Mylenda Wright, 11, of Henderson, dances during practice for Anointed Hands Studio Tuesday at First Baptist Church of Tyler. Anointed Hands Studio is a ministry of the church Higher Dimensions Ministry that teaches praise dance and other forms of dance. (photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

From the moment the dancing starts, it is clear this is no game.

Mime instructor Dontr’l Roberts, 24, who has mimed for half his life, counts off the beats and recites the song lyrics as the dancers perform.

“You provide the fire. Two. Three. Four. Five and six. And I’ll provide …”

As the team moves, he and Elder Rashunda Crowder, the dance instructor, watch, carefully correcting imperfections in arm and leg movements, rhythm and expression.

“Make it crisp and clean,” Roberts says after a dance segment.

“Y’all gotta follow through,” Elder Crowder says minutes later. “Y’all (are) cutting everything off.”

The students are members of Anointed Hands Studio and they are practicing praise dance and mime as a form of worship to God and ministry to others.

“It is an aspect of worship and everyone gets involved,” Elder Crowder said. “The entire audience gets involved with this type of worship. It opens up hearts. It opens up minds and it is an amazing experience even when we experience someone else, it is absolutely amazing.”

What is it?

“Praise dance is an expression of praise that you give to your heavenly Father for all the many things that He has done,” Elder Billie Cooks, Anointed Hands Studio’s founder and overseer, said.

The dance typically is lyrical in that the dancer’s movements express the emotions from the song. It can draw from other dance styles and sometimes incorporates sign language.

In mime, the performers don’t dance per say. Rather, they act out movements to the lyrics.

Both components involve a lot of emotion and passion on the part of the performer because the way they move should illustrate the song’s message.

So if they are glad and praising God their hands and heads might be lifted to the sky. If they are sad or defeated, they might hang their head or bow down their body.

“When someone watches or sees the movements, they will get a gist of what the song is about,” said Tam Jones Turner, director of the youth praise dancers and junior mimes at Greater St. Mary Baptist Church in Tyler.

Though Ms. Turner’s mimes do paint their faces partially white, other groups such as the Anointed Hands Studio do not, even though they incorporate mime movements into their performances.

Why do it?

For the more traditional churchgoer or community member the idea of dancing or miming for the glory of God might seem strange or even wrong. But to those who do it, it’s quite the opposite.

“The Bible actually tells us that (God) inhabits the praises of His people,” said Monica “Lynn” Brown, founder and director of the Victory Through Praise Liturgical Dance Ministry.

There are different forms of praise, she said. In the Bible in Exodus 15 it says that after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea when escaping from slavery in Egypt, Moses’ sister Miriam took a tambourine in her hand and with the rest of the women played the tambourines and danced.

Ms. Brown said God has brought her through a lot of things in life and through this ministry she is praising Him and giving Him the glory by acknowledging who He is and He has done.

Another reason these ministries are good and effective is they speak to the performer and the receiver in a way other forms of ministry cannot.

“God gives us all a talent,” Ms. Turner said. That may be demonstrated through serving as a church usher, or cooking in the kitchen ministry, or singing. For others though, it may be through miming and dancing.

And for youth – though these ministries are not exclusive to youth – this is a way they can get involved and participate in worship.

“It really grows and it catches on quick with our youth because it takes them from the world aspect of the movement and the inappropriate dances and it teaches them, ‘oh, I can still do these things, but now I’ve changed partners,'” Elder Crowder said. Their new partner is Christ.

Part of it

Aaliyah Soares-Caldwell, 18, has danced with the Anointed Hands Studio team for one month. She’s the newbie on the team. She said from the moment she saw them perform, she wanted to participate.

“They danced one day and I was like, that’s very expressive,” she said. “I felt, almost the way they were dancing.”

Although she had long liked dance, she never formally practiced it before this point, she said.

“This type of dance to me is different than regular dance,” she said. “I feel as if I really talk to God and give Him praise through praise dance.”

At Greater St. Mary Baptist Church in Tyler, Justin Cheatham, 9, is part of the mime group. He said he likes that the group gets to praise God, minister and have fun.

Fellow mime Nic Holmes, 13, said much the same.

“We’re sending a message to God with (the) words in the song and we’re having fun with it too,” he said.

LaMuniya Brooks, 13, said she loves praise dancing with Greater St. Mary Baptist Church.

“We minister everywhere and we get to be like with our friends and travel with them,” she said.

The teams perform at churches, community events and conferences.

In Lindale where the Victory Through Praise Liturgical Dance team practices, Nakia Kincade, 34, said her daughter Kaelyn, 8, has changed by being a part of the team.

“She was extremely shy and this really brought her out a whole lot,” Ms. Kincade said. “She was not confident at all.”

Tarneshia Spencer, 32, said she is excited her daughter Kaneshia Lawler, 15, participates on the Victory Through Praise team because it helps build her relationship with God. In addition, she said, the team’s performances show people there is more than one way to express themselves and worship God.

All of the instructors said from their point of view mime and praise dance ministries are growing, something they all are excited about.

But they are clear this is not just about movement and performance. It’s a ministry and it’s a way for people, especially young people to grow closer to God.

“Our focus is young people and that is to minister the word of God to young people and to bring them in on their level …” Ms. Turner said. “I tell them all the time, it’s not their size. It’s the size of their ministry, their praise. And so you can never be too young, to bring someone to Christ and so that is our mission is to spread the word of Christ through movement.”

Twitter: @TMTEmily

Breakout_1:

Although there are many praise dance and mime ministries in East Texas, three were interviewed for this story. For more information about these ministries and how you can be a part of and/or support their efforts, contact:

Anointed Hands Studio

Dance instructor Rashunda Crowder

903-780-7357

rashundacrowder@yahoo.com

Greater St. Mary Baptist Church

Director Tam Jones Turner

903-574-7628

Victory Through Praise Liturgical Dance

Founder Monica “Lynn” Brown

903-948-3967

BREAKOUT_2:

Visit TylerPaper.com to watch a video about some local praise dance and mime ministries.

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To see more pictures of the praise dancers and mimes, go online and visit Focusinon.me and click on the Galleries link on the left side of the page. Look for the praise dance and mime galleries.