By Lillian Aliyinza
Life is Good!.What can we give back to god, save for a good dance. December 2018; Photo by Watoto Church
The psalmist in Psalms 116:12 said
What can I give back to God
for the blessings He’s poured out on me (us)?
I’ll (we’ll) lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll (we’ll) pray in the name of God;
I’ll (we’ll) complete what I(we) promised God I’d (we’d) do,
and I’ll (we’ll) do it together with his people.
What a season and a year to celebrate the goodness of the Lord through the ministry He as entrusted to us with. For the people that joined us this year thank you for coming, we bless God that you did for the puzzle was made perfect because you came. For the people that have been around through the years, we thank you for staying. You have given this puzzle the various shapes. To the ancestors, you are the hard board on which Jesus laid the foundations of this amazing dance ministry.
CLAY Dance Show Case Sept 2009: L-R Barbara, Julio-Bradley, Ernest, Nicholas, Catherine, Cmo, Edna, Florence, Jessica, Aziza, Michael and Sarah. choreography by Drew
Some of the original members of CLAY Dance Co. L-R, David Jessica Mumford, Cmo Atuha and Joanne; looking like the original cast of Wakanda. Taken December 2010.
2018 has been such a great year; we thank God for the leadership of the church that has continually given us the resources and believed in the facts that dance is worship that does impact lives.
We kicked off the year with a great workshop facilitated by our friends from Soul Expressions. They took us back to our roots of contemporary dance. We learned rolls that boy or boy we have really utilized the entire year.
Watoto Church then launched Sisterhood to which we (mostly the ladies from CLAY) privileged to be a part of, performing, Pieces as well as Different Drums. This turned out to be a tour over the next 2 months that went to Watoto Church Gulu, Worship Harvest Naalya and the Makerere University Norwegian Dance Festival. This was an amazing experience as the abundance of the women of CLAY Dance has always been a given , we asked God for some men, and they came in droves, droves so many that we could not contain them. For all the men that signed up, returned, or decided not to take a break this year, we celebrate you as well.
Different Drums: Watoto Sisterhood
For the first time we understood why God has blessed us with numbers as we were able to do a split rotation. Thanks to the amazing gifts of Michelle and Karen who choreographed “LOYAL, done over 4 Sundays in 2 teams. What a blessing it was. We were also able to share this dance with the special needs awareness day organized by the Mukisa Foundation where our Sarah Ampumuza works. The special needs experience really challenged us as we experienced children with special needs enjoying dance to the fullest and yet us being full and able bodied, many at times give excuses of how we cannot dance because it is “hard” or it is not “my dance genre” It showed us that if God made us whole then we can’t afford to return to him, a half-baked and lame sacrifice.
Easter came along and the dancing angels (in white, oh how that color follows us everywhere) showed up to convey the resurrected power of Christ which does live in each one of us. Sometime in June, Power, Sex and Money (PSM) held a panel discussion on Arts & culture featuring our team leader Duncan Roy Kawooya. CLAY Dance shared in that experience with the dance “Joy”.
Anne, Vero, Lydia, Martha and Vanessa all expressing pure joy!
We are forever grateful for the partnership that has grown with the Batalo East team who gave us an opportunity to be part of the Batalo Dance Festival this year where we danced a piece titled “Rend Your Heart” which was birthed in Joel 2 and depicted the struggles we all go through, telling the story of how the enemy can use that opportunity to come in and put us down but then eventually the light of Jesus shines forth and redeems us from the enemy’s fangs. This dance reminded us that there is no place; our Lord would not go to rescue you. We were honored to share this story again at Power FM Presents in September. We are grateful to Andrew Amanyire for having taken the role of project Manager and lead choreographer for our submission to Batalo Fest 2018 and to Batalo East, for the monthly equations from which we continuously grow. Furthermore they selected two of us (Mijumbi Lydia and Andrew Amanyire) to be part of the MUDA Dance 2018 Exchange programme that was held in Tanzania, and they ably represented us.
Ace Amanyire with the Batalo East Team at the MUDA Dance 2018 Exchange in Tanzania
God has taught us over the years that all that we do should exude His love for people and we were honored to be part of a dance outreach alongside our friends from VTC Dance Crew from The City Church in Luzira who did an outreach in Kilombe, that involved a joint community cleaning up, collected “praise worthy” items inclusive of bags, shoes, clothes and others that we gave away as we danced and shared the gospel. Many people gave their lives to Jesus, enjoyed lots of dance and even experienced a stampede…..but that’s a story for another day.
