I am an old lady, 65. I was on my church's dance team in the 90's. We pretty much had the same uniform, even the sash. On days that I was dancing I dressed my little daughters all in white and included them in the dance. It wasn't until they started holding tryouts to see if you were good enough to be on the team that I began to feel like something was off. I felt like a cheerleader for God, and I didn't like it. One poor fellow dance team member was very publicly humiliated and kicked off the team because she swayed her hips too provocatively. I felt so bad for the way she had been treated and quit the team myself shortly after. After I left, they made a new rule. Dance team members had to wear 2 bras; A regular one under a sports bra so as not to entice men with jiggling boobs!! Then my daughter got brain cancer at the age of 2 and somehow that was because of our hidden sins. When higher up people in the church had health issues or problems it was because they were so important to the kingdom that satan was trying to take them out!! And don't get me started on how we were treated when my daughter was left with lifelong profound disabilities from brain tumor surgery! I can go on and on. I am still a Christian. Jesus is my savior, but I haven't been to church in about 16 years. I get panic attacks just thinking about it.
As a black person, I find that version of hip-hop intensely hilarious Your Tik-tok reminds me of Squirrels In My Pants from Phineas and Ferb, it is hilarious but it is awesome. 8:28 Nova is there like I'm just gonna peace out now.
I grew up in a more mainstream church but with parents who were conservative for the area, and we did _not_ do dance. My mother in particular felt that artists were terrible people, and studying the arts was a route to ruin, both moral and financial. I think I ended up a musician because it was one art that was permitted in church. As an adult, I have multiple arts degrees and study dance pretty seriously, to the point that I teach occasionally as well. I hope you continue to enjoy dancing. :)
Elly, I can't express how much I appreciate what are you doing, and they way you are not afraid to be loud and proud about your journey. We are in similar age, and I also grow up in a very abusing family. My family were not fundies, not even religious, but surprisingly we have lived very similar realities. During my childhood our dad had created his own, private cult of sorts - he was the absolute authority to everything, only him knew the right way to live and act, his truth was the only truth. He kept us all very separated from the society, gaslighting us to no end, and we were prohibited of any discussion with outsiders regarding what was going on home. It all ended 10 years ago. My mom died, and after that both my sibling and dad shunned me. I am telling tou all this, because I am very grateful for you and your content! I have seen all your videos, multiple times, and it really helps me with my own healing journey. I wish you all the best ❤
I grew up being told that dancing was a sin. Now that I’m in my 50’s, I am still shamed for dancing, by my parents. In fact, because I Country Danced(2-step, Polka etc) in the opening ceremonies of the Canada Winter Games, my adopted 5 year old daughter was going to hell🤷♂️. Oddly enough…I have a nephew who owns a hip/hop studio and my parents are happy about that because he managed to convince them that hip hop was a “Christian” style of dance. I could learn from him😏
I have to say, your dog is really expressive in this video. At at least one point in there, he practically sighs, and his expression seems to say "What the hell is up with my person?"
I loved worship dance as a kid! ("Liturgical Dance" in my circles). There were a couple women in my area who would choreograph and teach these dances at different churches. There was always so much arm movement, I remember my Dad jokingly commenting "Who would have thought it possible to be so committed to dance, and also so committed to never moving your body!"
Just letting you know it is always so great to see you upload videos! I grew up similarly to you (although not as extreme, I went to public school despite my family being pressured into homeschooling for example) and your recent video about your mom made me cry. It was so moving to hear you talk about your relationship. Especially when you said your mom doesn’t remember a lot of the things from your childhood. Mine is the same way. She’s so different now than when I was growing up, and she really doesn’t remember a lot of the things she and my dad put me through. Sometimes I wish she did remember, but I love her so much and I think maybe it’s good that she doesn’t, I don’t know it’s all so complicated. Anyway, this video was very fun! And your daughter did a great job on your hair ❤ it’s so cute!
As a VHS collector, I'm delighted to see you used an EIT clip for the infamous "hippity hoppin' dance." I've been a fan of their uploads/collections for years now but this video connected something for me mentally. Both channels are talking about the trauma of fundie childhood in their own ways. EIT edits tend to amplify the bizarreness of "sunday school friendly" videos we had to watch to a fever pitch. By accentuating the creepy puppets, baffling dialogue and terrified looking child-actors in such videos to an extreme level, I feel that they are painting a more accessible picture of the exact nature of fear and confusion those videos had on us as kids. Some of their edits have helped me get past some of the terror i've felt from creepy fundie videos. I've even been able to laugh at a few😊 Thank you so much for putting so much thought into your videos also. These have helped a lot too.
