That's Art?

I tend to be moved by strange forms of art. In the last post, I mentioned Jeff Smith and the impact he had in my life's journey. Jeff Smith is founder of Salt and Light Ministries, a drama ministry that focused on the creative arts utilizing some fairly unique "props" and movement to create movement. One of the props Jeff uses are dowel rod sticks that he choreographs with movement to interpret lyrics of songs. One of the favorites is the song "Arise My Love" by Newsong. Jeff also incorporates sign language and hand movements as interpretation to songs as well.

At the time I met Jeff, I was a drama director in a church. I had many people who wanted to be involved, but quite frankly, couldn't act. Discovering Jeff's movement ministry allowed me the opportunity to work with people of all ages and levels of comfort who had never once stood on a stage before that time. These people began to discover giftings and talents they never knew they had; and for me, that was the most rewarding part of being a leader in that minsitry.

As for the audience's/congregation's response to this movement? Many didn't recognize it as an art form, but many were moved and affected by experiencing it. After performing "Arise My Love" during a weekend worship service in which we cast teenagers to perform, many people came up afterward to state they were amazed something as simple as dowel rods painted white could tell that powerful of a story. I still have people who tell of instances where they hear the song and are quickly brought back to the visual of seeing it during that worship service. It was during this time, our members of worship ministries traveled to Ukraine to perform in different churches. We performed "Arise My Love" and other selections. The beauty of performing movement negated the need to translate the words of the songs into Ukranian. The people of Ukraine could clearly understand the message we trying to convey -- a universal message of hope and love.

My encounter with Jeff Smith taught me valuable lessons about what is considered art and who is an artist. In the next post, I wrestle with excellence in art and peformance.