It is so exciting to see buds on the trees and the grass turning green!
We kicked off the start of spring with our annual Spring-Break Dance Workshop. Over 40 kids and youth joined us as we explored our journey to Deliverance with Bible studies, dance classes and choreography.
On Tuesday we read about Peter’s miraculous escape from jail and how God answered the people as they prayed for his freedom. This day was especially applicable for our “Red” group as their choreography was to the song Loose My Chains and the “Yellow” group as their jazz choreography was to the song Shackles. After the prayer time that morning one of the girls asked if we would pray for her because she felt like there were still chains in her life that were holding her down. We were so impressed by her maturity at such a young age and gladly prayed with her.
Wednesday we continued on our journey and discussed how we must surrender our plans to God so He can do a great work in our lives. Our youngest “Blue” group was able to hear the story of how a little boy surrendered his small lunch to Jesus and He was able to feed the 5,000. For their craft that day they made little lunch boxes and put inside of it goldfish crackers as well as a drawing depicting something they would give to Jesus so He can make it into more. At the end of the day one of them exclaimed “This is the most beautiful dance workshop ever!”
Thursday brought the culmination of the journey as we saw how God delivers us into freedom in Christ. We also finished out that day with a quick lesson on choreography. Each day of the workshop the dancers spent some time learning and practicing improvisation. Choreographing a piece uses all of the creativity needed for improv and then brings it together to have the most impact on an audience. We loved watching the dancers grow from being timid about making up movements to having confidence in creating a dance.
Friday evening was the performance of Ballet Emmanuel’s full concert Deliverance. We have performed this concert all over the Midwest but this was our first chance to perform it at home. It was even more special as each of the workshop participants joined us and performed the pieces they had learned throughout the week. After the show we had the chance to mingle and talk with some of the audience members. One woman in particular told us how she had been struggling with some burdens a lot recently and through our concert was able to surrender those and find peace in Christ. We love hearing stories like hers of how God communicates with His people through our dancing.
Here is a slideshow of pictures from our time together:
Red and Blue Groups
Green and Yellow Groups
Since the workshop we have kept very busy, be sure to check back soon for other stories from our recent performances.
In the meantime, have a Happy Easter!
Christ is Risen!
