a magazine devoted to the ministry and message of Infusion Dance Company 2 IDC contents
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contents IDC 3
Photo by Charity Peck
4 IDC haven hennessey
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director haven hennessey Haven
Glory Hennessey founded Infusion Dance Company in 2001. With a strong desire to bring the arts back to the church through movement, Haven began teaching dance classes to the youth in her home church, while her friend, Jen Ryan, began teaching basic gymnastics. These weekly classes fueled a passion in the hearts of her students to learn more, give more. To worship more. Infusion was born. Dancing for over 25 years, Haven has a great deal of experience in the arts. She began taking ballet lessons as a small child with Janet Buyer’s dance ministry, “In His Image,” and as she grew older and more mature as a ballerina, she became a prominent dance instructor in Pinellas County, FL. Haven has been invited to dance all over the world, traveling to Norway five consecutive summers and ministering in Sweden, Spain, and even Israel. Through much of her twenties, while IDC was in its infancy and forming, Haven danced with Affirmation Ballet Company; now she dances solely with Infusion.
national dance ministry actively pursuing more of God through movement and the arts. IDC has traveled all over the world, touring the last three summers and taking several smaller trips throughout the year. They have danced and taught in the MidWest, on the East and West coasts, as well as in Mexico, Bulgaria, Norway, and in the summer of 2009, New Zealand. Most members of the company are in school full-time and work at least part-time, funding their trips through their own finances as well as donations; there is never a set “fee” for their ministry. The aim of the company is not to make money, but just to break even on their tours and help cover future expenses. Haven married her best friend, Frankie, on February 28, 2004 They are the youth pastor’s at her parents church, Flowing River, and invest much of their time into the younger generation. They reside in Clearwater, FL with their two young sons, Levi, 3, and Judah, 1.
Under Haven’s leadership, IDC has grown from a group of teenagers worshiping God in their own church to a full-fledged inter-
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W
e were first invited to New Zealand several years ago. However, as with most of our invitations, the finances involved is a significant factor to our ability to go. After three enormously successful tours all over the United States and Europe, we knew that this year would be different. Though we are planning to take a short, eight-day tour to the Mid-West in June, over the last several months it has become apparent that a New Zealand trip is on the horizon. Infusion Dance Company is a ministry of Flowing River Church, a non-denominational congregation in Clearwater, FL. However, Flowing River operates as a partnering church with International Apostolic Ministries (IAM), IAM’s network of churches reaches across the United States and all over the world, including several churches in New Zealand. As the leaders of IAM have invested their time into the North and South islands of New Zealand, we have become more and more encouraged at the possibility of ministering through the arts in that nation. Plus the home of Lord of the Rings! What’s not to love?!
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As a result, we are planning our trip for late July/early August, with our June trip to the Mid-West acting as a fundraiser of sorts for New Zealand. We have discovered throughout our touring experiences that, though we do raise a significant amount of money while on tour, it is much more relieving to have a great deal in the bank before the trip. Every year we get a bit wiser in this regard, so we have certainly stepped up our fundraising efforts over the last few months. The goal for us, of course, is not to make money off of our tours or to even pay all the members for their time. Everyone takes time off of work and sometimes school for these trips, and while it can be difficult, the experiences on tour are rewarding. If we’re lucky, we have enough to cover everyone’s airfare, along with lodging and food; most of the time we do, but occassionally (especiallly for international trips like New Zealand) members have to pay half their airfare. In the end, it’s all worth it. We have been able to see so much of the world and learn a great deal about eachother and ourselves. New Zealand will be just as grand.
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arrive: july 24th, wellington depart: august 11, auckland
Auckland
Gisborne New Plymouth Stratford
Lower Hutt Wellington Kahurangi National Park
Picton
ChristChurch
Milford Sound Queenstown Fiordland National Park Dunedin
Stewart Island
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Infusion Dance Company performs “Awaken� at Salvation Army Chapel in Clearwater, FL. The July 19, 2008 performance was a fundraiser for their August tour to the Northwest. Bringing in about 300 people, the company sold tickets in advance and at the door for $10 (adults) and $8 (students); kids got in free. Over $2,000 was raised.
