- Lesson One: What is Dance Ministry

PDCM’s Teaching on the Ministry of Dance

First let’s define Dance. What is Dance?

PDCM’s definition of Dance: Dance is a language and it communicates the expression of many things such as emotions, desires, thoughts, and beliefs through the movement of our bodies.

Webster’s Dictionary: Dance is a series of motions and steps usually performed to music. It also means to move rhythmically usually to music using prescribed or impoverished steps or gestures.

What is Dance Ministry?

Dance Ministry is simply the process by which we use the vehicle of dance to carry out the act of ministry (service) to encourage, comfort, and edify the saints in the faith.

It is important to understand that:

Dance in itself is not the ministry. Dance and ministry are two distinct factors. Dance is simply the vehicle in which ministry is presented.

When we are praising God through the dance we can not and are not  expressing our faith for salvation – meaning, we cannot show or prove to God that we are saved and abiding in Him by praising God through dance. There is only one way that we can express our faith for the salvation of our souls and it is by OBEDIENCE which is an act of faith.

1John 3:24 says, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And thereby we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us.”

OBEDIENCE is an act of our faith because when we say we have faith in God, we are saying that we have the kind of trust and confidence in Him and in Christ that leads us to commit our whole soul and way to Him as Savior and Lord by obedience.

I say this because some may think that because they dance “in the name of the Lord”:

· they are saved (when they may not be..ie. allowing an unbeliever to be apart of the ministry they may think they are saved)

· can be saved by that act

· or are in right standing with the Lord even though they may be in bondage to sin.

We worship the Father when we dance because we understand that:

When we worship the Lord, we can only worship Him in spirit (with our spirits not the works of our body) and in truth (with the knowledge of His Covenant – the truth of the Doctrine of Christ – John 4:24). This is how we truly worship the Father. In order to worship the Lord we have to be born again of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5-7). If we don’t know the Lord in the pardoning of our sins, know His Truth or have His Spirit we are worshiping in vain.

Our dance has no power, effectiveness, or impact if there is no anointing.

It is important to understand that Dance in itself does not have power or spiritual ability. Our talent of dance is apart of our signature or what was given to us at our first birth. Now that we are born again we use our gift or talent to the glory of God, but this is not to be confused with spiritual gifts that are given to us (Rom 12:6). Scripture teaches us that “all things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16) and that includes our natural abilities and talents, and because we are His, we use those abilities for His glory. NOW when we dance we are praising the Lord and we are serving or ministering to one another, encouraging each other with a natural talent that God gave us with spiritual substance (the knowledge of the Truth of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of the Lord). We have been anointed with the Holy Ghost… so when we praise God in the dance we are dancing with this anointing which is the truth of God because we are walking and living in His truth.

With that said it is so very important to understand that if there is no TRUTH there is no ANOINTING, and if there is no anointing there is no spiritual impact and if there is no spiritual impact we are just performing.

What is the Sacred Dancer’s role in the Body of Christ (the dance minister’s position, function, and contribution to the Body of Christ)?

Scripture tells us that we are laborers together with God (I Cor. 3:9). This is a most high and honorable commission because it means that God chose to allow us to be an integral part of what He is doing. The Sacred Dancer’s role in the Body of Christ is to simply comfort, encourage and edify one another in the faith.

I Thessalonians 5:11 tells us that it is our responsibility as Christians to:

1) comfort each other

2) edify one another

When We Dance

When we dance, aided and led by the Holy Ghost (as we should be in all things), we skillfully combine Biblical truth with music and dance to magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, thereby motivating the gathered church to join us in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God. When the believer becomes enthusiastic about Him (which they should already be, but unfortunately some are not) they can take their focus off of us and focus on the Lord and join us in praise. As for the unbeliever, when we praise God and minister through the vehicle of dance we are telling them about God and our intention is to give them a high opinion of Him.

The word praise means to say or tell something, intended to give others a high opinion of someone or something. We are not there to dominate or make the service about us, but about Jesus Christ.

When we dance we should work along side the Praise Team, praising the Lord together as one unit. When we praise God with our dance we should do it with excessive enthusiasm dancing about who God is, what He has said, done and what He can do for the transformation of our souls; our enthusiasm about God can encourage someone so much that it causes others to be enthusiastic about Him.

When we dance, the music and the act of praise from the congregation as a whole works together with the preached word of God because after we praise the hearts of the people are full with joy and gladness as they reflect on the grace, mercy and goodness of the Lord. So when the preached word comes they are more inclined to receive it – but more so for the unbeliever.