Our church (evangelical presbyterian )when I was a teen (1980's) forbid dancing on grounds - someone donated moneyy for a gym for youth group activities - and they insisted no dancing in their donated building.
Omg I was part of a Christian dance program in the 2000s, and even though I didn’t enjoy going to practice, I have fond memories of those times because it was fun to dress up, make friends, and express myself through movement. My program might’ve been different than yours, but holy crap those songs and dance moves bring back so many memories!
In catholic school we sang a song “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” and when we sang the lyric “from the grave to the sky” we mimed digging??? Presumably jesus’ grave???
Were you minding digging up or digging down? Because if you were digging upwards towards heaven, I would never have been able to keep a straight face. Inside my head all I would be thinking of would be Zombie Jamboree!
@@micheledeetlefs6041 honestly I guess thats up to personal interpretation there was only time for like one digging motion hahahah but I love zombie jamboree n zombie jesus???
I love how happy you seem in this video and how you are reclaiming the good bits of your childhood. As an ex-fundie evangelical homeschooled kid myself, thank you. Giving us permission to talk about the good the bad and the ugly of our childhood is more than my own family will allow. Thank you thank you thank you
Hey Elly, sorry for not commenting on your last few personal videos. I won't bore you with the excuses. Regarding your last video: I don't have directly comparable experiences to yours, but I've struggled to connect with my mom because of her past or disagreements. We finally did reconnect, also because of external circumstances, but also I came to the similar conclusions that you did. All this to say, I think I get it and I hope it continues to be good. As for the dancing! I was in a "nondenominational" church which hadn't banned dancing, so worship dancing wasn't really a thing we talked about, but a lot of the moves you performed reminded me of some of the choreography in our Christmas show (some of which is permanently implanted in my memory). Your comment about the worship dancing spreading the Word of God, but how your homeschooling network would come, reminded me of the show too. It was an impressive show, meant to spread the Word, but the majority of our audience was already Christian! Talk about preaching to the choir!
oh so much fun! I was a teenager in the 80s when 'liturgical dance' was just entering the fundie world. at the annual 'workers conference' gathering of missionaries in the country we lived in, I performed a song to 'Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat', with a cool English nurse, whose invitation to dance with her made me feel so delighted! I remember practing with her outside, just the two of us, more than I remember the actual performace. it's a good example to me now of how meaningful and memorable being invited by an adult to do something of shared interest/ creative expression, can be for a young person. I hope to give this gift to a young woman one day (though maybe not with liturgical dance)!
I was from the Nazarenes who don't dance, lol, so this is a whole culture shock for me! Wild and fascinating, ha ha. From watching your videos, I think in most ways my upbringing was more............. progressive (it kills me to say that ha ha) but this was not one of them! The fundie's take on dancing is so wild, ha ha.
This is fascinating because as a "normal" Baptist we definitely had zero dance worship ever mentioned. But at home, I'm super grateful my mom did let me take dance classes, like you said, it's a wonderful thing to move!
Love the video! I grew up in a conservative Presbyterian Church, they certainly had nothing against dancing, but I never saw any saw any worship dancing!
I also did worship dance growing up. It was the ballet type. The only song I remember performing to was "He Reigns", which I think was originally a Newsboys song, but the version we used was sung by a bunch of kids. I don't remember anything I learned back then lol. I struggled with it sometimes (mainly with the stretches and exercises we had to do), because my body isn't very flexible. The teacher gave me a hard time about that, and made me feel really bad about it. To be honest, I think the main reason I did it was because I was kind of pushed into it by my family. I think I eventually quit because I was tired of it. EDIT: I vaguely remember that VeggieTales song. I definitely had the album it was on.
