All my life I have danced. It has been an incredible gift of expression and I cannot imagine my life without movement, choreography, and yes, even the countless chances to essentially play dress-up on stage. It is a God-given talent and for a long time I have prayed and asked the Lord to show me how I could use this gift for His Kingdom.
As a young dancer, I trained and performed for many years with Atlanta Ballet and devoted every summer to a new summer program; in Houston, Boston, New York. Dancing, like any other sport, requires hours of training each day, and often times is emotionally and mentally demanding as well. For a brief period of my life, the strenuous requirements on my body and the hours of standing in front of a mirror, eventually led to an eating disorder. The truth was that this talent that had been meant for so much more had become an idol in my life. For a short time I left dancing altogether, I just couldn't handle the stress I had placed on myself.
I started getting more involved in church in my college years. I had come to know Christ several years before, but can't say that I had been consistently faithful in growing in my walk with the Lord and challenging myself to live as He has called His followers to live. I began to be mentored by an amazing woman of God who happened to direct a Christian dance school at a local church. I began to teach for her and suddenly a whole new realm of possibilities was opened up in terms of how dance could be relevant to worship today and how it could be used to reach young dancers and even our community for Christ.
In 2006, after marrying my wonderful husband and having our first child, we moved from that town and relocated to be closer to family. I again had to wait on the Lord to navigate me back to a dance family. He brought me to another incredible dance studio and for the last five years I have been blessed to be a part of a truly inspiring dance family!
Still, in the back of my mind, I kept praying for God to show me specifically how to use my gifts to glorify Him. In 2012, I began talking candidly with a fellow dance instructor about the possibility of us teaming together to start a dance ministry as part of what our studio offered. In the midst of those few weeks, I learned that a dear friend of mine with whom I had danced with in college was moving back to the states from Australia. She had been dancing with Hillsong and had previously been a dancer for a Christian dance company based out of Texas. It was just like God to start putting the puzzle pieces together in ways that only He can.
In December of 2012, my two dear friends and I started The Calling. At first we had about five excited dancers, but that quickly grew to 20+. Without financial backing, but after much prayer, we set our first concert date of June 14th, 2013.....before we even had a single dance choreographed. We started rehearsals, led the dancers in prayer, and committed our dancing to the Lord. We were asked to dance in churches and slowly the Lord brought more attention to our little group. I am amazed at how gracious He is in allowing us to be a part of drawing people to His kingdom and always get chills when I feel His Holy Spirit among us as we're performing. We are excited to see where He will continue to guide and direct us!
- Brittany
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