By Karen Alecho & Aaron Sseruyigo
In the 1970s there were only a few churches and Christian organisations in Uganda that fully embraced dance as a way of expressing worship or evangelism; in fact, most churches regarded it as ‘quite inappropriate.’
Dance, although a part of faith expression in the Bible, had virtually been lost in the Church for years; people began associating it with secular entertainment or difficult-to-interpret culture.
However, in 2009, an energetic group of gifted Christian dancers emerged with the desire to minister to the body of Christ and the heart of God through creative expressions.
As an artistic collective group based at Watoto Church, Kampala, Clay Dance Company has till this day maintained focus on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and setting captives free!
The group has made special arrangements to celebrate their 10 year milestone with two shows on 14th July, 2019 at The National Theatre – at 5pm and 7pm.
“Clay Dance Company was started by people who wanted to give an every day dancer a platform to grow their skill and refine it, and provide training for them. 10 years has been a journey we started off as contemporary dancers, but now we are versatile. The numbers too have grown and for the 10 year celebration, we have 70 people that are a part the production,” Clay Dance Company’s coordinator Lillian Allyinza said during an exclusive interview with Uganda Christian News.
“The stories in our pieces for that day are about people in Clay dance and their everyday stories with about 4 characters. One of the characters is a girl who will dancing as a character but her personal story is she testifies to letting go of her addiction to masturbating and dancing consistently helped her break loose,” she added.
The group creates dance movement that is like clay in God’s hands, to be moulded into any of several genres of dance.
While they had their roots in contemporary modern dance, Clay Dance Co. has evolved to learn an array of dances and continues to search and develop new dance styles most importantly in the area of Christian worship.
“Every time I dance, I am praying to God to restore joy, peace,” Lillian said.
She joined Clay Dance in August 2013 after watching a dance piece titled ”Your Grace” during a church service.
“It captured my mind. So, I walked up to the leadership, talked to them and I joined. In 2016 I was asked to join the leadership and it’s were I discovered my purpose,” Lillian explained.
Clay Dance Company will use various styles of dance to reach different groups of people. Hip-hop, contemporary and R&B styles are popular with the younger generation today. Often times, the message carried is not so much in the words of the song as in the life and energy of the dancers.
“Dance is very powerful. It’s a tool that God has given us to capture hearts to Christ, and for people to see the Light,” Lillian Allyinza remarked.
To join Clay Dance Company, Lillian Allyinza told Uganda Christian News one must be born-again, and should present a letter from a church to whose leadership they submit. If the individual is from Watoto, all they need is to have a cell they attend regularly.
“In any group, people differ. God usually calls out one person to be a doctor, and the other a teacher: but basically the purpose is personal for every single person which also calls for excellency. We have to labor to fight hard to bring out perfection. The spiritual and the physical are a balance which we really push for through practice to bring our absolute best,” Lillian said.
Adding: “As a group a lot of support has come from Watoto. They have given us a platform where there is freedom to impact the youths. The Church has given us [ministry opportunities], workshops for training and uniforms.”
Lillian says the upcoming event will be the ‘most memorable moment’ for the team.
It started as a dream, she said. Early bird tickets go for Ush25,000 and Ush40,000 at the entrance.
“Our theme [for the production] was got from a piece we did at the Batalo Fest last year, that gave them inspiration to produce our show this year in plan to have the 10 year celebration.”
Batalo East was formed to build a bridge between traditional and urban dance, encouraging young people and dancers to value and incorporate traditional African art forms into their lives and artistry alongside their development as global citizens and artists on the international stage.
In her concluding remarks, Lillian stated that as much as ‘dance is life,’ participants should be mentored in more angles of life than dance.
This production will be presented in partnership with: Stichting DOEN, Uganda National Cultural Centre, Alliance Française Kampala, Nassie’z Catering Services and Power 104.1 FM.
