On Saturday night in the Jones Recital Hall, a worship service of a different kind will take place.
The Great Abandon Dance Ministry, alongside Ballet Emmanuel, will perform and worship through dancing and music.
Great Abandon is a CAUSE Ministry on campus. The CAUSE leader, Hope Eidson, has been at the frontlines of getting the recital together and planning with Ballet Emmanuel.
Ballet Emmanuel is a professional dance company, which takes its biblical themed shows across the country.
This will not be Ballet Emmanuel’s first time dancing at John Brown University. They partnered with Great Abandon to put on a recital for the rest of the student body last year.
“Last year’s show was about the story in Daniel of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,” Eidson said. “It was put together in such a unique way with a mixture of worship music and classical music. The narration was both creative and inspiring too.”
Kathryn Freund, one of the dance instructors with Great Abandon, said working with Ballet Emmanuel last year was a wonderful experience.
“It was really great having such amazing talent and Christ-like dancers on our campus,” Freund said.
This year, Ballet Emmanuel contacted JBU with interest in doing another performance.
Eidson has been the communicator between Ballet Emmanuel and the girls involved in Great Abandon dance ministry.
“We will be dancing before the women in Ballet Emmanuel do,” Eidson said. “We will be doing a routine from last year. I know the show will be different, but I don’t know what their part will exactly be this year.”
One thing Eidson is excited for is the dance class the Ballet Emmanuel dancers will be hosting for the Great Abandon dancers on Friday night.
“They will be teaching us a class on ballet technique and creative worship,” Eidson said. “It should be interesting to see what they can offer.”
Eidson added that the dancers were all passionate and just as good at acting as they are at dancing.
Freund is hoping that more people are able to come to the show this year and enjoy the talent. She sees dance as a ministry that can speak to people in ways words cannot.
“Dance always finds a way to speak to someone’s heart in ways that words cannot always do,” Freund said. “That’s why I love to dance and perform. You never know just how much you can impact someone in the audience.”
Eidson added that there is an estimated 15 girls involved in the dance ministry this year, and she is excited to get to work with them at the recital this weekend, at “All Things New,” and for the duration of the school year.