Each year our family looks forward to receiving Christmas letters and photos from friends and family. These are especially meaningful when they serve to bring us up to date on loved ones we almost never see~! Here is our 2010 Christmas Letter: Isaiah 9:2-8 Oh, Light of the World for shriven souls!~ We sing of His Love! Bless you!
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah 9:2
Jonah did the ‘run away from God’ dance all around the eastern Mediterranean Sea world. This blog features a little girl who tells the story. Different, to say the least!
If you are not familiar with this dance blog, please go back to read the first post, “There is always a reason”
During the 80’s, we participated in a number of children’s musicals at church. PSALTY, the singing songbook was a favorite. The songs had simple choreography and hand motions. Click on the link, then on the word VIMEO to view:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/16404771
” I knew you that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah 4:2
When I was a freshman in college in 1970 I enrolled in liturgical dance for a P.E. credit. We learned to dance to The Lord’s Prayer (Malotte version) and some other songs. We visited churches to perform. I loved it! Worshipful. Great exercise. Expressive. Dance as a corps.
When our third child was in elementary school, she danced in a group at our church called ‘His Handmaids’. The corps wore white dresses with wreaths of flowers on their heads and satin ribbons hanging down their backs. They danced barefoot, because they danced on holy ground. The name was taken from Mary’s response to Gabriel upon the announcement of her state as Mother of God, “I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). I started a similar group at our next church, where my husband was pastor. We visited the nursing homes in our community. The elderly were a good audience. I found some pictures of those girls. They are grown up and in their twenties today:
It was 1992 when I was first introduced to the ministry of His Handmaids. Today the ministry debuted at our church! Several grandmothers made the dresses and a mom made the headpieces. The girls have practiced every week. They learned their parts well and only complained a little that the headpieces were itchy. No one can deny that children bring a special and pure quality to the worship experience. This particular song, His Eye is on the Sparrow, is choreographed with American Sign Language.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14
Brownie Troop: 1960. We were in the third grade. Once, again, our troop leaders were ambitious. Instead of hula dancers we were to become thespians! We presented a play based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Red Shoes“, first published in Denmark in 1845. Nineteenth century literature appeals to me: Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte, 1847) and all the stories of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887-1914) are favorites.
In our story, an old soldier cursed a little girl who was vain. She was obsessed with her red shoes and could think of nothing else, even during church services. The curse was that the shoes would not stop dancing and would remain stuck to her feet, until she repented. Our friend had to run on and off stage, dancing all the while, searching for someone who could remove her shoes! Dorothy’s ‘ruby slippers’ were magical too, but not demonized! I wonder if L. Frank Baum was inspired by this fairy tale? The Wizard of Oz was not published until 1900.
Here is a picture of our cast!
As I look at this picture, I am thankful to say that many of us are still friends and manage to see each other regularly. The pretty blond on the far right, wearing a hat, died in 2003 from brain cancer. We still remember and miss her. My friend holding the fan, who is standing beside her, reminded me the other day of our Brownie songs: Make New Friends, But Kept the Old! and There is Something in my Pocket.. It’s a Great Big Brownie Smile! The “grandmother”, pictured in the middle wearing glasses, is a judge today. She appears on stage annually in a musical comedy produced by and starring lawyers, called, “Night Court”. It is a benefit show sponsored by the bar foundation. I see that I wrote “4th from the left” at the bottom of the photo. Did I really think that I would not recognize myself someday? Maybe not, since I wore a beard.
I don’t remember what music played as the little girl danced on and off the stage. I can tell you that the stage was in our school cafeteria, and is still there today.
A film of the same title was released in 1948. 
It is rather dark, very artistic, and follows a different story line. But I found a video that resembles the version we performed.
” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Fred Astaire died June 22, 1987. He was 88. People magazine featured him on the cover that week. It was also the week that our home was invaded by the chicken pox! Our five year old son caught it from a little boy the last week of kindergarten. He was followed, two weeks later by his seven year old sister. Two weeks after that, when we were at Vacation Bible School, I went to pick up our 17 month old in the nursery, and someone asked, “Does she have the chicken pox??” I said, “Oh, no, her siblings were just getting well from it”, as about 20 faces turned my way, sharing a look of dread and disbelief that I still remember well.
What can you do to keep yourself sane indoors for six weeks with little ones? We discovered that the local Blockbuster had a plethora of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. To this day, our family loves to watch the films that they memorized that summer.
My mother often played the piano at home. I remember that one of her pieces of sheet music was, “Cheek to Cheek”. She said that it was always one of their (my parents) favorite songs. They married in 1942 and are still together! I was thrilled to see it performed in “Top Hat” (1935).
My husband’s father did genealogical research for fun. We learned that Ginger Rogers, a McMath from north Texas, was related to us! When our fourth child was born in 1990, we gave her four names like her sister, and included “McMath”. I’ll talk more about the wonderful dances we discovered in the Fred Astaire movies later. Suffice it to say, these were so dearly loved that the featured photo on this blog is “Fred and Ginger pointing their toes”! Here is another favorite: “Swing Time” (1936).
“There is a time for everything , and a season for everything under heaven:..a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:1,4
While dancing in front of the mirrors in Zumba this week, I remembered spending hours in front of a similar mirror in my leotard and tights, as a little girl. I danced several hours per week, increasingly, from age 3 to 14. Dance has been a theme, albeit not consistent, in my life. Then, I remembered a phone call I received from my 98 year old ballet teacher, about 15 years ago:, “Kathy, I have enjoyed your letters and think you should write a book. And, when you do, you should call it, Point your little toe. You can talk about everything you want to talk about, but this needs to be the title.” I was so surprised to hear from her and laughed at the idea, but definitely appreciated her call! Now, I am taking her advice to heart!
While mindlessly attempting to follow our Zumba instructor, a list of people, random dance memories, places, styles, music and venues began to drift through my consciousness. Ideas were gyrating and so was I. And, I suddenly felt one of those epiphany moments: Dance has truly been a part of MOST of my life! How many priceless memories do I have that happened because of my love for dance? I began to feel grateful to God for using DANCE in so many wonderful ways, in spite of my lack of awareness! There could be at least a dozen or more chapters for a book if I made one for every different dance or place. Crazy ideas, I thought. A blog would be much better than a book because I can post video, music, pictures and write when the ‘spirit moves’.
So, if I am clearly articulating my purpose, I just told you the reason for this blog. One disclaimer: I am no professional. Dance is only my hobby, but I am, by writing this blog, deciding to give it a higher regard; to esteem it more; to be thankful for it and to express this! I think I have underestimated the benefits and good it has had in my life. Therefore, this blog, as are many, is a personal study of my relationship with dance! We will say that Point your little toe begins in 1955 and ends when it ends, after 2010.
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ for you.” I Thess. 5:18
Point your little toe... 