praise dance – Page 3 – Worship Dance Ministries

Jump Start your Devotions

If you have purchased Devotions in Motion, I have good news to share about it. I’ve added to it.

At the request of my good friend, Diane, I added a “straight through” video of all 5 devotional dances. This way, once you have learned the dances, you can use this video to dance them straight through in your devotions. I hope you find it helpful. It is available on your Devotions in Motion download page, which you received from me.

If you don’t have Devotions in Motion yet, but have been wanting to purchase it, it will be on sale for $15 through Sunday night. After that, the normal price will be $20.

I’ve also created a 2 minute video to give you a glimpse of Devotions in Motion. If you’re wondering if it would benefit you, this should help you figure that out. You can watch it here:

You can purchase it below or click here to learn more.

Price: $20 Sale: $15

THESE ARE VIDEO DOWNLOADS – Within 24 hours of purchasing them, you will receive an email link giving you access watch the videos online and to download them to your computer.

Leading a Congregation in Movement

The Unity in Motion DVD is for the dance ministry leader who wants to take his or her congregation beyond being spectators to invite them to participate in movement. Pastor Lynn gives practical instruction for leading in a way that makes it inviting and easy for a congregation to follow. The exercises are also great to help a dance team learn to dance in unity and create spontaneous, unified movements.

Here, I share a 7 minute tutorial of concepts from the DVD.

Continue reading “Leading a Congregation in Movement”

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”

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.

Unlock Movement that Speaks

Do you want to dance in a way that speaks?

Do you want to speak to the Lord more intimately when you dance?

If a picture says a thousand words, a dance can say so much more. Sometimes we need help unlocking movement that truly speaks.

I’m full of joyful anticipation for the Worship in Motion praise dance workshop on January 31 in Pasadena, CA. If you live anywhere near me, I hope you will come. I’m so thankful to say the workshop is filling up quickly.

After spending Saturday afternoon with Marlita Hill, who will be teaching at the workshop, I felt like our vision and the gifts God has given us will truly come together to help dancers speak powerfully through their movement.

Marlita will be teaching on choreography, speaking to these questions/concerns:

How do I get started?

I only know a few movements, and I want to know more.

How can I get my dance to connect more deeply with the music?

Can I dance powerfully if I don’t have much experience?

And I will be teaching on how to dance devotionally, so that before we speak for the Lord, we speak to Him, though movement. She’ll be speaking to these concerns:

I want to deepen my connection with God when I dance.

I want to dance spontaneously with greater freedom and confidence.

So, if you resonate with any of these questions/concerns/desires, join us. Click this button to learn more and to register.

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”

Choreographing a Dance on Short Notice

Do you ever get a worship song just days before you need to dance to it?

Would your worship leader like you to dance more often in praise and worship than you feel your team can prepare for?

Do your team members need a chance to spread their wings and lead?

If so, you will love learning how to use what Lynn Hayden calls “planned spontaneity” to choreograph a powerful and unique dance in a very short time.

In the video that follows, I explain how I planned out a worship dance for a team of five or more dancers – planning out the props, colors, formations, and basic flow – that, with leadership from different team members, they could implement with just these simple instructions. Continue reading “Choreographing a Dance on Short Notice”

Add Variety, Creativity and Unity to Your Choreography

I’m excited to share a resource for worship dancers that I love and I think you will.

The activities on this DVD will:

• enhance your team unity

• help build leadership skills

• add variety and interest to group movement, and

• stimulate your creativity and the creativity of those on your team.

In the Creative Worship DVD, Lynn Hayden explains and demonstrates a multitude of activities that can be used in praise and worship dance with groups to add variety with spontaneity. Below is a tutorial of one of my many favorite activities from the DVD: Continue reading “Add Variety, Creativity and Unity to Your Choreography”

Choreographed Dances You Can Use

choreographed praise dances DVD — Click image for more information

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.

To learn more about the DVD and watch a 5 minute teaching from the DVD with choreography you can use, read on. Continue reading “Choreographed Dances You Can Use”

Build Your Worship Vocabulary for Flags

“There is so much more you can do with flags than to wave or twirl them in a certain way.” On the Perfume of Fire DVD, Pastor Lynn Hayden teaches how to use flags expressively to create worship words and worship phrases. She demonstrates group several group activities you can use in a ministry time or workshop. Then she finishes by teaching a worship dance with flags that you can use in ministry.

Read on to read three things I loved about this DVD and to see a 5 minute video teaching I created from the DVD’s teaching. (You can purchase it on my store. Continue reading “Build Your Worship Vocabulary for Flags”