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Crosscurrents

Dancing in church, a new kind of praise

Leila Day

In some churches when the music starts, so does the praise dancing.

Dancers stand near the choir or the pulpit and perform choreographed routines that mix ballet, modern, and jazz. They are often young girls, who practice every movement and their focus is to praise.

Their movements sometimes literally interpret the songs. Churchgoers watch on sometimes nodding, clapping, sometimes looking a little annoyed at the spectacle of dancing in church.

At the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Palo Alto, instructor Jamila Wright leads a rehearsal for young praise dancers.

Click the audio player above to hear the full piece.

Crosscurrents
Leila Day is a Senior Producer at Pineapple Street Media and is the Executive Producer and co-host of The Stoop Podcast, stories about the black diaspora. Her work has been featured on NPR, 99% Invisible, the BBC as well as other outlets. Before The Stoop, she was an editor at Al Jazeera's podcast network and worked on creating and editing award winning narrative driven journalism. She began her career in journalism at KALW where she worked as a health care and criminal justice reporter. During that time she contributed as an editor, taught audio storytelling to inmates at San Quentin, and helped develop curriculum for training upcoming reporters.