I didn’t do grow up doing worship dances, only like (not really dance) moves to remember bible verses, but I still love your energy in this video ❤️ best wishes
Oh dear, that "how great is our god" song brings back memories. When I was a teen, I did a foreign exchange to England and somehow ended up staying with a weirdly culty church preacher’s family. We definitely sang that song there. At the time I didn’t immediately realise how much was wrong with their belief system, but I remember finding out they were all kinds of -phobic, and that was the first time I heard someone openly admit to being homophobic and trying to argue with people about it if they disagreed. And try to argue their point by citing god and bible verses. Like I knew homophobia was a thing but I knew that was a bad thing, and at the time I was still fairly religious(in my home church in my country, not this one) and I couldn’t bring together this bad thing based in hate, and my god, who was good, right? I remember calling my mom crying because they said that being gay was a sin and it was in the bible and gay people were all going to hell and I just couldn’t believe that?! My then best friend was bi and I just couldn’t fathom that they would have a problem with her? Years later I know I’m queer myself, but man did that year with that family mess with my head about sexuality. They also had god channel etc running on their tv 24/7, where people would talk about all their behaviours and desires that were sinful and how they are now healed or what steps they’re taking to not be gay etc. It was a whole thing. I also later found out at least one of the families that attended the church services there did not believe in dinosaurs and evolution (the dad was also a preacher/worship leader or substitute for one if needed). They believed that cancer and depression etc were generational curses given as punishment to someone in your family generations ago, and that to be freed you needed to let them pray away the curse in some way. They also believed in demons and satan which was the first time I heard adults talk about demons as if they were real. They’d have their worship lyrics up on a screen next to the live instruments/middle-aged-guys-band, and they didn’t do communion with the little round wafers I knew from growing up catholic but they literally chopped up a few slices of bread into tiny cubes and handed out plastic shot glasses filled with grape juice (no wine bc the preacher was a sober alcoholic/ex addict but now he was saved etc etc and that was his whole thing). There were people dancing and crying in church sometimes. It was a wild ride.
I've never come across worship dance, but i did take a few workshops on dancing with prayer flags and prayer ribbons. I used to have a little booklet that explained the meaning of each flag movement (it has long since been thrown out lmao)
When you said you danced to the "how great is our god" song I literally laughed so loud because I used to sing that in church literally every weekend in the children's choir....and I was so embarrassed that I still know like all the words. And also I didn’t realize that the "costumes" my church used for the yearly Christmas play were just those bland tunics with blankets over the shoulder until you showed those pictures
Heh, I wasn't in a fundie church, but we did sometimes have worship dancing in the congregation and I enjoyed it, also with banners. We also had a dance group and made choreographies to Christian music but it wasn't this specific, it was rather modern dance/modern ballet style. The leaders of the group used to be in a semi-professional modern ballet group, so they taught us a lot of good stuff.
It's interesting that you are posting about this, as Aprilajoy and evewasframed were doing some fundie dancing when they got together a few days back...
Your dance outfits aren't colorful enough to match the Midsommer cult's outfits, but you do look a bit like Princess Leia look-alikes. Here's a true story for you. I am not only a huge fan of Renaissance festivals (I secretly played D&D behind my parents back when I was a kid in the '80s), but I'm also a huge Star Wars fan. So when I got married in the early 2000s, my wedding dress looked frighteningly like your dance outfit! I guess now I know why I was able to get it so cheaply! It was probably being mass-produced for all the fundies that were in the greater Nashville area to dance in, and I been away from the fundamentalist denomination for too long to realize it.
My university had a team of DRIME dancers--it's like a dance/mime thing that tells stories about Christianity to music and it's used for evangelism. I had a couple friends who were really involved with it.
I got to experience worship dance one summer at VBS--that was one of the options we could do. I think we had to wear white t-shirts and black shorts or pants. It wasn't a big thing at the church my family went to--we were Lutheran, so dance in church was a little too much. I also got to do some dances at family camp that I learned from a couple people who had been part of a messianic Jewish congregation. Those were a lot of fun, but the cultural appropriation was a problem. My parents didn't have issues with dancing but dance studios tended to be on the pricy side. My sister got to do tap and jazz for a couple years, and I did a couple ballet classes, but we weren't a dance family (we were a swimming and musical theatre family).
I can’t imagine that you and your Christian Dance Class could dance to Carmen in the style of the 90s Hittin’ It Hip Hop Lady. He’d be a bit too “worldly” and controversial to dance to! 😂
I can't speak for all denominations. The parochial school I went to did not have a debate team. Questioning was frowned upon. I don't think Xtians really want to dig too deep. If they did, they might come to the conclusion that it's all made up. At least that's the conclusion I and other ex evangelicals that I know came to .
