Voice of the Martyrs Benefit

Sunday June 5th

ऀ“Living Hope”, our new ballet based on the persecuted church in China, was premiered on Sunday at a benefit for the Voice of the Martyrs ministry. We were all pretty excited that the first time this ballet would be performed would be to raise awareness and support for the persecuted church through the ministry. We were also excited that Hannah Beaver, the choreographer of the ballet, was able to join us for a few days and be there for the first performance. For the first half of the benefit, local Christian worship dancers and schools performed, and then we performed “Living Hope” after the intermission. It was our first time performing the ballet, and so it did have some rough spots that will surely go smoother in the future. However, many in the audience were moved by the powerful portrayal of a young Christian girl being willing to give up so much for her Savior. Rehearsing this ballet has been such a good reminder of what those in other countries give up for their faith, and makes me want to take full advantage of every opportunity to share the Gospel when they are paying such a high price for it. I am exciting to see how the message of “Living Hope” affects people as it starts to be performed more often, and I look forward to seeing how God continues to move through this ballet. God bless!


~Cayla <3

Dewitt Community Church

We enjoyed performing “You are Special” for the last time of the 2010-2011 year on May 22nd at Dewitt Community Church. The piece was based on Max Lucado's children's book “You are Special.” Each family that attended our performance received an illustrated copy of the book –a gift from the church. The kids not only enjoyed the performance, but also the chance to learn some dance steps and jumps on stage with us at the end. After the program, the kids were very excited to talk with each of us, and had us autograph their books. Many of them also eagerly took the brochures we had brought, which had information about LWB's summer dance programs. We had a great time interacting with them, and letting them know how unique and very special each of them is to their creator.

Psalm 139:14 “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.”

~Elisa~

Spring Program

We just finished up our Spring Program which we performed on June 9th and 10th. It was our premier of the Company and School version of "Living Hope," a ballet choreographed by Hannah Beaver of Ballet Magnificat. The ballet shows the salvation message as well as the persecution in China and the boldness of the Christians who stand up for their faith even in the face of death.
We had a few technical issues with the lights and sound, but God is so much bigger than that and did awesome things in spite of it. Ashley shared the salvation message and several raised their hands to receive Christ. Praise God!! There were also several who expressed that the ballet had moved them to tears and challenged them in their faith.
In all, it was an awesome performance. I am so proud of all the students who really stepped up and put their all into their roles. It has been an awesome year of growing in our dancing as well as, most importantly, growing Spiritually. I am so blessed to see the ways that God has really developed each of the dancers in the school this year.
To God be all the glory for all that he accomplished in and through us! Thank You for using us as your tools to draw people to Yourself!

~Breanne

Arise

On Friday, May 20th, Light of the World performed The Crown at ARISE, which is an activity center for individuals with special needs. ARISE provides a safe and entertaining environment for the physically and emotionally handicapped. Light of the World is one of several performing groups that come to ARISE periodically to entertain the attendees at the center. This was our last performance of The Crown for the 2010-2011 Light of the World year, and it went very well. The attendees had a lot of fun watching us dance, and they had even more fun learning some dance steps after the performance. Although these people may be handicapped, there is no limit on their joy and enthusiasm for life. They always have smiles on their faces and are eager to greet us and converse with us before and after the performance. We had a great time ministering to them—there were about 20 special needs folks in attendance, as well as at least 5 ARISE workers. Many of the workers expressed to us what a blessing it was to their program that we were willing to come and be with the special needs individuals. ARISE is not an explicitly Christian program, so we couldn’t share a testimony during the performance, but they seemed very open to the message of The Crown and Healing is in His Hands. I know that Christ made an impact on the program through our dancing! Overall a great end to Light of the World’s Company and Trainee performance year.

-Sarah

Lowville

On Sunday, May 15^th, at about 11:45 am, we set out for a public performance at a school in Lowville . The Rollinsons and Jason accompanied us so we all piled into the twelve passenger van, reminiscent of Peru where we also took a few trips with lots of people in one van. Jason came to be our sound and lighting technician. It was just under two hours away so we prepared for a mini road trip.

We were early arriving so the doors were still locked. We decided to go look for somewhere to use the restroom. We stopped at a gas station and thought it would be funny if we all got out and found that there wasn’t a bathroom to use. That’s just what happened. So we all piled back in the van and headed for the nearest McDonalds. After that we headed back to the school and started setting up.

Sarah had fun playing with one of the pastor’s little sons after setting up the costumes and props. At one point the pastor went looking for his son so we told him to look for Sarah. They had fun drawing on the chalk board together.

Aside from a few sound difficulties, the performance went pretty well. At one point, when the sound wasn’t working well, Ashley asked one of us to quiz the kids on what pointe shoes are made of. Sarah stepped up and did a really good job. We were able to use the backdrop which was exciting. Mr. Rollinson was able to share a little with the audience at which time some raised their hands to accept Christ!

They were so nice and had dinner for us! It was the perfect dinner for after a performance too: sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and brownies. The pastor and his family ate with us and Jason had fun playing with the boys.

-Krystalan

Faith Heritage

Last week we were privileged to perform The Crown at Faith Heritage, a local Christian elementary, middle, and high school. We actually were supposed to perform for the elementary school students back in in April, but that got postponed by the weather. It was a slightly early morning for us, but with some coffee (well, for some of us anyway!) we were fine. Set up went pretty smoothly, we did get some help from some of the high school students. The performance itself went pretty smoothly over all, despite having a slightly small space....everything was fine up until our finale, "Hail to the King." Then the music started having issues. You could hear the music fine, but the words were kind of quiet and hard to understand. We weren't quite sure what to do, but decided to 1) pray and 2) sing. Loudly. And so we sang the whole song. I must admit, we did sing a little more quietly while we were dancing though! :-) Later, Ashley remarked that it was probably a good experience for the kids to see some raw worship...it was definitely raw! Well, in our weakness, He is strong... His name be praised! I like that school, everyone was very kind and welcoming, I hope we get to go back there again!

~Gwen

Healing Rooms/Transformation Syracuse

On Friday evening, April 19th, we danced for an event sponsored by “Transformation Syracuse.” We were asked to use the song “I Can Hear Your Voice” (which we've often used at dance class but had never performed to before), so Amy choreographed a beautiful piece specifically for that night. Before performing, we were able to join in worship with them and afterward stayed and listened to the speaker. They were very thankful that we came. A week later, while we were gathered at the courthouse steps for the National Day of Prayer, a lady who had seen us dance approached us. She thanked us and told us how much it touched her and many others at the event. I am glad that we were able to be a part of it as we worshiped the Lord through dancing. Let the name of the Lord be praised!

-Elisa-