Posts – Page 10 – Worship Dance Ministries

3 Versatile and Beautiful Patterns for Worship Garments

Several years ago a dance ministry leader encouraged me to raise my standards for dance garments, to seek to dress beautifully for God’s glory. My biggest objection was financial. I did not have a budget for a new wardrobe of worship garments.

She encouraged me to seek a seamstress for my team, so I started praying about that. I approached people whom I knew sewed and asked them to consider sewing for the team. Though both were willing, neither was enthusiastic.

Then, one day in worship team practice, a woman new to the team mentioned that she sewed and would love to create tunics for the team. She had a passion for worship dance and a desire to use her talent for sewing to bless the ministry.

I was moved by God’s answer to my prayer, and it confirmed that He was blessing the dance ministry He was calling me to. With this friend, I found several patterns that we used to create dance garments:

For the team, she used a simple tunic pattern that she adapted for each team member. She also used this pattern for the children, using it as a model and creating a simple pattern herself. (Pictured below on

pattern for worship dance tunic — Overlay adapted from Burda Pattern 7354.

the team.)

She created more intricate overlays for my solos, adapting costume overlays. My favorite came from a Medieval gown pattern. We adapted it in several ways, raising the neckline, shortened the length, so that I wouldn’t step on it, and omitting the sleeves. In addition, I had her leave the bottom half of the seams open so that the dress had flaps, which were very effective and made the dress easier to dance in. (Pictured top left.)

pattern for blue worship overlay — Overlay adapted from Simplicity Pattern EA989101.

The other pattern we used for an overlay was also a costume pattern. We also raised the neckline on this pattern. (See blue and gold overlays.)

Lastly, I found this pattern online for circles skirts: You don’t even need to purchase a pattern, but can simply use the instructions to create the skirt.

Truly, having a skilled seamstress who wants to use her gifts to bless the dance ministry is a gift from God. All of these patterns have been wonderful but also needed to be tweaked to be appropriate for worship dance.

patterns for liturgical dance garments — Overlay adapted from Simplicity Pattern 2231.

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

Do you let yourself be the student?

When was the last time you took a live dance class?

Have you attended a conference in the last year?

Are you a student right now, or do you find yourself always in the position of leader or teacher?

Ever since I answered the call to lead in dance, I almost always find myself in the position of leader/teacher, even though I very much want and need to be led by those with more or different experiences than I have. Can you relate?

This month, God has blessed me with many pportunities to be a student, a learner, a follower. (With and alongside some of those, He has presented me with opportunities to teach, minister and serve.) It has been such a gift.

I want to share about two of those today and to encourage you to seek out opportunities to be a student. We all need refreshing, the chance to learn new skills and gain new tools, and the chance to make friends with those who share our passion. Continue reading “Do you let yourself be the student?”

Dancing for Healing and Reconciliation in Pasadena

Many of you have prayed for the Lord to open doors for ministry for me in Pasadena, and so I want to share an answer to those prayers. A new friend, Jill Shook, who has a passion for Jesus and for social justice in the city, has asked me to join her in leading in dance and movement in the Palm Sunday Peace Parade in Pasadena on March 29.

I’m particularly drawn to this opportunity because it’s a chance to bring dance and movement outside the four walls of the church and into the community and to extend the Kingdom of God in my city. And, you are invited to join us.

Hear, in Jill’s words, what we’re doing and how you can be a part of it:

Join us, all wishing to participate using movement, dance and mime in a public worship of Jesus as the Prince of Peace and also honoring the healing Tree of Life described in Genesis and the Book of Revelation on March 29th, at 3pm as part of the Pasadena Palm Sunday Peace Parade. This will the 13th annual family fun Palm Sunday Peace Parade (where 50+ churches representing hundreds of people, including children who will lead the way taking turns riding a live donkey). Continue reading “Dancing for Healing and Reconciliation in Pasadena”

Making Dance Team Male Friendly

Today’s question about how to make dance team friendly to men was perhaps my favorite for several reasons:

First, the person who asked was already doing it and had such respect and love for the men on her team.

