Last weekend in Kansas

We took a much needed day off on the Tuesday of our Kansas tour to make jewelry and eat Chinese food. Yes, as dancers we try to take care of ourselves and eat well but everyone has to splurge once in a while! Making jewelry is also one of our favorite things to do since we often wear earrings to class and rehearsal. This year we were brave and tried making necklaces as well but those are much harder to wear while dancing.

On Wednesday we returned to the Benton Church (We danced for them in February) to perform for their youth as well as the community. There was a delicious potluck before the performance where we had to try very hard not to eat too much! After we performed Laci spoke about her experience with a boyfriend in high school and early college and how dangerous it can be to build a connection with someone when God isn't at the center of the relationship. The talk really impacted some of the youth attending who are currently struggling with that issue and she was able to speak with them after the event. We also had an adorable group of young girls who came to the show all dressed up in tutus and costumes.

Throughout the rest of the week we taught several masterclasses at the Bethel Academy of Performing Arts, the Kingman Dance Center, Cammi Hostetler Productions and the Dance Camp Studio. We love meeting new girls and working with them on technique and choreography. As usual we met a lot of hard workers who love to dance.

Sunday morning we returned to the Winfield Evangelical Free Church to perform three pieces. Recently the roof of their Sanctuary was torn off by severe winds so they were having services in their gym area. Fortunately no one was hurt during the storm despite it occurring on a busy AWANA night with lots of kids and volunteers on the campus. We continue to pray for them as they try to save funds for rebuilding and seek God's will for their church.

What a great tour we had! Check back soon for updates about our most recent tour to Wyoming.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dancing with Cub Scouts

We had many wonderful experiences while on tour to Kansas and will highlight some of them in our next couple of blogs.

The sign outside of the Church

Sister Kathy invited us to perform on Monday October 18th for the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. She worked very hard to promote the event and lots of people were in attendance from all ages and walks of life. Possibly the most surprising of all though was a troop of 7 to 11 year old cub scouts. The leaders may have been a little nervous about how their boys would react to a dance performance, but they were so intrigued! There was no fidgeting or bickering and many of them were moving to the music by the time we finished. Afterward we held a short discussion and answered any questions people might have. While there were several thought provoking questions our favorites always came from the cub scout section. One young boy bravely raised his hand and asked how we were able to change costumes so quickly! In our performances we may have nine pieces with up to 5 different costumes or costume variations and sometimes we have less than 2 minutes to change and return to the stage. Changing quickly is definitely a pre-requisite to joining the company. A bit later someone else was curious about the financial aspect of running our company and after we explained how we rely on support from individuals one of the cub scouts quickly asked how much money we had saved so far. Of course we explained that it often disappears as quickly as it comes in. Then a young girl asked our favorite question, how long have we been dancing? We love this one because it always brings a gasp of shock from the audience. People often believe we are between 14 and 18 years old so when they learn that some of us have dance for more than 20 years they can't believe it!

Setting up for the show in their beautiful worship space

After answering everyone's questions we invited them to join us in learning a simple combination of steps. The evening's focus was on how dance can be a method of prayer, praise, or worship and we wanted the audience to be able to experience the closeness to God that we feel when we dance. Sometimes when we open the floor to the audience people get nervous and don't participate but not at St. Vincent! We had little girls, teenagers, moms, dads, grand fathers, and cub scouts all on their feet. The cub scouts took their dancing very seriously and were so adorable. We could really feel God's presence in the room as everyone made themselves vulnerable before Him. What an amazing evening!

Dancing with the cub scouts!

Check back soon for even more stories from our tour.