What kind of dress is appropriate in Dance Ministry?

[GodFlute2]

I don't know what others wear, but for my church's dance team it varies depending on what song we're dancing to. Most of the time though it's a black shirt, no belly and no breasts, and we wear black dress pants.

 

[HisWordNMotion]

I just wanted to start this discussion with you.

I am really interested in your feed back.

This question has come up so many times & I have heard so many answers.

What is your opinion on this subject?

Are leotards with out cover ups tops inappropriate in church?

What does your church leadership say?

I went to a dance convention this weekend & the leader of that convention told us she believes in the 3 B's when it comes to dance attire in the church.

No Boob's
No Belly's
and No Bun's

What your opionion?
And, what has be your experience with this in church?

Thanks for your participation. It helps!
Blessings,
Richelle

Hello...
I have to say that I like the 3 B's concept. I am the Adult Dancer Leader at my church (about 2500 members), and I am the Founder/Artistic Director of His Word N' Motion School of Dance. This is a great topic!

Along with the 3 B's, I make sure that my dancers undergarments protect them to the fullest, and none of the garments are too tight on the body. They shouldn't even be able to tell what your figure look like. If they can...the garments are too tight. I especially have a problem with dancers wearing ONLY a leotard top (long or short sleeve) without an overlay. Or wear a dance skirt, with just tights underneath. What happens when you turn in a liturgical skirt...you see EVERYTHING. Our dancers have a strict dress code of :
1. Must wear a sports bra (do not want to see you bouncing all over the place)
2. Must wear supportive underwear (we do not want to see you jiggling)
3. Under the dance skirts, you must also have tights, AND palazzo pants.
4. If it's just palazzo pants, you must have tights, and black dance pants. Dancers do not realize how thin palazzo pants are. If you wear a dark colored pant underneath, you cannot see a thing.
5. Tops/overlays (provided by the ministry) MUST cover your buttocks.

This sounds like alot, and sometimes when we are visiting other church's people ask us why we have on so many clothes. My Answer...We are making sure that the concentration is on the message that GOD has for the saints, not about US.

Less of me, and more of thee.

HWNM

 

[bgurl]

When we dance at church, we make sure that we are covered up.We're not dancing to show off our bodies.We dance to glorify God and to make sure that He gets ALL of the glory. We do wear small pieces of jewelry. like stud earrings and we wear a little make up. Sometimes we wear our dance dresses and sometimes we wear our dance pants. dresses for worship dances and pants for praise dances. It depends on the song.Our hair is always pulled back or at least out of our face.

 

[ZionFire]

I can't remember if it's been mentioned in this thread yet or not.....but wearing makeup is important. Your face is one of the most powerful ways you communicate in dance ministry, so appropriate makeup makes that communication more effective since your features will be defined and easier to see and interpret.

You don't need heavy stage makeup, but something between street makeup and stage makeup. You should at the very least, outline your eyes, darken your lashes, and wear some blush and lip color so that you don't look pale and faded.

 

[bithiah2]

the dance ministry will start back at our church soon
and i am sure these things will come up. the leader already asked me today if i would teach on this.
i am glad that it is starting back, and i am praying that everything will run smoothly. i do believe that the Holy Spirit is the best designer and we can look nice and contemporary without looking bad, personally i don't care for dance garments that look like sacks and boxes. garments that are made of the right type of fabric and the right pattern will not be revealing or call attention away from God. of course appropriate supporting undergarments are a must! if you are well endowed, then you should invest in good bras that don't bounce.

but... there is a danger of becoming legalistic with all of this, and i am not into that.
as far as jewelry, i don't care for it, when dancing just because if something flies off it could cause someone to be injured.
one of the purposes of dance ministry is to reveal the liberty of God. freedom does not mean 'loose', there is still an order. but real order is freedom.
blessings
bithiah2

 

[GodFlute2]

I have a question. What's your opinion of footwear while doncing? Socks? Shoes? Bare feet?

 

[ZionFire]

Personally, I prefer a flesh-toned leather ballet slipper, so it appears as if you may be barefoot. It protects your feet from damage, and it also is socially kind not to be wiping your body oils on the carpeting, etc., like you would be doing by dancing bare footed. Socks alone are dangerous. They can catch and twist and slip. So some sort of good dance shoe is really the best choice.

