Praise In Motion's The Gift happened this weekend! Good stuff. Being in the theater with forty-ish beautifully talented girls who love God and desire to praise Him and glorify His name is a truly remarkable experience. Both shows seemed to be full of born-again believers and thirsty non-believers, and many of the non-believers, I've been told, dedicated their life to Christ. I'm thankful for that.
We've been preparing for these performances since the end of July so it's easy to get distracted by the steps and the movements or wrapped up in performing for the audience rather than performing for our audience of one. This season, overall, felt more...comfortable, maybe...? Not going to lie, backstage, during rehearsals, was hectic, as always-- costumes were misplaced, shoes missing, and cues missed. On the days of the actual performances, however, even on the car ride over to Brenau, there wasn't as much of the nervous anticipation that I had grown accustomed to these past five years. Rather, we (me, Emily, Elizabeth) saw fit to take that time to focus on God and pray that His will be done in the midst of all the chaos. Elizabeth whipped out her nifty daily devotional journal and read a passage (can't remember what it said exactly...hold on, I'll google) that seemed to go along almost exactly with the day's plans: "Leave outcomes up to Me. Follow Me wherever I lead, without worrying about how it will all turn out. Think of your life as an adventure... Live in the now...staying in step with Me... Enjoy the rhythm of life lived close to Me... leaving outcomes up to Me." Crazy, crazy, CRAZY!
Before each performance we have a devotion; nothing new. Saturday, the 19th, our devotion discussed a servant's heart, and Miss Rhonda (co-director) read a passage from John 13, which is where Jesus assumes the position of a slave and washes the feet of His disciples. Deep. Well, it got deeper. We all went out into the audience, for our quiet time with Daddy, and Miss Rhonda called out all the Company members from the audience onto the stage; we thought we were in trouble (not really, but we didn't know what was going on). She took us back to the "green room" (it's painted black..whatevs) and told us that she and Miss Kathy (owner of En Pointe and also co-director) (Jesus=director) were going to wash our feet. I lost it. We split into two lines, half with Miss Kathy the other half with Miss Rhonda, and they washed our feet, massaged them with lotion of your choice, dried them, and then clad them in fuzzy socks also of your choice. 
Following the spa treatment, each Company member was to go back into the audience where everyone else was still seated and grab an Apprentice so as to wash their feet in the way the Director's washed ours. The train would continue with Apprenctices washing Invititaionals. No one still seated in the audience was even remotely aware of what was going on backstage, and each time a Company member emerged from the wings, heads would fly. Loved it. I got a little excited after Miss Rhonda washed my feet and went out to washed my little sister's feet, Tomi; little Jonsie's feet; and one of my little Eastsiders' feet, Maggie. At one point, everyone's feet had been chosen for washing-- even Jesus's and Joseph's feet got washed-- and we were all standing backstage; praying for our little girls and watching as other's washed the feet of the girls we've grown to think of as our families. There was a peaceful silence about the room; among the Tech Crew, Families, and dancers alike.
These recent performances, similar to past performances, have been emotional for me. My BiFFeL Carolyn, aka Kay-Rollin, is moving on to higher education next year. She was among the first people I talked to when we both made it into PIM in 2007; she's done my make-up for EVERY single show (I have no clue what I am going to do next year...), allowed me to stay at her house when performances nearby and in, return, I've allowed her to stay at mine each summer for the summer workshop. I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl; maybe sign up for a "How to apply stage-makeup class," or something. My (yes, I got possessive once again) other senior Mary-Catherine, affectionately known as MC, also has desires to take her education to the next level. I've only known her for these past two years, but she's easily the sweetest person I've ever known, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when she leaves. On top of all that, my big sissy Christian was there the whole week from college, no big deal, along with my loves Jessica, Melody, and Julia. It was like our family was back together and I just couldn't control myself.
The performances were packed out and the audience was cheering along, so it's only safe to say they were enjoying themselves. I feel like we all gave 110% for the performances; some ended up with bruised knees and sparined ankles, but they pushed through. We did so, not so that we would get the glory, but to honor God's name, and ensure His name would be praised. I think He was proud of us.
I'm going to miss not performing for a second time this weekend with my second family, but our goal to allow God to dance through us and touch the lives of the audience members was definitely achieved, and that's all I could ask for.
Ps: you're welcome for all the photos. I took over 50 this weekend and I needed to advertise them somewhere ;)
Pps: thanks for reading :)
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