Dancing from Heaven

So as a quick update to my camera situation;

Last week, I received a complete blessing from an old friend who decided to help me out and rent a camera for me for that week!

This week, I got a call about my camera, it’ll cost nearly $300 in repairs and cleaning, but it’ll be back with me in 1-2 weeks! The lens was sent back immediately. Because Canon no longer produces that specific lens, they don’t service it, but I thank God for a wonderful boyfriend who has found the necessary parts to replace what broke and is going to help me fix it, so I sent that off to him this last week!

I haven’t been able to take very many pictures for this past month, so I’m going to tell the story of somebody I got to meet during my first week here!

I love photographing dancers. Over the past couple years, I’ve been planning out a project and trying to communicate with some dancers that I know to capture their grace and strength combined with the beautiful landscapes of Colorado. I haven’t started that project yet, but I’m definitely going to next summer! If you’re a ballet dancer in Colorado please contact elizabeth.mae9875@gmail.com to get in touch with me!

This is Alyssa Thompson

She is a ballet dancer from Minnesota and currently in the School of Dance Studies with Youth With A Mission. This school is based off typical university dance schools studying things such as Dance History, Anatomy, Production, as well as Bible Overview. 

They also do ballet technique, modern, and jazz dancing in their rehearsals. They participate in six months of lecture followed by a two month outreach; successfully combining the art of dance with the power of ministry.

I have always wanted to use my talents to glorify God. I remember a couple years back in church that I approached our connections pastor, Terry Hilgers, and told him “I feel like I need to give my photography to God and let Him use it. How can I start giving that to Him here in the church?” So I got involved with the youth group. I started taking pictures of events in the church and went on retreats to take pictures. There’s so much to be gained by giving your talents to God.

Alyssa had the same mindset. she told me that she “love[s] choreographing, knowing that as [she is] creating, [she is] also partnering with God in bring some ideas from Heaven into this world.”

She didn’t initially choose dance, her parents signed her up when she was 5, but now, she says she is so grateful they did. Dance has become such a huge part of Alyssa’s life.

I only knew her for that one crazy moment out in the pouring rain when I ran past her and her friends dancing in the rain. I ran back to my room, grabbed my camera, and sprinted back and started snapping pictures. I got to pull Alyssa off to take some more pictures without cars and such in the background and got some beautiful images!

Like dancers, we can all use our gifts to glorify God, wither it’s in film, photography, sound engineering, music, athletics, teaching, anything and everything we do was created by Him, so anything can be used to serve Him. This is exactly what I’m doing with my photography. And this week, God revealed to me something that I will pursue in the future with my photography.

I have ambitions to start an internship program, it would be a year and a half long starting at the beginning of summer before senior year and will go until they leave for college. During this time, they will be learning photography, video, design, leadership, management. At the start of the next summer, before they leave for college, I’ll take on another intern, and the previous one will get the opportunity for the last few months of their time to practice what they’ve learned.

I have a calling for doing photography, and I also have a calling to teach, so the ability to combine those two makes me even more excited to get home and start building up a business!

But for now, I’m a month away from outreach, and we’ve still got 5 more weeks of lecture! It’s all going by so fast!