Maybe they debate against what they might consider “secular” topics, like creation vs evolution. They might give the kids strawman/false facts about evolution.
Your videos are cool because, instead of just talking theology, you expose a lot of the things that are so CRINGE once you get out. It’s embarrassing stuff but you make it therapeutic.
Should be :)) not ;) after "Me, Myself, and I" as preferred pronouns, re: my last comment (not displayed by youtube yet). I was writing that I'd change my pronouns to that if I could get away with it.
I hope one day you will consider open minded Christianity and not reject all Christianity based on your experience in a fundamentalist upbringing. Visit a United Church Of Christ, a congregational, or an Anglican church.
I am an old lady, 65. I was on my church's dance team in the 90's. We pretty much had the same uniform, even the sash. On days that I was dancing I dressed my little daughters all in white and included them in the dance. It wasn't until they started holding tryouts to see if you were good enough to be on the team that I began to feel like something was off. I felt like a cheerleader for God, and I didn't like it. One poor fellow dance team member was very publicly humiliated and kicked off the team because she swayed her hips too provocatively. I felt so bad for the way she had been treated and quit the team myself shortly after. After I left, they made a new rule. Dance team members had to wear 2 bras; A regular one under a sports bra so as not to entice men with jiggling boobs!! Then my daughter got brain cancer at the age of 2 and somehow that was because of our hidden sins. When higher up people in the church had health issues or problems it was because they were so important to the kingdom that satan was trying to take them out!! And don't get me started on how we were treated when my daughter was left with lifelong profound disabilities from brain tumor surgery! I can go on and on. I am still a Christian. Jesus is my savior, but I haven't been to church in about 16 years. I get panic attacks just thinking about it.
I am so sorry you had to go through that, especially with your daughter's health and how they treated you.
As a black person, I find that version of hip-hop intensely hilarious
Your Tik-tok reminds me of Squirrels In My Pants from Phineas and Ferb, it is hilarious but it is awesome.
8:28 Nova is there like I'm just gonna peace out now.
The more RELAXED you are 🎉🎉🎉
Kinda weird the worship dance modesty standards when in the Bible king David danced nearly naked before the Lord.
Growing up Mormon, my "worship dance" experience is limited to the Electric Slide and the Hokey Pokey 😂
Ex-Mormon cheeecck 😂 same here.
Yes, putting one foot in on this.
I grew up in a more mainstream church but with parents who were conservative for the area, and we did _not_ do dance. My mother in particular felt that artists were terrible people, and studying the arts was a route to ruin, both moral and financial. I think I ended up a musician because it was one art that was permitted in church.
As an adult, I have multiple arts degrees and study dance pretty seriously, to the point that I teach occasionally as well.
I hope you continue to enjoy dancing. :)
Thank you for sharing that and I'm glad you were able to love art fully
I am so happy you were able to break free and have art in your life!
Elly, I can't express how much I appreciate what are you doing, and they way you are not afraid to be loud and proud about your journey.
We are in similar age, and I also grow up in a very abusing family. My family were not fundies, not even religious, but surprisingly we have lived very similar realities. During my childhood our dad had created his own, private cult of sorts - he was the absolute authority to everything, only him knew the right way to live and act, his truth was the only truth. He kept us all very separated from the society, gaslighting us to no end, and we were prohibited of any discussion with outsiders regarding what was going on home. It all ended 10 years ago. My mom died, and after that both my sibling and dad shunned me.
I am telling tou all this, because I am very grateful for you and your content! I have seen all your videos, multiple times, and it really helps me with my own healing journey. I wish you all the best ❤
I hope you’re in a better place. As a Former Fundamentalist myself, it takes a lot of time to heal, but the growth is absolutely worth it! ❤
I hope you are safe and happy. Private cults are terrifying…so many secrets. You are so much more than that part of your life.
I grew up being told that dancing was a sin. Now that I’m in my 50’s, I am still shamed for dancing, by my parents. In fact, because I Country Danced(2-step, Polka etc) in the opening ceremonies of the Canada Winter Games, my adopted 5 year old daughter was going to hell🤷♂️. Oddly enough…I have a nephew who owns a hip/hop studio and my parents are happy about that because he managed to convince them that hip hop was a “Christian” style of dance. I could learn from him😏
I tried to show VeggieTales to my niece, and she started crying lol
I have to say, your dog is really expressive in this video. At at least one point in there, he practically sighs, and his expression seems to say "What the hell is up with my person?"