As believers we should always be ready to hear the Word of the Lord because the Word of the Lord is our nourishment, it is the power of God unto salvation, it is our daily bread. The word of the Lord is vital for our faith because it washes us. In Eph. 5:25-27 it says, “even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle , or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

And Jesus said in John 15:3 “now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” So we are cleansed by His word and every believer should always be ready to hear it and receive it, but if by chance there are strongholds in our minds, if we begin to rely on carnal thinking or begin to waver in our faith by believing the deception of the enemy – we have to pull down those strongholds – wrong thoughts and perceptions that contradicts the true knowledge of God and the nature of God. These strongholds are expressed in arguments, reasoning’s and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So we have to bring those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ in our own mind, remind others to do so as well, and always intercede for the Body of Christ so that we all can understand the truth of God’s word and have unity in the faith.

That is our place and purpose in the corporate worship setting.

Names and Categories of Dance Ministries

In the development and establishment of the dance ministry in the Church today, there are several names and categories in which groups have placed themselves. Some familiar names are:

Praise Dancers, Worship Dancers, Sacred Dancers, Dance Choirs

Dance Chorales, Dance Dramatists, Interpretive Dance, Interpretive Expression, Liturgical Dancers, Davidic Dancers and the list can go on and on.

None are wrong, incorrect or more powerful in name than the other. While all may not have the same meaning exactly, the foundation of them all is God and the main purpose of them all is to give glory to God.

PDCM refers to Dance Ministry as Sacred Dance because it gives a more accurate description of what we are called to be and to do for the glory of God. The word sacred means holiness taken from the Hebrew word hagiosune. It denotes the manifestation of the quality of holiness in personal conduct and lifestyle. As believers in general our goal is to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1) bringing holiness to its predestined end and in doing so we will be found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 3:13).

Discerning what songs to minister

Before we begin to choose a song we should seek God for direction and instruction. Just because we like a song and it personally ministers to us does not mean that we are to minister it to the people. This is why prayer is so important because we don’t want to do anything that God has not authorized.

In prayerfully choosing a song the most important factor is determining if it communicates the truth about God. Second it must communicate a truth about you. Is the song truthful or real to you?  Can the song be your testimony? Also the song should reiterate what is being preached since we are responsible to help prepare the hearts of the people for the Word of God.

Choreography Tips

As Sacred Dancers our choreography should come forth through prayer. When putting together a choreographed piece it is imperative that we spend time in the throne room with the Lord allowing Him to inspire us. In my opinion and experience it is not wise to just blindly put steps together without consulting the Lord and prayerfully meditating on the song or scripture to find out if it is in agreement with the Word of God and if it is truthful to us.

Choreography believe it or not comes from your daily personal worship as Priests and relationship with the Lord. The more you get to know Him the more you will be able to communicate His truths. He will begin show you movement vocabulary through dreams, in your minds eye – while you are cleaning, working, walking down the street and so forth. Have you experienced that yet? I bet some of you have.  This is an excellent example of dances that are from God’s heart, pure, and edifying. He will give you dances and movement vocabulary that you have never seen anyone do. This is not something to boast about to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God because it is God working in us do of His good pleasure.

Consider this:

· Make sure you are dancing/ministering from a place of truth (have you experienced the message of the song?)

· Extensively study the song: its meaning and its purpose

· If God has not shown you the entire dance try moving to the music without any plan or set ideas and see what comes forth.

· Concentrate on the meaning and purpose of each phrase instead of each and every word

· Sign language can be used as a basis to create dance vocabulary.When you’re stuck on a word/phrase, think about synonym words/phrases and how to interpret them

· Do not dance beyond your capabilities. If you cannot twirl without losing your balance then don’t do it…you don’t need it!

· Make sure that the choreography has been WELL deposited into our muscle memory so that you can be FFRE to worship God with everything within you and in EXCELLENCE.

· If there is a variance of technical ability among you, I suggest that you choreograph the dance for the least experienced, to preserve the integrity of the dance and its meaning.

When it is time for us to minister, God knows who will be present and what they need. When we tap into God through prayer and seek Him regarding His will, we will know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Anyone can put together a dance. Dancing without a purpose or spiritual direction is merely entertainment.

Types of Dances

Praise – A dance of thanksgiving, giving glory to God by using your movements to either testify to others of His goodness or thanking Him for His goodness.

Worship – An intimate dance between you and the Lord. Movements are personal, reverent, and yielding.

Celebration - A victory dance full of excitement! A dance that celebrates His mighty acts and His excellent greatness (Ps. 150:4).

Warfare - A militant, forceful dance full of confidence and boldness encouraging the saints to stand firm, stand fast, submit to God and resist the devil so that he can flee. Please be aware that this type of dance or expression of dance does nothing in the spiritual realm. This is an example of praise dance being over mystified. When we perform sharp movements, stomp, twirl or spin we are not doing anything to satan and his demons. Scriture clearly teaches us that our battle is a spiritual one and we defeat satan  by the methods defined only in Scripture. Saints of God, we have to learn how to fight or engage in spiritual warfare the Biblical way in order to be effective.