 

[GodFlute2]

^I hadn't thought about socks being dangerous. It's just been a big debate in my house about what footwear to wear. I prefer to go barefoot, just so I don't have to fiddle with socks or shoes, but my mom(who is also on the dance team) insists I at least wear socks to match my outfit. Shoes would kinda be awkward because I don't think anyone else in our dance team wears shoes to dance.

 

[ZionFire]

You might try a dance sandal. It is almost invisible on the top of the foot but it provides a leather pad for you to turn on that protects the bottom of your feet. Here are some different styles you can get at Dance Distributors: http://www.dancedistributors.com/index.cfm?act=prod_category&cat=13&ven=0

They also have a section of Worship Dance items you might want to check out while you are there.

 

[GodFlute2]

Sounds cool.

 

[Living Soul Dance]

I don't know if I gave you guys these links before, but here are some of the garments we use. Blessings, Richelle www.wavesofgloryflags.com http://www.piapraiseapparel.com/ http://www.sondanceministry.com (see revelations at) www.artstonecostumes.com you must have a church tax id number for this one! www.worshipdancewear.com www.DancewearSolutions.com http://www.discountdanceapparel.com/

 

[symphony4]

As long as what you are wearing is not revealing, not tight fitting, no vulgar writing or images, no demonic images or sayings then it should be good. a lot of times we get caught up in what tradition dictates as far as what is appropriate for dance ministry but it is subject to the approval of the pastor /or the minister over the dance ministry. depending on what type of event the dance ministry will render their gifts should determine whether or not make-up, polish, earrings and what type are appropriate. but remeber you do not want to take away from the purpose of the ministry when accessorizing and wearing make-up, sometimes too much can take away from the purpose of the ministry and can also be dangerous even when dancing. the type of uniforms are also determined by the event as long as they meet the afore mentioned criteria. you would not want to wear a liturgical skirt for a christian "hip-hop" dance routine, or you may be dancing in a play where the scene takes place inside of a classroom or hall of a school building, then in this case you would wnat the dancers to look like evryday students and this may require them to have their arms showing because of a short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve shirt. it would look so out of place if they wore palazzo pants or traditional liturgical dance wear . but once again as long as the outfit meet the criteria stated above. but before determing what is and isn't appropriate please check with your advisor or whom ever may be over the dance ministry, because once a again it is subject to their approval.

 

[symphony4]

whatever you choose should reflect christ

 

[KGirl]

Ok, so the hair thing lol... I know I have to be difficult but to say that moving hair down is bad? Come on not everything that is attractive is evil. What if a girl with long hair is outside on a windy day? God made hair as a girl's glory whatnot. I like some of the pics people put up. And a long, flowy dresses are always good.

 

[GodFlute2]

Ok, so the hair thing lol... I know I have to be difficult but to say that moving hair down is bad? Come on not everything that is attractive is evil. What if a girl with long hair is outside on a windy day? God made hair as a girl's glory whatnot. I like some of the pics people put up. And a long, flowy dresses are always good.

There is nothing wrong with a woman having long hair. I love having long hair, but there's a time and a place to show it off. Dancing on stage isn't the time or the place. Even if it isn't a modesty issue, I pull my hair pack just so it's out of the way and won't interfere(sp) with my dancing, get in my face, and so on.

 

[bithiah2]

Ok, so the hair thing lol... I know I have to be difficult but to say that moving hair down is bad? Come on not everything that is attractive is evil. What if a girl with long hair is outside on a windy day? God made hair as a girl's glory whatnot. I like some of the pics people put up. And a long, flowy dresses are always good.

it's not that it is bad, but it is a safety issue.
in fact it is not about being bad or good...but you will never see a professional dance company perform with hair all over the place, it is always pulled back out of the dancer's face. flying hair can get caught on something, it can hit someone else in their face, and it is also distracting to the movement.
even though dance ministry is not the same as performing, there is still an element of performance as it is being presented to others. anything that is distracting will affect what people see, and if they are not being helped there might as well be no dance.
bithiah2