Even though I didn't grow up fundie I find these videos oddly nostalgic.
I loved worship dance as a kid! ("Liturgical Dance" in my circles). There were a couple women in my area who would choreograph and teach these dances at different churches. There was always so much arm movement, I remember my Dad jokingly commenting "Who would have thought it possible to be so committed to dance, and also so committed to never moving your body!"
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Midsommar if you don't think watching it would be too triggering for you.
The closed captions say "my friends from Moana" hehe 😅 love that ! I know it's Awana (spelling?) that homeschool group
For me it was "tree climbers"
Just letting you know it is always so great to see you upload videos! I grew up similarly to you (although not as extreme, I went to public school despite my family being pressured into homeschooling for example) and your recent video about your mom made me cry. It was so moving to hear you talk about your relationship. Especially when you said your mom doesn’t remember a lot of the things from your childhood. Mine is the same way. She’s so different now than when I was growing up, and she really doesn’t remember a lot of the things she and my dad put me through. Sometimes I wish she did remember, but I love her so much and I think maybe it’s good that she doesn’t, I don’t know it’s all so complicated.
Anyway, this video was very fun! And your daughter did a great job on your hair ❤ it’s so cute!
It means a lot to have someone understand! Thank you for sharing ❤️
As a VHS collector, I'm delighted to see you used an EIT clip for the infamous "hippity hoppin' dance." I've been a fan of their uploads/collections for years now but this video connected something for me mentally. Both channels are talking about the trauma of fundie childhood in their own ways. EIT edits tend to amplify the bizarreness of "sunday school friendly" videos we had to watch to a fever pitch. By accentuating the creepy puppets, baffling dialogue and terrified looking child-actors in such videos to an extreme level, I feel that they are painting a more accessible picture of the exact nature of fear and confusion those videos had on us as kids. Some of their edits have helped me get past some of the terror i've felt from creepy fundie videos. I've even been able to laugh at a few😊
Thank you so much for putting so much thought into your videos also. These have helped a lot too.
Our church (evangelical presbyterian )when I was a teen (1980's) forbid dancing on grounds - someone donated moneyy for a gym for youth group activities - and they insisted no dancing in their donated building.
Omg I was part of a Christian dance program in the 2000s, and even though I didn’t enjoy going to practice, I have fond memories of those times because it was fun to dress up, make friends, and express myself through movement. My program might’ve been different than yours, but holy crap those songs and dance moves bring back so many memories!
In catholic school we sang a song “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” and when we sang the lyric “from the grave to the sky” we mimed digging??? Presumably jesus’ grave???
Were you minding digging up or digging down? Because if you were digging upwards towards heaven, I would never have been able to keep a straight face. Inside my head all I would be thinking of would be Zombie Jamboree!
@@micheledeetlefs6041 honestly I guess thats up to personal interpretation there was only time for like one digging motion hahahah but I love zombie jamboree n zombie jesus???
Oh yes, and make a cross with your arms!
You should totally see Midsommar! It is a powerful commentary on the dangers of closed,inflexible beliefs and isolation.
I love how happy you seem in this video and how you are reclaiming the good bits of your childhood. As an ex-fundie evangelical homeschooled kid myself, thank you. Giving us permission to talk about the good the bad and the ugly of our childhood is more than my own family will allow. Thank you thank you thank you
I love that we've been seeing so much more of you lately 🥰
Hey Elly, sorry for not commenting on your last few personal videos. I won't bore you with the excuses.
Regarding your last video: I don't have directly comparable experiences to yours, but I've struggled to connect with my mom because of her past or disagreements. We finally did reconnect, also because of external circumstances, but also I came to the similar conclusions that you did. All this to say, I think I get it and I hope it continues to be good.
As for the dancing! I was in a "nondenominational" church which hadn't banned dancing, so worship dancing wasn't really a thing we talked about, but a lot of the moves you performed reminded me of some of the choreography in our Christmas show (some of which is permanently implanted in my memory). Your comment about the worship dancing spreading the Word of God, but how your homeschooling network would come, reminded me of the show too. It was an impressive show, meant to spread the Word, but the majority of our audience was already Christian! Talk about preaching to the choir!
oh so much fun! I was a teenager in the 80s when 'liturgical dance' was just entering the fundie world. at the annual 'workers conference' gathering of missionaries in the country we lived in, I performed a song to 'Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat', with a cool English nurse, whose invitation to dance with her made me feel so delighted! I remember practing with her outside, just the two of us, more than I remember the actual performace. it's a good example to me now of how meaningful and memorable being invited by an adult to do something of shared interest/ creative expression, can be for a young person. I hope to give this gift to a young woman one day (though maybe not with liturgical dance)!
