Anointed Joy:  Liturgical Dance at St. Andrew’s, 2010

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

Anointed Joy is a Christian dance group, which prepares and presents worship dances to give praise,
honour and glory to God.

The Gift of Dance

by
Kimberly Hartman

May I always remember it is Yours
Not nurtured talent or human creativity.
A gift from my Saviour
May I always praise You through dance,
To bring You glory worth Your name.

A gift to share, to show, to lead
Others before Your throne of grace
With hearts of worship, honour You
For all You’ve done and yet will do.
To bring them to that special place
Those moments cease life’s restless race.
That time with You
No other cares
To worship You
Is all I need or want to do
To dance forever
Praising You

Liturgical Dance Practice

Tuesdays at 7:30pm-9:00pm (September – June)

Anointed Joy meets at least once a week and is comprised of a core team, which varies from four to eleven dedicated dancers from age fourteen to adult.
Raise the Praise (est. 2004) is a weekly group for dancers in Grades 5-8.

Note: beginning September 14/10, the two groups will practice together, on Tuesdays, 7:30-9:00pm.

How Anointed Joy started

In the year 2001, the liturgical dance group “Anointed Joy”, based at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Whitby, began with a folk dance at the SonRise service, on Easter morning.  Upon receipt of positive feedback the dancers decided to begin meeting weekly, to prepare and share dances.

 

Bible references to dance:

-Miriam led dancing, singing and praise – Exodus 15:20-21
-Celebrating victory – 1 Samuel 18:6-7
-David danced before the Ark of the Lord – 2 Samuel 6:14-23, 1 Chronicles 15, 16
-Jephthah’s daughter – Judges 11:34
-Ladies dancing – Judges 21:21-23
-Associated with joy and contrasted with mourning -  Lamentations 5:15, Psalm 30:11, Ecclesiastes 3:4
-Dancing (and joy) when Israel is restored – Jeremiah 31:4&13
-We are to praise God with dancing – Psalm 150:4, Psalm 149:3
-Children playing games – Matthew 11:17
-The return of the prodigal son – Luke 15:25

What we do:

During the week, we meet to practice dance technique, prepare dances used in worship services, fellowship together, encourage one another, plan our praises, and most important:  bring our praise to God.

The weekly meeting opens with prayer.  We discuss any news, and make decisions for the groups. Then we warm up our muscles and work on steps and arm movements, which will be in the dance we want to offer during worship.  The dance or project is practiced and then we close our evening with prayer.

Preparing dances takes teamwork.  Because of the nature of this visual art form, we must be aware of the appearance of the movement, and dancing together as a singular unit.

Why we do it

(by Patricia Browne)

Liturgical dance is a physical expression of our desire to worship God.  The Bible tells us to praise the Lord with our hearts, our minds, our souls and our bodies. Praise the Lord with harp and lute! Praise the Lord with dancing!  The Liturgical Dance Team practices often, to bring an offering of movement to our worship, the gift of ability and movement that God has blessed us with.  Liturgical dance is not meant to be looked upon as a performance, but more so, an offering to God.  It is an act of praise using the whole body. Often we dance to spiritual songs and the movements of the dance reflect the message intended through the music. The Liturgical Dance Team has danced many songs representing celebration, good news, praise and even as an expression of sorrow and mourning, but always, as an offering of praise to God.  Praise for His gifts, praise for His love and praise for His presence in our lives.

Connecting with others

In past years we have attended worship dance workshops, to learn about historic dance methods and use of props, such as flags, ribbons and tambourine.  This has been a wonderful time of fellowship and connection with a greater family of Christian dancers.

In February 2005, we hosted our first dance/flag workshop.  The flags were taught by Jennifer Burne.  Since then, we have hosted and presented dance workshops at St. Andrew’s and in the GTA.  Our annual workshop is usually held in the spring. In the spring of 2010 we did not present a workshop. In 2011, we hope to resume offering workshops.

Anointed Joy and Raise the Praise have prepared many dances for worship services at churches in Durham Region and the GTA:
Reformation Sunday
Palm Sunday, Good Friday & Easter
Advent Sundays & Christmas Eve
Pentecost
The Presbytery of Durham Region worship services at St. Andrew’s
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Canada/Durham College (June 2004)
Womens’ conferences
Missionfest Toronto 2006
Ontario Shores for Mental Health Sciences (formerly Whitby Mental Health Centre): Spiritual Care, Sunday afternoon services

“To Worship”

by
Kimberly Hartman

I’m free to dance
Bringing worship to Your name,
For Your honour, I’m ever changed,
To bring to You an endless praise
A tribute to Your loving ways
Seemingly such a small thing,
Compared to the glory You deserve
Yet You seek
Not those whose worship is equal
To Your glory
Else none could praise
You seek only those who come
To worship You in spirit and truth
That is the worship that You seek
May I be such a worshipper
Lead me Lord,
And keep me free to dance.

Photos of Anointed Joy and Raise the Praise:

For more information:

If you would like more information about Anointed Joy and Raise the Praise, please contact Sharon Geigl  sgeigl@sympatico.ca or call the church.

 

Links

Worship God in Dance by Lucinda Coleman is an article which lists the history of and scriptural reasons for dance in the church.
www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/journal6/coleman.html