Videos – Page 4 – Worship Dance Ministries

Create a Powerful Group Dance from a Simple Solo

Group shapes from the Melt My Heart DVD. Click image for more information. — Group shapes from the Melt My Heart DVD.

The Expressive Worship and Dance DVD presents and teaches a beautiful group dance that can be used for ministry and for personal devotion. You can take this dance and use it exactly as it is to create a ministry piece. Or you can take and adapt parts of it to fit your context. You can even use it as a solo or simply dance it in your own devotions, an invitation to the Lord to soften your heart and form His heart in you.

Not only do you learn a complete dance from this DVD, you get many ideas for how to take your own choreography and adapt it for a group, making it full of variety so you can minister.

Pastor Lynn shows how she takes a motif, which is illustrated in the chorus of the song and shown in the solo choreography, and creates many variations on this. In doing so, she creates a group dance that contains powerful variety. By adding group shapes, unison movement, by varying stage position and group formations, and by using cannon in the choreography, the original movements are adapted to add interest and impact to the dance. Here, I teach the solo part to the chorus: Continue reading “Create a Powerful Group Dance from a Simple Solo”

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

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.

Pasadena Workshop Recap

The Worship in Motion workshop this past Saturday was very powerful. It was an awesome privilege to teach with Marlita Hill.

It was also very moving to work with a group of women who came wanting to go deeper in choreography and worship and who came with hearts open to share and to learn.

The Lord showed Himself faithful to minister through the teaching and through the group activations.

I’ll share quickly my favorite takeaways:

1. God knew what you have a don’t have in terms of skill, experience, finances, (everything) when He called you, and it’s enough. So, no more apologies!

2. The Word is Living. He speaks. He has a tone. He has a message that He wants to communicate through our dance. So, we must get in touch with Him, we must take time to hear from Him if we are to speak for Him. There is no short changing this step.

3. The context (of scripture, of a song, of the people to whom and place at which you are ministering) must shape how you interpret the word. Pay attention to context. For example, love doesn’t look the same in every context. So, if you are communicating about God’s love, listen for the context in which He is extending it. His love is multidimensional, and so there are a multitude of different ways to embody it through dance.

4. We do not need to be perfect, just wholehearted. So, engage your whole heart and your whole body and trust Him to speak.

There was more, but I’ll let the video recap speak now. Hope you see and hear Him in it.

Did God speak to you through this recap? I hope so. If so, please share how in the comments. It will encourage me and others.

Join us next time!

Praise Him with Dance

I had the complete joy recently to teach a six week dance class to students at Ecclesia Classes in Pasadena. We danced at Ecclesia’s Christmas party to Psalm 150, produced and sung by the Harrow Family on their album, A New Commandment.

We also had the privilege of inviting the community to worship with us through movement after we danced. After all, this Psalm is a call to worship.

So, I taught the audience gestures to the song, “I Love You Lord,” and invited them to worship to the song with us. It was really moving to watch whole families moving in worship.

Enjoy this dance and let it draw you to praise our Jesus, our creator, redeemer and shepherd.

Please share in the comments about any dances you were able to share during the Christmas season and how they impacted those to whom you ministered.

Begin Where You Are and Resist Criticizing

Don’t despise the days of small beginnings.

I choreographed the dance below three years ago and it is dear to me.

Warning: There is a huge garment problem right at the beginning. Don’t let that hinder you from being blessed by this dance.

In fact, in a way, that garment snafu is part of my point in posting this video. There are many things I could critique about this dance regarding the garments, the group choreography, even or especially, our hair. But it this dance is dear to me, and it still moves me.

Watch it, and you’ll see what I mean.

Continue reading “Begin Where You Are and Resist Criticizing”

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”

Pasadena Workshop Praise Report

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.

Here are 5 ways I saw His hand as well as a 90 second video recap of the afternoon. Continue reading “Pasadena Workshop Praise Report”

Prophetic Dance – Being God’s Mouthpiece

prophetic dance DVD — Click image for more information

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?