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About SonLight Dance Prayer-in-Motion and Soul to Sole Choreography
SonLight Dance began in 1994 under the direction of Mary Margaret Bawden. The name for SonLight came from John 12:35-36 "The man who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going; put your trust in the light while you have it so that you may become Sons-of-Light." Alongside the dance program, the Soul to Sole Choreography guide for Christian Dance Ministry began to develop. God revealed His heart to include dance ministry foundation, leadership, choreography tools, the 6 step choreography method, and the rehearsal process. A book is currently being written to share this information.
SonLight Dance was formed as a California nonprofit charitable trust in the Fall of 2003 and is recognized as tax exempt by the Internal Revenue Service and California Franchise Tax Board. SonLight Dance Prayer-in-Motion [aka Soul to Sole Choreography] is a member of the National Christian Dance Fellowship and the Sacred Dance Guild.
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Prayer
The Soul to Sole Choreography Methods and SonLight Dance Prayer-in-Motion need prayer for guidance that we might seek the Lord's will, funds to enable us to complete the work He has given us, and wisdom to discern God's plan for ministry using movement.
Opportunities
Members of the Non-Profit Ministry are available to participate in church services, chapel or devotions, in weekend retreats or conferences, to lead workshops for congregations, for children, men and women, and family workshops where all ages participate. Contact Mary Margaret Bawden at 909-793-8925 or SonLightDance@cs.com.
Funding
There is no fee for SonLight Dance, but any love offering is received with thanksgiving to God. To support SonLight Dance Prayer-in-Motion, send checks to "Soul to Sole Choreography",300 E. State Street,Suite 430, Redlands, California 92373. Checks should be made out to Soul to Sole Choreography.
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About the Director
Mary Margaret Bawden felt God call her into prayer-in-motion at fifteen years of age soon after she asked Jesus into her heart as her personal Savior. Although highly trained in ballet, she found herself attracted to the varied choreographic approaches found in modern dance. As a result, she received a B.A. in modern dance from UC Riverside in 1975; for a short time after graduation, she became the dance instructor for Crafton College as well as Mt. San Jacinto Jr. College in the Southern California area.The arrival of her 3 children in 1976, 1978 and 1981 followed and changed her priorities in movement until her children grew older.
Throughout the years, opportunities to use prayer-in-motion continued to open up as God led. At first, Mary was used as a soloist to introduce motion prayer into church settings as worship. Later, she taught creative movement and worship for children ages K-6 in a summer arts program called Creative University. She also wrote a Sunday School curriculum for children K-6 which she was asked to teach at the National Christian Dance Conference. In 1994, Mary was encouraged to develop a movement ministry called SonLight [taken from John 12:35-36] "The man who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going; put your trust in the light while you have it so that you may become sons-of-light." Soon after the start of SonLight came the development of 3 movements groups. SonLight I is a group of believers with no formal dance training. SonLight II is a group of believers with formal dance training beyond a beginning level. SonLight III is a group of children from the 4th to the 8th grade who have formal training in dance studios.
Soul to Sole Choreography has placed in the non-professional finalist category of the highly acclaimed 'Festival of the Stars' choreography festival held in Palm Springs at the McCallum Theatre in both 2002, 2003 and 2004. Shea New, the founder/director of the festival, stated that the choice for the fall festival finalists was 'difficult due to the overwhelming amount of quality talent submitted.' Choreography finalists included entries from Argentina, Florida, Texas, New York, Arizona, Nevada, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. In the summer of 2003, Mary taught a workshop on choreography for the National Sacred Dance Guild Conference. In 2004, Mary presented an evening session on Soul to Sole Choreography at the annual CAHPERD dance workshop held at Lake Tahoe in July. Further, Mary taught choregraphy at the nationally known Saddleback Worship Conference in 2005 and 2006. In the summer of 2006, Mary was a keynote speaker and teacher at "Raise the Barre" Christian Dance Conference in San Diego, California.
In Redlands, California, God has used Mary's love of prayer-in-motion to design scripture for women's Bible studies and church services; she has also had over 10 years of involvement with the choreography for the Children's Christmas musicals at her home church. The musicals involved from 50-100 children annually. Since 1995, the majority of Mary's time using movement skills have focused on the direction of SonLight I, SonLight II, and SonLight III. During this time, Mary has had the joy of developing a movement curriculum called 'Soul to Sole Choreography: Practical Ways to Develop and Evaluate Church Dance Ministry for Leaders & Pastors.' Part of this curriculum shares how God has given her a vision to structure movement groups so that everyone can learn how to choreograph with or without a movement background. In 2006, Mary received a Master of Arts in Worship with an emphasis in dance from Hope International University in Fullerton, California.
From Mary's point of view, prayer-in-motion must be purposeful and conceptually clear. Her background includes a California secondary and junior college teaching credential as well as over 15 years as an inductive Bible study leader. She has been involved with Bible Study Fellowship, Kay Arthur's Precepts Bible Studies as well as the biblical studies designed by Elizabeth Inrig at Trinity Evangelical Church in Redlands, CA where Mary and her husband Richard attend.
Mary has a love for the medium of dance that transcends its visual beauty. She sees dance as a metaphor for the movement that we use to choregraph daily life.It is her hope that the picture she presents in prayer-in-motion might clarify how we should move through life with prayer not only on our lips but through our actions.
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| Trinity Evangelical Free Church |
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| Christian Dance Fellowship USA |
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Contact Soul to Sole Choreography
We would love to hear from you. Please send your comments or questions using the form below. Also use the form below if you would like to be added to Soul to Sole Choreography mailing list.
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