HYPE DANCE TEAM
Dance is a word used to describe one of the most basic ways humans express feelings and faith through body movement. Dance is said to be our oldest art form. Every culture throughout history has used dance to express religious faith and to celebrate important events in life -- birth, death, healing, natural phenomena.
Sacred dance includes individual forms (private meditation) and liturgical forms. Liturgical dance has as its purpose the deepening and focusing of the worship experience; it is not merely ornamental or decorative.
Psalms 149 and 150 instruct us to praise God with dance; the apocryphal Acts of John has a description of the disciples at the Last Supper circling around Jesus as he calls them to dance; Romans 12:1 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 bless the body as a worthy instrument.
Liturgical dance requires the dancer to bare his or her soul in worship. There are no words to hide behind, rarely a character to portray, no literal use of facial expression or gesture—only the abstract essence of a basic idea, text or piece of music. The body does not lie; therefore, raw, real emotions, shapes, and feelings must be wrung from the depths of the soul in each dance in worship for the dance to be the powerful conduit to God that it is capable of being.