In November I got the exciting opportunity to go to Rotterdam and be part of the first ever CDF Netherlands conference. To help the new Christian Dance Fellowship get started, a team of us travelled from England , between us we had a range of skills that we could share. The team was headed up by Jan Dyer (joint ICDF Coordinator) and Anna Arnold, Jackie Turner and myself were there to help.
We were traveling out on the Friday ,however the plane Jackie and I were on ,had a 4 hour delay, which was frustrating. However I have found that sometimes the best events are the ones that you have the most trouble getting to and this was certainly a very exciting trip!
By the time we arrived it was time to get some rest before the conference the next day. We started with a time of prayer and worship , it was great to have people from different countries and cultures coming together and worshipping . This diversity was also displayed in the range of performances that were shared with liturgical pieces from local dance groups , plus Anna and I sharing a contemporary ballet and hip hop , respectively. Anna and I were teaching the main workshops. In the morning I was teaching a street piece using a mixture of popping, locking and house moves. It was great to have a range of ages and abilities in the group, some of whom had never done any street before , but everyone was willing to try something new.
In the afternoon we had more performances and I shared the finale from the “Interwoven” show that I have been performing. This is a contemporary and mime piece to the poem “The Prodigal” by Sally Stephenson.
For the last workshops of the day we gave the participants some tools that they could take away. Anna encouraged them to listen to the Holy Spirit with their movements and I gave them a range of skills to use when working in groups whether that is moving together in worship or quickly creating choreography.
It was great to see everyone learning new things plus seeing and exploring dance styles that they had never tried before. To conclude the weekend we are able to each share a performance at a local church on the Sunday morning. I used the well known song ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’ but with the contemporary twist that Bryn Haworth puts on it. Using a mixture of contemporary dance with a banner it was both a performance and a prayer , declaring creativity over the new members of our CDF family , as they start their journey as the Christian Dance Fellowship of Netherlands.