Clay Dance’s Karen at the outreach in Kilombe
This year has seen us take a leap as God launched us into the corporate world. We were honored to be part of the launch of two big projects in two big companies. First was URA where they launched “All hands on Deck” where we did a stomp dance to help raise awareness about an internal campaign they were having during April 2018. Second was NSSF “Hi Innovator” launch, for which we did flash mob codenamed “teamwork”. We truly thank God for such amazing opportunities and we believe that this is just the beginning of the amazing territories He is taking us to because He says that wherever the sole of your feet step there you shall take possession.
the gang at the launch of NSFF’s Hi Innovator Program; L-R; Namata, Maria, Mercy .W., Barbara, Vero, Jose, Patricia Mercy .I., Lydia, Trem, Emma-Hark, Prima, Mugi, Mij, Bella, Lillian, Karen, Hizzy, Ruth, Brandon, Joanne, Milky, Byron ansd Anna
We once dreamt that Clay Dance would go viral and well we are living our dreams. We officially went international first by being part of the launch of the Global Dance Network in Uganda which was facilitated by our very own Solomon Mugabi and Catherine Nakaweesa alongside the Carol Smolek from Global Dance Network. The international appeal didn’t stop there; as we were part of the Nsiimye tour as Sandra Suubi launched her album “Nsiimye” for which we did feature on her interview with CNN as she shared her story.
Clay Dance at Sandra Suubi Nsiimye Tour. Photo by RytahUg
As the winds of blessings blew on, they sent us Shafik our longtime friend and Kate Stoddard, the dance team leader at Hillsong Church Australia. Shafik has an amazing warm up that am sure we cannot forget but he taught us body awareness and how to play around with the three (insert word) of dance (Space, time and insert word). Kate on the other hand took us to the “foreign land” of ballet and this greatly improved our technique. We are absolutely grateful to the both of them.
Our very own Daniel Iterera had his nuptials with the love of his life Daisy and we know that many more are coming to us. Clay Dance was very ably represented at the Miss Uganda 2018 where our very own Kwagala Lynette walked away with the Miss Uganda-Central crown. We congratulate and celebrate the both of them.
As we continue along we draw aspiration from our friends at Vizuri Dance Crew and The Bravas who had amazing concerts, Tonsindika and 7 Stories, for which we both were privileged to be a part of.
CLAY Dance at the 7 Stories Concert by the Bravaz. L-R: Duncan, Anna, Vero, Daphine-Series, Prima, Mij, Namatah and Ace
The bible says He crowns the year with His goodness as we celebrate the biggest gift to humanity, the gift of Jesus as told through music and dance. We have been preparing and we are excited for what Jesus is about to do in and through us. We pray that God will use us afresh to do just that which He wants to do. We are priviedged to be a part of the annual Watoto Church Christmas Cantata; Perfect Light, which this year marks its 35th run, and we are thankful to God for allowing us to be a part of a congregation with such amazing talent.
Dancers from the Song Perfect Light: Head Choreographer Andrew Ace (et al) Photo by Watoto Church
Ruth, Lillian, Jean-claire Barbara, Namata, Mercy & Solome: Photo by Duncan Roy
Miraculum; Head Choreographer- kate Stoddard; Photo By Watoto Church
T-256’s Jeremiah Kenneth in all team song- Jesus is; Photo by Watoto Church
Cathy, towering above our lovely Comfort in silent night; Photo by Watoto Church
Miraculum; Choreohpahy By Kate Stoddard & others; Photo by Watoto Church
Trem, Mon and Byron taking in the city views; Photo by Duncan Roy
In conclusion, we just want to give thanks to each and every person that has walked this journey with us throughout the year. We are grateful for your commitment towards the call that God has placed upon your life and we are honored to serve God alongside you. We declare God’s blessing upon you and we pray that He will grant you all your hearts’ desires.
We are excited for next year because we make 10 years and we know that we are moving from Glory to Glory as we Discover, Develop and Belong.
You are dearly loved and You Matter.
We are worshippers
We are family
We are friends
We are fighters
We are warriors
We Dance inside out
There is more
Clay Dance Goes Viral
After all at Clay Dance Co. we are #MoreThanDance#
2018: What a year! By Lillian Aliyinza The psalmist in Psalms 116:12 said What can I give back to God…
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