Has it been that long already!?!?!?
Keri Sutter
Executive Director
Twenty-five years. It’s been twenty-five years since Surgite, a sacred dance company was incorporated, and participated in its first worship service. Our first service was an Easter Vigil service, most appropriate for a company whose name means “all of you – Arise!” And we’ve been rising ever since – higher and higher.
Surgite’s main goal throughout these 25 years has been to open doors. New ideas, new skills, new confidence, new relationships, new joy: we open the doors that lead people from who they were to who they can be.
New ideas: How many times after a worship service we have heard the comment, “I never understood liturgical dance until today.” But it is even more wonderful when we hear, “I was hurting, and your dance helped me begin to heal.” Or, “I was angry about what happened to me, and this workshop has helped me break through that anger into reconciliation.”
New skills: Many of the people who participate as dancers, or as workshop participants, are not trained dancers. What do they say? “I never knew I could do that! Wow!!”
New confidence: Scientists have noticed that people who are comfortable in their bodies show more confidence in all aspects of their lives. So new skills leads directly to increased confidence.
New relationships: One mother came to me, in tears. Her sixth-grade daughter had been getting involved with a bad crowd at school. Then I invited the girl to dance with Surgite, and she became too busy to continue her relationship with the group at school. Her grades improved, and she was talking about going to college. “You have made such a difference in my daughter’s life!” the mother told me.
New joy: “I’ve been in pain all day, but your concert made me forget how much I hurt.” “You accepted me for who I was, even though I don’t look like a dancer.” ”Ms. H. never smiles. But she smiled all through your concert!”
We open doors. We open doors and let people peek through and see life as it should be. And, sometimes, we get to watch as people walk through those open doors….
Keri
March, 2010