Dancing for Jesus

My girls' had their dance recital at the Hoyt Sherman Place last night. They have been active with dancing at a studio called Dance-A-Cross that is owned and operated by Susan Palso. I am thrilled that it is done for the summer since I've been having to take them the past couple of months to practice since Cheryl has been working on Saturdays, and it takes a couple hours out of our morning. I have to say though that recital was probably their best. It was really entertaining. The first half was a Mary Poppins theme and Kelvey danced to "Sister Suffragett" and Lily danced to "The Perfect Nanny". The second half was called "I Hope You Dance". Kelvey danced to "Wherever We Go" by Audio Adrenaline and "Our God is an Awesome God" (originally by Rich Mullins, but I'm not sure who did this new arrangement). Lily danced to "Now is the Time To Worship" and "Time to Praise the Lord".

The props were awesome - Michael Brangoccio (we both go to Valley Church) and Susan's husband, Chris were responsible for those and they did an awesome job. I also mentioned to Cheryl how impressed I was with Susan's daughters, Katie and Sara Burris. They were in several of the dance groups and did individual routines. It seemed like when they were not dancing they were likely rushing backstage to change costumes. I talked with Sara afterwards and she said since they are student teachers they were off the wings too with the little kids coaching them through their routines. They must have been exhausted.

Anyway, Cheryl and I are happy that we found Dance-A-Cross. Kelvey had started to dance when we still lived in Valparaiso, and we remember watching the older girls dance in the studio that she was a part of thinking, "only over my cold dead body would Kelvey wear that and dance to that song," as the costumes were often immodest and the songs were inappropriate. Not so with Dance-A-Cross. Susan desire to honor Christ through their dance so they dance to songs with wholesome lyrics and wear modest costumes. It has been refreshing. So if you live in the Des Moines area and want to get your kids involved in dance, I would wholeheartedly recommend Dance-A-Cross. Their number is (515) 287-6691.