See Spiritual Warfare the Biblical Way : http://praisedancecentralministries.wordpress.com/welcome-to-pdcm/5-spiritual-warfare-the-biblical-way-and-the-error-of-binding-satan/

Travail – A dance of encouragement either to yourself or others, in times of discouragement or trouble. It ministers to the saints to encourage them to trust in God for help, guidance, direction, and relief.

Prophetic - *This is important because there is a great misconception about all things prophetic.

There are many different ideas about what the term “prophetic dance” means. Prophecy, in the biblical sense, is for the forth telling of God’s word for a particular situation and people. It can refer to past, present or future. In both Old and New Testaments there were particular people called to be prophets and in the letter to the Ephesian church prophets were one of the five ministries (Eph.4:11). But Paul also encourages us all to seek to prophesy in order to edify the church – for people’s strengthening, encouragement and comfort (1 Cor.14:1, 3-5).

Dance and movement is a language of communication as are words, music or visual art. Therefore, when dance is communicating God’s word for a particular people and situation it is prophetic. It can be choreographed or spontaneous just as the prophetic word can come through either a prepared or a spontaneous message.

We know in the New Testament all teaching relating to  prophecy does not come in any other way than by the spoken word, but  in the case of Agabus a powerful part of the communication was his action with the belt (Acts 21:10). He did a demonstration coupled with the spoken word. If Agabus did not interpret the meaning of his demonstration Paul would not have understood it to be a warning. Likewise, dance and movement are not always easily understood or interpreted and will, therefore, usually have words of some kind teaming with them. The words may be in the song, a spoken word before, at the same time or afterwards. In some cases the movement expression may be closer to speaking in tongues, with the interpretation being given either by the dancer or someone else.

It has been said that “prophetic dance” is always spontaneous. This is not true, not all spontaneous dances are prophetic. In a spontaneous dance, the dance may sometimes be directed to God in praise, worship, prayer or intercession or it may be directed to the people for the purpose of healing, comfort, encouragement, exhortation, evangelism or prophecy. The same will be true of a choreographed dance. However, not every individual or dance ministry will have a calling or motivation equally in all these areas.  Paul encourages all to seek to prophesy, all those who express themselves through dance can be encouraged to prophesy in movement as well as with words. How is this done? Following the leading and inspiration of the Holy Ghost the dancer or more than one dancer may feel led to move to a particular song as part of the worship that is directed to the people, encouraging or exhorting them.

Another way is to speak the prophecy and use movement along with the words. Or the dancer may move at the same time as a prophecy is being spoken or sung by someone else, not just interpreting the words but sensing the direction of the Spirit so that the movement may sometimes lead the words. At other times this may happen at the same time as the words or may come just after as a response. It takes faith and courage to move out in prophecy not knowing exactly what is going to happen and I have found it very encouraging when I have realized that the movement I have found myself doing, exactly suited or predicted what was being spoken or sung. Sometimes the musician or speaker and dancer can be very aware of flowing together, at other times it can happen more independently. The dancer may also be led to do a movement by themselves that does not have any connection with words or music and may precede something that is to follow later, both prophesying it and interceding for it.

In closing, the most important thing in dance ministry and as it relates to “prophetic dance” is that we learn how to flow both with the Holy Spirit and those in leadership. Prophetic revelation and declaration needs to be done with humility, unity and discernment. Also those who have prophesied need to receive wise, encouraging feed-back and correction from the leadership where appropriate (1 Cor.14:29-43). It is important that the glory for all this is given and directed to the Lord.

Expression

Heartfelt expression is important!

• Remember dance is a language and it communicates the expression of many things such as emotions, desires, thoughts, and beliefs through the movement of our bodies. If our faces are blank then our dance will not be believable.

• Relate the word/phrase/portion of the song to a situation in your own life. This will help you to better express the song. Both facial and body expressions are necessary and important.
• Concentrate on the meaning of each phrase instead of each and every word. Allow your movements to climax as the song climaxes.

• Flow with the song.

• Videotape yourself or your team. Watching yourself helps improve your expressions because you will be able to see if you are expressing to much or to little.

Invest In Your Calling

• Attend dance ministry workshops in your area

• View dance ministry videos – Ministry Supplies

• Take lessons in the style of dance that the Lord is leading you to minister in. Taking basic technique classes in any style of dance forms the solid foundation upon which creativity may be built;  let’s do all that we can to better equip ourselves for the work of the Lord. The Lord’s work demands the very best that is within one’s power to give.

I hope this information is helpful to you and please continue to check back because the more we grow in the Lord and in this ministry the more information we will be able to share. If you have something you would like to share please post it anywhere as a comment and we will be honored to share what the Lord has given you.

Be Blessed

PDCM

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