life.

In the video below, I dance to a portion of poetry from A Bride Made Ready by Wesley Scott Amos that gave me a powerful picture of Christ’s relationship with His church and with me. Continue reading “Dancing to the Spoken Word”

Improving Technique: Modern Dance at home

modern dance technique training Are you taking any dance classes right now? If not, I encourage you to, and if you don’t feel you can, I share a super affordable resource for improving your training at home.

As worship dancer said at a workshop I attended, Get training so that your body doesn’t get in the way of what your spirit wants to say.

Jocelyn Richard, my mentor, always encourages her students invest in their training, to take live classes in the studio. This week, I took a modern dance class where I met another sister who has been mentored by Jocelyn, Jennifer Oliver. We took the picture below for Jocelyn, to let her know we were together and were investing in our training. We wanted to make her proud.

I’ve been taking another modern dance class on Saturdays for the past couple of years. You’ve probably heard me share about how challenging this class is. The other students are way above my level, enough so that I often have to talk myself into going (Read my story about this class When is it Okay to Give Up? If you need encouragement.) Even though I often feel super clumsy in class, I can see a big difference in my technique. Pastor Lynn noticed it at the last conference I attended with her. There is nothing like being in a live class where you get stretched beyond your comfort level and receive correction.

Having said that, few of us have the time or resources to take as many live classes as we would like to. We are mothers with kids at home, or we work full time, or we are busy with our own dance ministries. And live classes are expensive. They’re worth it, but you still have to have the money in the bank to write the check. So, most of us don’t take as many classes as we’d like.

So, today, I want to share with you three free video tutorials and a DVD that you can use at home.
Continue reading “Improving Technique: Modern Dance at home”

Worshipful Ronde de Jambe sequence

ballet for worship The ronde de jambe is one of my favorite movements in dance. It is so graceful and communicates reverence and adoration. So, when given the assignment to create a tutorial from Lynn Hayden’s Ballet III DVD, I chose her ronde de jambe sequence. You can watch this 4 minutes video below. Enjoy and feel free to borrow from for your own choreography. Continue reading “Worshipful Ronde de Jambe sequence”

Post Sabbatical Reflections

Last October, I felt led to take a sabbatical from my blog and email community for a season. That decision came after a soul searching conversation with my friend Marlita Hill, who has a way of helping draw out from me my heart concerns as well as hopes. You can read more about that conversation here.

Now, I’m standing at the other end of that sabbatical and it’s time to share the gifts that came out of that time with the hope that it will encourage you.

First of all, Continue reading “Post Sabbatical Reflections”

Using Veils to Add Emotion and Beauty in Your Dance

Veils are a beautiful addition to worship dance. They add beauty, glory, drama and effect to your dance. They help tell a story, and you can use them to communicate emotion when you dance. In this video, you’ll learn techniques for using veils in your worship dances and see several examples of dances using veils in solo dances and also in a group dance.

The teaching from this video comes from the Veils and Dance DVD by Lynn Hayden. There are even more creative ideas for using veils on this DVD as well as an entire choreographed dance for a group of three or four dancers. I took the ideas from this DVD to create an entirely new dance that ministered powerfully to our congregation. You can watch this here and also read about 4 things I learned about preparing a group dance.

The veil used in this dance was made from 1 yard of 42″ wide fabric, cut down the center to form two veils with 21″ width. Then, I simply sewed a hem around the border to prevent the fabric from fraying. Often, at JoAnne’s fabrics, I will look through the remnants for fabric to create new veils. It’s inexpensive and often there are beautiful pieces from which to choose.

I’ve also used these veils as tunics in other worship dances by simply simply sewing a hook and eye on them so they could be attached at the shoulders.