It’s something every dance team needs.

It is something I feel convicted to grow in.

It takes me beyond my own experience, and so encouraged me to draw from others, including men.

Here’s what she asked:

“I love my brothers in the men’s group. I guess my concern is that I would love to have songs that would minister to them and be more masculine and strong in Christ. One of the issues I have with young men is letting them know that it’s ‘manly’ to praise God.”

Asking this question reflects your love and concern for your brothers in Christ and your desire to adjust your leadership to minister to them. You are wise and you are considering others better than yourself (Philippians 2:3).

As you already know, it is manly to worship God. All the priests God called to minister to him in the old testament were men, and we know that “David danced with all his might.” 2 Samuel 2:16.

Choreograph movements for your men that show strength, rather than flowing movements. You can use contrasting movements between the men and the women, the men using strong, angular movements, while women use round or flourishing movements. The contrast will also enhance your choreography. It will also more fully express the image of God, whose image is reflected in men and women together (Genesis 5:2)

Choose songs that express the greatness of God as our leader, our Almighty, or songs that express sonship, rather than songs that talk about our love affair with God.

Also, look for men who can take leadership on your team and give them the opportunity to do this.

Biblical basis of dance — Click image for more details

Use active word studies in your rehearsal time. In these, have your your group demonstrate other dance words found in the bible that call for a variety of movement types.

The Hebrew word Karar (translated dance or dancing and found in 2 Samuel 6:14) means to whirl like a battering ram. Nathar (translated undo or make loose is found in Isaiah 58:6) means to jump, shake, untie, and terrify. And Tnuphaw, (translated wave, wave offering, move, lift up, or strike and found in throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers) while it indicates a waving motion, is a wave that is a weapon, driving out the enemy. See the Dance, Dance, Dance! book and DVD by Lynn Hayden for more explanation of these words and many more examples.

Having men on your team actually gives you the impetus to do what is good for all of us to practice – varying our choreography and song choice, sharing leadership, and digging deeper into God’s word to understand and embody the movement He describes.

Please join the discussion. Respond in the comments section (at the beginning of the post).

If you are a man, what else would you like to see in praise dance teams in order to include more men?

If you have men on your team, what do you do that works well with them?

Dealing with Difficult Team Members

This is the fourth of a five part series on dealing with team related issues. If you haven’t read the previous issues. Make sure to do that.

All of the questions so far have related to team leaders. Today’s question is from a team member. It’s a question many people can relate to, whether on a dance team or in a small group. The details may differ, but the heart of the question is the same:

How do you deal with team members who dominate discussions?

How should you respond when someone rides roughshod over your questions or ideas?

Should you speak up during practice? If you don’t, will your ideas ever be heard?

I drew heavily from Lynn Hayden’s book, Team Terrificus in answering this question. I highly encourage you to get it, if you don’t have it.

Here’s her specific dilemma:

You are on a dance team and there is another member who interrupts when you’re talking to the dance leader and turns that leaders attention to them. You don’t get to finish what you were saying. Other times, you get a vision for the ideal that your leader is explaining, so you ask a question so you can get a better understanding, when a team member interrupts with her own ideal of that vision. The leader runs with the ideal never letting you finish that particular conversation. How do you handle this?

Having a team member who has a tendency to dominate can try your patience. Not taking offense when you are overlooked takes genuine humility from the Spirit.

You can help your leader by saving your own questions and suggestions for a time after practice. Sometimes, when the leader is sharing his/ or her vision or choreography and one person interjects to ask a clarifying question or to share ideas, it opens a floodgate of questions and comments that might eventually have been addressed. If you can hold off until your leader has finished or even wait to talk to him/her after rehearsal, you help create a more peaceful atmosphere in rehearsal.

Also, do a quick heart check to make sure your frustration isn’t coming from pride. Can you lay down your desire to be heard? Trust the Lord to bring about His purposes through you. I’ve seen this principle hold true in many areas of my life. When I’ve had a burning desire to put forward my own idea, plan, take on an issue, but the door has seemed closed to do this. When I have taken the issue to God in prayer and laid it at his feet, He has surprised me by. To me, this is an example of James 1:xxx, “Humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God, and He will lift you up in due time.