Photo by Krystina Davis
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LARGE
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Performing “On Fire,” Charity Peck (left), Michael Lee and Miriam Peck dance at “The Crossing Church in Tacoma, WA while on tour last August.
PHOTO
The church operates mostly as a food and clothing bank ministry to the homeless of Tacoma; according to city ordinances, the homeless are pushed out to the edges of the city in order to keep the city more pristine for tourists, etc. The church also has facilities for people to wash their clothes and take showers, many of them recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. IDC performed their entire production and also prayed for people afterwards; it was one of the most memorable nights of the whole tour.
Photo by Rebekah Lee
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charity peck
Photo by Ariel Peck
12 IDC charity peck
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If
Charity Peck were to write her own bio, it would sound like this:
“Both my mom and my dad are humans. We breathe air and occasionally will swim in water and various liquids. I love planet earth.” Unfortunately that doesn’t quite do her justice, so here are a few more details. Charity has been a member of Infusion Dance Company since its inception in 2001. Besides being a talented gymnast and dancer, she also is a very proficient artist in graphic design and videography. She not only designed our logo, but also created all of our products and promotional materials, including shooting and editing our DVD.
Charity, 20, is pursuing her A.A degree from St. Petersburg College and plans to go on to obtain her B.A. in graphic design from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Once interested in film/videography, she took several classes to advance her skills in that arena before switching to graphic design. She teaches gymnastics and stunting at Infusion School of the Arts, having numerous years of past experience teaching at local homeschool co-ops. Outside of IDC, Charity is also a skilled break-dancer; she became interested in break dancing a few years ago and has since immersed herself in the art. Several times a week she attends “breaking” classes, held all over the county, and occasionally even competitions, the most recent one taking place in Gainesville, FL. With a fun and adventurous spirit (some may call it “mischievous”), Charity has always had a huge heart for the Mayan people in Mexico. She has visited over a dozen times with her parents, pastors, and sisters; she often jokes about moving far away and becoming a village missionary.
Charity breakdancing at a March 20, 2009 event at Suncoast Cathedral.
Charity is the sister of Haven Hennessey, Miriam and Ariel Peck. The company is fortunate to have her.
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Photo by Rebekah Lee
Seattle
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adventures on the west coast
Last
summer we were privileged to be able to tour the west coast, mostly up towards Washington state and even over into Idaho. Below are excerpts from our blogs and videos throughout the trip. Non-quoted text by Rebekah Lee, via the IDC blog.
Day 1 – We’re not in Florida anymore! We have landed! It’s about 3 a.m. FL time and we are all checked in to our hotel and ready for bed. Between the fifteen of us we took six different flights today with layovers in three different cities, and thankfully all of us and all of our stuff (quite a load) made it to Seattle safely. Tomorrow we don’t have anything major scheduled, but we will be visiting Judah Praise Center (James Berkley’s church) and checking out the city.
Day 2 – JPC & the Pacific Today we took a little road trip up to Marysville and surprised all of our friends at Judah Praise Center. We had a great time and James Berkley even had Miriam and a few others come up to play music during the prayer time after the service. Afterwards we went and checked into our hotel and THEN took an amazing (but long) road trip to see the Pacific Ocean. As Ben L. said “Washington is rockin’ sweet, that’s all I’ve got to say.”
Day 3 – Snoqualmie Falls Today we’re going to Snoqualmie Falls before we head back north towards MarysPhoto: IDC just outside Seattle Top: Ariel Peck, Benjamin Lee, Michael Lee Middle: Josh McKisic, Miriam Peck Bottom: Charity Peck, Brianne Blowers
ville. We have some ministry possibilities for the next few days (before we leave for Idaho Thursday), and I’ll keep you updated.
