Dancing between the Pews: Liturgical Choreographers on Their Faith in Dance

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After Kathleen S. Turner graduated from Purchase College's dance program choreographers were interested in her. Yet she found herself in the frustrating position of always making it to the final round but never getting hired. In 1978, she auditioned for a job she really wanted. In the end, it came down to Turner and a fellow Purchase classmate. "They couldn't decide which one of us to choose but could only hire one, and they took Fran," remembers Turner.

Turner left that audition filled with doubts about her life's purpose. At the depth of her depression she even considered suicide. But, though she wasn't very religious, something led her to call her childhood piano teacher, a close family friend and member of the church she grew up in. She talked with the teacher and then with the church pastor.

"Within an hour, I was saved," Turner remembers. "I went to dance class that afternoon and it was the best I'd ever had. I danced with more joy because I had offered my gift to God."

Not everyone who works in this niche where dance and prayer meet have entered it as dramatically. But all are …