Practices

God's Messengers' practices started in October! We have been going every week up to Christmas. These rehearsals are unique when compared with an average dance company's rehearsal. Where most companies are sweating it out with push ups, sit ups, plies, leaps, and extensive stretching; we are doing that too, but we also bring the spirit of Christ's gospel with us. After our grueling warm up we pray, share a scripture or spiritual thought, and jump into learning choreography. This choreography is special. Each new piece learned has been created to depict something from the life and mission of Jesus Christ. The choreographers find scriptural references from the New Testament of the Bible and let those verses, chapters, or parables be the inspiration for their movement. God's Messengers has provided an amazing outlet for dancers who have a strong belief in Jesus Christ as they have the opportunity to share that through their dancing.

Fireside

This Christmas we performed at a Relief Society's Christmas Party here in St. George. It was our first fireside performance and, as all first performances go, it was a little rough. We performed three of our pieces; "Twelve Were Chosen", "Temptation", and "At the Cross". The first was fast paced and uplifting as it expressed the feelings of the apostles who were chosen by the Savior. The second was much darker. It depicted the Savior being tempted by Satan in the wilderness and each dancer conveyed the eery and conflicting feeling that we all have when we are being tempted. During this piece our music suddenly cut out and we all had to somehow end the dance the best we could. The last told the emotional story of Christ's family at the cross, particularly the women in his family. Each piece had a few glitches, the music being the largest one, whether it was counts, steps, or spacing. To add to it, each of us had our own little discouragements with our dancing. However, the spirit was still felt by the audience. "There wasn't a dry eye in the room." said Misty later after the show. The Savior's spirit was still there to help us tell that Relief Society through our dancing that His gospel, life, and Atonement are true. Even though we all have shortcomings in life or in dancing, the Lord always steps in to take care of the rest.