What Is Praise Dancing

Praise dance is a means of worshipping the Lord by expressing the devotion and reverence through movements. This form of worship is used by some Christian churches to articulate the spirit of God through bodily movements. Although dancing was used to express joy and thankfulness to the Lord in ancient times, it was forced out by the Christian churches by the Reformation. However, in the 20^th century, praise dance re-entered praise and worship services. Praise dance includes various diverse forms of dance like jazz, traditional or modern ballet, lyrical and hip hop dancing. Today, praise dance can be seen performed by Christians of all ages and in every denomination of Christian faith. Moreover, competitions are held on festivals both inside and outside the churches to acknowledge praise dancers. You can even find dance schools and professional praise dance companies offering praise dancing classes for young and old alike across the world. Read on to know the different types of praise dance.

 

 

Creative praise dance blends motion and rhythmic movements. A song is chosen and acted out using various dance forms to convey the meaning of the verses of the song. Though creative praise dance has basic signs for some words, these can vary depending upon the group.

 

Mime praise is a form of praise dance that is only acted out, without using words. The entire song is developed into a storytelling form, using gestures and specific movements to keep the audience engaged in the story. Traditionally, mime praise is enacted by painting the faces white, but these days, you can find dancers creating their own special faces.

 

A common dance form, hip hop is combined with street dance to display stories and songs for praising God. This dance form has become one of the most popular types of praise dance across the globe.

 

This form of praise dance makes use of various accessories for performing different dances. Such accessories include tambourines, tabrets, flags, mantles and streamers.

 

The prophetic praise dance requires a person to abandon everything that he has learned about the dance. It simply involves a person offering a vessel to the Holy Spirit and allowing the anointing to freely flow through him/her.

 

A kind of lyrical dance, liturgical praise combines ballet, jazz and modern dance elements. This dance form is so choreographed that includes movements, such as conveying specific acts of worship, like kneeling and specific symbols of worship like a cross.

 

A worship praise dance is performed to evoke an adoration of God in the hearts of the audience. This style of praise dance is considered to be solemn and introspective.