If, over time, and after you have prayed about it, the issue persists and so do your feelings, take your dance leader out for coffee or lunch. Share with you how this person’s behavior is affecting you and how you feel about it. Be respectful and be vulnerable. It is possible that what you are feeling she also has also noticed. It may be that by you humbly sharing your heart about it, you will validate what she already sensed but needed confirmation on in order to act. Ask her if there is anything you can do to help.

Read tomorrow to hear some practical ideas about how to encourage men to participate on the team. These ideas have come from more experienced leaders than I and from other men themselves. You’ll go away with some ideas you can use.

Helping the Child who Loves Performance over Worship

Have you ever had a student on your team that didn’t seem to get the heart of worship?

Have you had a student who struggles to catch on but isn’t willing to work to learn?

Have you had a student whom you have questioned whether she should continue on the team?

Read on to hear about my experience with a student like that and how God led me to respond.

You have a team member, a young girl who loves to dress up and dance in front of people, but she doesn’t really seem to get worship yet. She resists working hard in rehearsal. As a result, when dancing, she didn’t know her part well. She has to watch others and appears nervous and self conscious. Even so, she is eager to be on the team.

I had this happen several years ago and was encouraged to discourage this child from participating on the worship team. I considered that, but because she really wanted to be on the team and because her mother, who was also on the team, had such a heart for worship that she really sought to impart to her daughter, I felt I needed to try to work with her.

My experience with this child prompted me to be more deliberate with my whole team in calling them to worship and minister and preparing them to do this. I clarified my expectations of dancers in our covenant (see earlier post).

In addition, I increased the time I spent praying for and with my team and the time we spent preparing spiritually for dance presentations. I asked everyone to be reading scripture daily and meditating on the words to the songs. I was more intentional about keeping the vision before the team, a vision to minister and worship so that God can work in people’s hearts.

I also guarded my own thoughts towards this child. I would say to myself over and over, “___________ is going to be worshipful and graceful when we dance.”

On the practical side, I adjusted my rehearsal times so that the children’s rehearsals were shorter than the adults, and sometimes were separate. I spoke to her mother and asked her to make sure the girl had a book to read if she needed to stay for the adult portion. Sometimes I gave her a task to do to be helpful during this time, like holding the camera while we recorded portions of the dance. And, finally, I had a mother who offered to bring a simple healthy snack to rehearsals. Giving the children a short break and food to eat, helped her stamina.

dance team solutions — Click image for more information.

This child really grew in her understanding of worship and ministry. In addition, she began taking a dance class outside of dance team, which helped her technique. The biblical principle for me was love, which bears all things and believes all things.

A fantastic resource for team related issues is the book Team Terrificus, by Lynn Hayden. She asks questions like this and many more that will help you solve team related issues by practicing the fruit of the Spirit and common sense wisdom.

How about you? How have you responded to children (or adults) on your team who seem to enjoy performing, but do not yet have a heart for worship?

Please share in the comments section (at the beginning of the post).

Read tomorrow to hear how do deal with a difficult teammate.

Do Technique and Choreograph Stifle Prophetic Dance

How do you hold together Spirit led, heart felt worship dance with dance technique and training?

Several worship leaders asked a version of this burning question. Their wording differed, the issue was the same.

I chose this scenario, perhaps an extreme example of the dilemma. I hope it helps.

You have a team member resists technique training. She has always danced prophetically and spontaneously. She says technique and choreography stifle the Spirit. How do you respond to her?

The biblical principle here is integrity. Separating worship from hard work and skill creates a false dichotomy. Seek to always maintain a connection between technique training and worship and ministry.

Spend time with the team sharing your heart about technique and its value in dance ministry. Emphasize that our focus, in practicing technique, is on helping each person to grow, not on attaining some level of perfection.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “In all you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Ecclesiastes 9:10, it says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

From these passages, we know that God wants us to do our very best in whatever we do. Technique training equips us to do this. Emphasize that it is a gift to be able to improve in technique as a dancer. It enables our body to better demonstrate what the Spirit moves us to communicate. In addition, it gives us credibility to bring God’s messages before more people, when we have honed our skill.

