Dances for the Lord!

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Faithdancer

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These two dances were just performed last night, and are inspired by Holy Scripture (Genesis and the Song of Songs). I can’t take any credit for the success of the choreography, since charism comes from God and is directed by the Holy Spirit, as does the tremendous effort of the dancers!
youtube.com/hollywooddances
 
Beautiful dancer and dance. I am not sure how it relates to “Bride” though. Just my ignorance of dance I suspect.
 
Ohana said:
Beautiful dancer and dance. I am not sure how it relates to “Bride” though. Just my ignorance of dance I suspect.
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Actually you are quite on point Ohana, and I’ll pass along your compliments to the dancer.

The dance contains some movement images derived from classical and modern art, paintings and drawings which are in turn based on the Song of Songs. However, it also became a somewhat bird-like movement study; the music was strongly influential in this regard. The dancer is a good Christian girl from Texas and we had some great conversations about the Bible, Scripture and Jesus in the course of making the dance.

There is a companion piece which we just finished, danced by a male who represents the “groom” or Solomon. It’s set to Mood for a Day, by famed Yes guitarist Steve Howe. That one is a bit more literal, and about Solomon’s final decision to accept the throne of Israel (in a film about the subject he is reluctant to sit on the throne at first, due to his great love and respect for his father). We hope to stage that one soon!🙂
 
Nice combination, Faithdancer. I’m assuming you’re the choreographer? If so, what company are you with? You obviously have a gift, and I agree, it is from the Holy Spirit.

By the way, you CAN take credit for the choreography’s success: Without good choreo, we dancers, no matter how expressive and artistic we are, are nothing more than musical athletes. It takes everybody and everything to do a production worthy of an audience, especially if your primary audience is the Lord.

–Odile53 (NYCB coryphee, retired.)
 
odile53 said:
Nice combination, Faithdancer. I’m assuming you’re the choreographer? If so, what company are you with? You obviously have a gift, and I agree, it is from the Holy Spirit.

By the way, you CAN take credit for the choreography’s success: Without good choreo, we dancers, no matter how expressive and artistic we are, are nothing more than musical athletes. It takes everybody and everything to do a production worthy of an audience, especially if your primary audience is the Lord.

–Odile53 (NYCB coryphee, retired.)
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Hi Odile- great to hear from a fellow dancer! Love the Swan Lake reference. And thank you for your kind words. Interestingly enough, though I’ve been choreographing for 10 years I had never made half a dozen dances in a row that were “keepers” until this year. Coincidentally all of the dances I’ve choreographed this year are based either on Holy Scripture or other religious themed subjects. For example besides the male Solomon solo there is a dance about Mary Magdalene at the open tomb, a dance set to the Kyrie of Mozart’s Requiem, one about Karen Carpenter in Heaven, and a brand new dance in progress based on Dali’s images for Dante’s Divine Comedy. I don’t know whether the Holy Spirit led me to these themes and subjects, or when I started working with these themes and subjects, the Holy Spirit starting guiding my choreography. But I feel like dance is a charism that I must use to glorify God, for as long as He wants me to. If I can make dances that are both devotional and also have high artistic, technical, and/or entertainment value, then perhaps the secular world of LA/ Hollywood will be more receptive to them. Its a subtle form of evangelization, perhaps?
 
Actually, Odile is my real first name! I guess I was meant to be a dancer. Everyone thinks it’s a Swan Lake reference, but no, I was baptized Odile.

Good thing I didn’t turn out to be an accountant.
 
I’m thinking New York, San Francisco, Seattle, or Toronto might be more responsive than LA, which still isn’t a big ballet town.

I actually had a dream once, shortly after I retired, and the night after I had meditated on a psalm where the line “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk” appeared. That had caught my eye, and I seemed to hear the words, “It was I who taught Odile to dance” most of the afternoon.

In the dream, to the accompaniment of an excerpt from the last few minutes of Tannhauser’s Overture, Jesus and I danced through the skies, a very athletic and demanding dialogue of choreography between us. I wrote down some of it when I woke up, what I could remember, anyways, and called it “GUIDance” for “God–YoU and I Dance.” I tried to improvise what I remember my part was in the dream, but I guess it’s supposed to remain just a dream.
 
odile53 said:
I’m thinking New York, San Francisco, Seattle, or Toronto might be more responsive than LA, which still isn’t a big ballet town.

I actually had a dream once, shortly after I retired, and the night after I had meditated on a psalm where the line “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk” appeared. That had caught my eye, and I seemed to hear the words, “It was I who taught Odile to dance” most of the afternoon.

In the dream, to the accompaniment of an excerpt from the last few minutes of Tannhauser’s Overture, Jesus and I danced through the skies, a very athletic and demanding dialogue of choreography between us. I wrote down some of it when I woke up, what I could remember, anyways, and called it “GUIDance” for “God–YoU and I Dance.” I tried to improvise what I remember my part was in the dream, but I guess it’s supposed to remain just a dream.
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Wow, that’s a wild dream Odile! I think dreams can definitely come from the Holy Spirit, especially after we’ve opened ourselves through prayer and meditation.
That’s really cool that Odile is your real name too. Was that a family name, or were your parents balletophiles? Is there an Odette?
 
Oh and it’s true about LA not being a big ballet town…or modern dance town either. LA is a mecca for dancers wanting to get a dance agent and make a living doing commercial work. Of course, the reality is that having an agent is no guarantee of working consistently, though it will keep the dancers hopping from audition to audition in the hopes of getting picked out of dozens or a hundred or more other dancers.

Trying to make faith-based artistic dance in LA is really crying in the wilderness. But I guess somebody’s gotta do it!😉
 
Neither a family name nor is there an Odette in the family: My great aunt was going blind from diabetes when my mother was expecting me, and great aunt was making a novena to St Odile (since I never saw such a novena, I imagine that she was doing nine days of some prayers but privately invoking the saint.)
 
odile53 said:
Neither a family name nor is there an Odette in the family: My great aunt was going blind from diabetes when my mother was expecting me, and great aunt was making a novena to St Odile (since I never saw such a novena, I imagine that she was doing nine days of some prayers but privately invoking the saint.)
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Well, God bless your great Aunt, and God bless you for being so supportive of a fellow dance artist!
 
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