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 teaching at one of the live training seminars.
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.
Thank you so much to all who prayed for the Worship in Motion Praise Dance Workshop in Pasadena this past Saturday. Your prayers made a tremendous difference.
The Lord blessed the workshop, blessed me, and blessed those who attended.
This little conversation has been ruminating in my heart and mind every since I had it with my eleven year old. I never would have thought to appreciate hiccups because they are unexpected. In fact, more often than not, I curse the unexpected: Continue reading “Embrace the Unexpected”
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?
Several People have asked me for DVDs with dances that have already been choreographed, so I thought I would share a few that I love and have available in my store. Make sure to read to the end to learn about the special offer available until the end of September.
Click image for more details
Divine Choreography Tips and Techniques – In addition to giving you a wealth of ideas and techniques for choreography, this DVD has a completely choreographed reproducible dance, broken down step by step.
Dance, Dance, Dance DVD – This DVD describes the many Hebrew, Greek, & English words found in the bible and then depicts, through movement, their related scriptures. In addition to giving you a multitude of activities you can use with your team to bring the scriptures to life, it contains an intermediate level dance to Psalm 23.
Expressive Worship and Sign DVD – The teaching on this DVD has given me countless ideas for choreography and class activities as Lynn teaches how to use expressive sign in your dances. At the end,
Lynn breaks down an entire Expressive Worship Dance that you can easily reproduce with a group of dancers of varying levels. It is divided up into: a sign language part, an expressive worship part & a dance part. Continue reading “Choreographed, Anointed Dances for your Team”
This is the DVD for which everyone has been asking. If you’ve always wanted choreography ideas, dance patterns to put with any music or dances to follow and learn, this is the DVD you need!
The Praise, Worship and Flags DVD contains four already choreographed dances for a group or a solo dancer with easy to follow instructions. Three of the four dances could be done with any 4-4 timed music. The first are praise dance steps and the last two are flag combinations. The second dance is a very expressive dance combined with ballet set to a Will Bozeman song.
Do you need inspiration for a praise dance? Try going to the scriptures.
Below is a praise dance the Lord enabled me to choreograph to Psalm 145. Here’s what I loved about choreographing to this Psalm: Continue reading “Dance the Psalms”
There are two sides to worship dance: 