As it says in Proverbs 22:29 it says, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

By using praise songs for technique practice, you will help keep the team members’ hearts worshiping even when learning technique. By teaching how different movements and steps can be used to communicate the heart of different worship words or expressions, your team will see technique as a tool to help them more faithfully embody worship. In these ways, try to win your sister over to the value of technique without confronting her straight on.

If the dancer still seemed uncomfortable with or resistant to technique and choreography, invite her out for coffee or for lunch. Listen to her heart for dance ministry and ask her about her experiences dancing prophetically, seeking to understand.

Ask her if she feels called to be on the team, understanding that part of the mission and vision God has given you involves helping the team grow in skill. Assure her that, when choreographing, that you pray and listen to the Spirit.

If you sense a true heart for worship and desire to serve, invite her to lead some spontaneous times of worship in team practice. If you sense that her prophetic calling was genuine and powerful, give her opportunities to dance spontaneously for portions of songs, asking her to prepare by listening to and praying over the music, but give her the freedom to dance her part spontaneously.

prophetic dance DVD — Click image for more information

Divine Choreography DVD cover — Click image for more information.

For more help, take a look at the Prophetic dance book and DVD by Lynn Hayden, of Dancing for Him, as well as her Divine Choreography book and DVD on .

There are so many gifted and wise worship dancers who read these articles, so please, chime into the discussion. Add your input in the comments section (which is at the beginning of the post).

How do you hold together Spirit led dance and technique and choreography?

What part does each play in your ministry?

What else would you tell this leader?

Read tomorrow’s post about a worship leader who had a girl on the team who really didn’t grasp the heart of worship, affecting not just her participation in ministry, but affecting the whole team.

Improve Attendance at Praise Dance Practice

Last week I asked you to share what team related issues you are facing. I got some great questions, many of them expressed by multiple people, showing that they are common challenges for team leaders.

Over the next week, I’m going to respond to five questions. I’ve sought to guide with biblical principles as well as to share from my own experience.

This first question was the most common question I received, so I’ll start with it?

1. How do you get children to attend praise dance practice regularly?

The biblical principle here is faithfulness. It’s calling each other to let your “‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’” as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 5:37. Having both parents and children sign a written covenant before joining the team and/or before beginning rehearsals for a special occasion really helps with attendance. Faithfulness is important for children and parents. As God is faithful, His children need to grow in faithfulness. This means keeping the commitments we make to each other.

In our dancer’s covenant, I detail how many of the rehearsals a dancer must attend to be take part in a dance. (For example, they must attend 8 out of 10 or 9 out of 12 in order to participate. I leave room for them to miss a couple, understanding that life sometimes necessitates that.) I ask them to prayerfully consider the commitment before agreeing to dance. I also sign this covenant.

I make other commitments to them as well. I commit to pray for them, to prepare for our rehearsals and to teach biblically. So, they understand that we are committing to each other.

I also communicate with parents about my heart on this matter. I emphasize to the parents that I want the children to know the dance well enough to be free to truly worship. If there is a child who misses rehearsals early on, I’ll make a point to check in with them, seeing if anything is wrong.

In addition, I try to think practically, making sure my rehearsal times are family friendly times. When it’s possible to piggy back rehearsal time to a time when adults are at church too, that helps. This shows respect for the family schedule and the parents’ time and is what I appreciate as a parent “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” Luke 6:31

I’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments section (at the beginning of the post).

If your team has a dancer’s covenant, how has that helped with team attendance?

What other strategies/approaches would you suggest to a leader to help with attendance?

Watch for these upcoming posts:

Thursday: Holding together Technique Training, Choreography and Spirit-Led Worship

Friday: Helping the Child who Loves Performing More than Worshiping

Saturday: Dealing with the Dominant Team Member

Sunday: Making Your Dance Team Male-Friendly