This is a super last minute announcement, but it’s such a good deal that I wanted to post it, in case you are willing to act quickly to save on registration. Jocelyn Richard, who has taught me so much of what I know about worship dance, has a flash sale ending this evening.
Firstly, if you are preparing to dance for the holidays, you’ll get creative ideas for powerful choreography from the Choreography Basics Course. It was when I was choreographing a dance for Christmas five years ago that I found one of Jocelyn’s choreography tutorials on Youtube. I watched her and said to myself, “I want to dance like her.” Her expressive choreography and skill combined were powerful and moving. I am not kidding when I say that watching that video transformed my dance. Continue reading “Flash Sale: Choreography Training/Dance of Healing”
Thanks to all of you who prayed for the Devotions in Motion Workshop this past Sunday. We had a wonderful time. God brought a beautiful group of women who had a heart for worship. It was a small group – perhaps because it was a Sunday, perhaps for other reasons. But it enabled an intimacy that was beautiful and also allowed us to learn an entire group dance.
Here are some testimonials:
Thank you so much for a beautiful, spirit-filled afternoon. The video was lovely. Pretty amazing for a 3 hour workshop. Thanks again. God bless you for your inspiration and teaching. – Nancy
I really loved the dance. I like the way you gave choreography but helped us choreograph too. I liked the help on choreography on terms. This will help me!!! – Christie
(I appreciated) experiencing the ministry of the spirit through the dance and dancing it together, seeing how God brings a dance together in its beauty. – Tracy
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”
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.
Click image for more informationClick 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 Choreographybook 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.
I’ve been studying choreography as part of the Dancing for Him course this past month and have compiled my ten favorite choreography tips and how I used them in the most recent dance I choreographed:
1. Begin with prayer. The Lord knows the moves that will minister to others. All creativity comes from Him. Pray about which song to use. Once you have chosen a song, spend time praying through the lyrics, asking the Lord to give you a picture of what He wants this dance to look like.
2. Keep your dance to 3 to 4 minutes, especially if it’s a solo. Unless you are very experienced and/or have a large group of dancers, it’s difficult to keep enough variety to hold the audiences interest longer than this. Continue reading “My Seven Favorite Choreography Tips”
This is a super last minute announcement, but it’s such a good deal that I wanted to post it, in case you are willing to act quickly to save on registration. Jocelyn Richard, who has taught me so much of what I know about worship dance, has a flash sale ending this evening.