I was from the Nazarenes who don't dance, lol, so this is a whole culture shock for me! Wild and fascinating, ha ha. From watching your videos, I think in most ways my upbringing was more............. progressive (it kills me to say that ha ha) but this was not one of them! The fundie's take on dancing is so wild, ha ha.
This is fascinating because as a "normal" Baptist we definitely had zero dance worship ever mentioned. But at home, I'm super grateful my mom did let me take dance classes, like you said, it's a wonderful thing to move!
I find this fascinating. I had no idea that "worship dance" existed, let alone was organised enough to have dance schools specifically for it!
“No one owes their parents a relationship simply because they’re your parents”
😭😭😭 you remembered 😭😭😭
I feel so seen
(Sorry, also re: earlier vid)
Love the video! I grew up in a conservative Presbyterian Church, they certainly had nothing against dancing, but I never saw any saw any worship dancing!
I also did worship dance growing up. It was the ballet type. The only song I remember performing to was "He Reigns", which I think was originally a Newsboys song, but the version we used was sung by a bunch of kids. I don't remember anything I learned back then lol.
I struggled with it sometimes (mainly with the stretches and exercises we had to do), because my body isn't very flexible. The teacher gave me a hard time about that, and made me feel really bad about it.
To be honest, I think the main reason I did it was because I was kind of pushed into it by my family. I think I eventually quit because I was tired of it.
EDIT: I vaguely remember that VeggieTales song. I definitely had the album it was on.
I didn’t do grow up doing worship dances, only like (not really dance) moves to remember bible verses, but I still love your energy in this video ❤️
best wishes
Oh dear, that "how great is our god" song brings back memories. When I was a teen, I did a foreign exchange to England and somehow ended up staying with a weirdly culty church preacher’s family. We definitely sang that song there.
At the time I didn’t immediately realise how much was wrong with their belief system, but I remember finding out they were all kinds of -phobic, and that was the first time I heard someone openly admit to being homophobic and trying to argue with people about it if they disagreed. And try to argue their point by citing god and bible verses. Like I knew homophobia was a thing but I knew that was a bad thing, and at the time I was still fairly religious(in my home church in my country, not this one) and I couldn’t bring together this bad thing based in hate, and my god, who was good, right? I remember calling my mom crying because they said that being gay was a sin and it was in the bible and gay people were all going to hell and I just couldn’t believe that?! My then best friend was bi and I just couldn’t fathom that they would have a problem with her? Years later I know I’m queer myself, but man did that year with that family mess with my head about sexuality. They also had god channel etc running on their tv 24/7, where people would talk about all their behaviours and desires that were sinful and how they are now healed or what steps they’re taking to not be gay etc. It was a whole thing.
I also later found out at least one of the families that attended the church services there did not believe in dinosaurs and evolution (the dad was also a preacher/worship leader or substitute for one if needed). They believed that cancer and depression etc were generational curses given as punishment to someone in your family generations ago, and that to be freed you needed to let them pray away the curse in some way. They also believed in demons and satan which was the first time I heard adults talk about demons as if they were real.
They’d have their worship lyrics up on a screen next to the live instruments/middle-aged-guys-band, and they didn’t do communion with the little round wafers I knew from growing up catholic but they literally chopped up a few slices of bread into tiny cubes and handed out plastic shot glasses filled with grape juice (no wine bc the preacher was a sober alcoholic/ex addict but now he was saved etc etc and that was his whole thing). There were people dancing and crying in church sometimes. It was a wild ride.
I've never come across worship dance, but i did take a few workshops on dancing with prayer flags and prayer ribbons. I used to have a little booklet that explained the meaning of each flag movement (it has long since been thrown out lmao)
Now these songs are stuck in my head, and probably will be all day 😂. The things I want to forget the most will probably be the last memories left
i lost it at the "throw your ass in a dodecagon" one
When you said you danced to the "how great is our god" song I literally laughed so loud because I used to sing that in church literally every weekend in the children's choir....and I was so embarrassed that I still know like all the words. And also I didn’t realize that the "costumes" my church used for the yearly Christmas play were just those bland tunics with blankets over the shoulder until you showed those pictures
OMG, I'm so sorry that this is taking up space in your head! 😆
Haha thanks! It pops into my consciousness at the most random times too 😂
Heh, I wasn't in a fundie church, but we did sometimes have worship dancing in the congregation and I enjoyed it, also with banners. We also had a dance group and made choreographies to Christian music but it wasn't this specific, it was rather modern dance/modern ballet style. The leaders of the group used to be in a semi-professional modern ballet group, so they taught us a lot of good stuff.
the hand gestures with what youre saying is top tier
It's interesting that you are posting about this, as Aprilajoy and evewasframed were doing some fundie dancing when they got together a few days back...
Your dance outfits aren't colorful enough to match the Midsommer cult's outfits, but you do look a bit like Princess Leia look-alikes. Here's a true story for you. I am not only a huge fan of Renaissance festivals (I secretly played D&D behind my parents back when I was a kid in the '80s), but I'm also a huge Star Wars fan. So when I got married in the early 2000s, my wedding dress looked frighteningly like your dance outfit! I guess now I know why I was able to get it so cheaply! It was probably being mass-produced for all the fundies that were in the greater Nashville area to dance in, and I been away from the fundamentalist denomination for too long to realize it.
I really love your voice
Hello it’s great to see another upload from you!
Lovely voice 😊 thanks for singing for us
The christmas veggie tales song 😅💗 definitely just remembered that lol also the how great is our God dance
My university had a team of DRIME dancers--it's like a dance/mime thing that tells stories about Christianity to music and it's used for evangelism. I had a couple friends who were really involved with it.
I got to experience worship dance one summer at VBS--that was one of the options we could do. I think we had to wear white t-shirts and black shorts or pants. It wasn't a big thing at the church my family went to--we were Lutheran, so dance in church was a little too much. I also got to do some dances at family camp that I learned from a couple people who had been part of a messianic Jewish congregation. Those were a lot of fun, but the cultural appropriation was a problem. My parents didn't have issues with dancing but dance studios tended to be on the pricy side. My sister got to do tap and jazz for a couple years, and I did a couple ballet classes, but we weren't a dance family (we were a swimming and musical theatre family).
Much love Elly!! ❤
You have a very pretty singing voice!
Yay 😀 for going viral!! ❤❤❤
We didn't do full on dance numbers, but we did hand motions to some of the worship songs.
Love this vid Elly!
I can’t imagine that you and your Christian Dance Class could dance to Carmen in the style of the 90s Hittin’ It Hip Hop Lady. He’d be a bit too “worldly” and controversial to dance to! 😂
no offense but what does the christian debate team debate? different interpretations of the bible?
I'm curious, too, since fundamentalist religions don't generally encourage questioning
I can't speak for all denominations. The parochial school I went to did not have a debate team. Questioning was frowned upon. I don't think Xtians really want to dig too deep. If they did, they might come to the conclusion that it's all made up. At least that's the conclusion I and other ex evangelicals that I know came to .
Maybe they debate against what they might consider “secular” topics, like creation vs evolution. They might give the kids strawman/false facts about evolution.
Fundie Homeschool Debate Clubs
That looks very cultic!!!!!
OMG YOU LIKE KHADIJAH MBOWE TOO?!?! (Commenting here since comments closed on earlier video) 😁
Your videos are cool because, instead of just talking theology, you expose a lot of the things that are so CRINGE once you get out. It’s embarrassing stuff but you make it therapeutic.
Good grief you have a good voice.
The worship dance looks like something that would be taught in a Christian private kindergarten
This song is triggering. I do remember this.
Is it just me of did that worship song sound a little bit like "Stairway to Heaven?"
The tunics are ok, but the context in which they wore them, of course, was bad: via cult. Dana was the hip hop GOAT! May do a reaction video on it.
How ‘bout Tango?😁
Should be :)) not ;) after "Me, Myself, and I" as preferred pronouns, re: my last comment (not displayed by youtube yet). I was writing that I'd change my pronouns to that if I could get away with it.
I kinda find worship dance pretty 😅
I hope one day you will consider open minded Christianity and not reject all Christianity based on your experience in a fundamentalist upbringing. Visit a United Church Of Christ, a congregational, or an Anglican church.