Day 5 – Mt. Rainer “Today we saw SNOW, lots of snow on Mt. Rainer…or reindeer…or whatever it is.” Michael
Day 7 – Sandpoint, ID We’re here in Idaho with a craaaazy schedule ahead of us! With a service tonight, a workshop and service tomorrow, and a service Sunday morning, things are about to get exciting. After tonight’s service I’ll post some videos and photos from our ministry. I’ll hand it over the team… “So this is the first night we’ve come back from a full-blown production here in Idaho – it was amazing! It was wonderful; God did a lot of cool things of course. Afterwards out at the product table a lot of people came by and grabbed our ear, and just couldn’t believe…” – Miriam “So Charity and I were paired up tonight and we prayed a really sweet woman and her family – she asked that we pray for her son who is serving in Afghanistan.” – Brianne “Of course, in History Maker, for some odd reason my knee popped again – please keep me in prayer ‘cause we have to dance almost every day out from here, and it really hurts.” – Ariel
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Day 8 – Workshop Day in Idaho “It’s about 10 o’clock Saturday night (1 am for you all!), anyways, today was the hugest day, at least for myself. We did a workshop starting at 8 o’clock and we went to 3:30 pm, about 20 kids, which is a lot for us. It was wonderful to work with the kids and see them, and they did really good. Then tonight we led a set of worship for the Lawrence church and we danced two dances, with an interesting twist. Ariel, because of her injury last night, had to be choreographed out of all of the dances, even though we did only two tonight. We’re doing the whole production tomorrow morning. We had to reconstruct every single dance because Ariel cannot be in any of it, and Charity and I have had to take all her parts, her solos. We had one hour off today since 8 o’clock this morning, so we’re really tired, but it’s been a good day.” - Miriam
Day 9 – Coeur d’Alene, ID “Today we danced the production at the Gateway Church, about a 45 minute drive from Sandpoint. It was really, really awesome, we had tons of fun, and I think the most amazing thing about it was that we got more or just as much as we gave. The response was so amazing; they made it easy to dance. They were really excited to have us and we were really excited to be there.” – Charity “What I thought was cool was that the pastor’s wife was saying how we were dancing and it was about us or the moves, but just worshipping God, and that she saw that was awesome.” – Ben L. “They were really into our dances with us – we were dancing History Maker and they were clapping and so excited. It was a good refill for us because we really feed off that; it was really refreshing. For prayer time, Bekah and I were teamed up and we had a really awesome prayer time, everyone we prayed for was really touched.
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There was one guy that came up and we both had a vision of him really expanding his destiny and that God had a big plan for him still. He just started crying and said ‘for the longest time I’ve just felt like my life was over’ and he was really encouraged. I think he had had some physical problems that really depressed him, so it was also really neat for Bekah and I to have been so accurate.” Charity
Day 12 – The Crossing Church “Last night was REALLY awesome. New stuff happened for us. So basically, we did the production like normal, but they were really into it – clapping for like everything. They asked us to do “Carried to the Table” twice, and the pastor asked everyone to worship with us the second time we did it. During the whole second performance everyone was singing, acapella. Even after the dance was over everybody kept singing, and Josh brought out the jumps and starting whaling away, and it turned into this huge… dance party.” - Michael
Day 15 – Marysville Hi! I just wanted to let you all know that we’re in Marysville and I have no Internet (borrowing a computer currently) where I’m at and the next chance I get will likely be at the airport. We have so much to share, but little time. We have three services Sunday, so please keep us in your prayers! We are going to need supernatural strength and energy, and further, we really want to finish off this tour with an explosion! See you all soon… All in all, we had a fantastic time on tour over the two weeks we were on the west coast. We danced in nine different venues, taught two day-long workshops, and stayed with lots of different beds in several cities. The thrill of touring never goes away, so much so that we plan to keep doing it!
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Top Left: Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA Top Right: Charity Peck in Blaine, WA down underneath the pier looking onto Canada. Center Left: Ariel (bottom), Ben C., Michael (middle), Charity, Josh, and Ben L. in downtown Seattle near the Space Needle. IDC’ers make a habit of climbing, jumping, exploring, and scaling just about everything; finding them perched atop the sculpture at left is, clearly, not an unusual sight. Bottom Left: On the pier in downtown Seattle, IDC holds the ending pose for “Awaken,” the second piece in their production. Bottom Right: Downtown skyline, Seattle, WA.
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michael lee Michael
Lee has been a member of Infusion Dance Company since the very beginning in 2001. He has contributed to every aspect of Infusion, from dance and gymnastics to stunting and warfare arts. Michael is currently attending the University of South Florida, majoring in Electrical Engineering. Eventually he would like to pursue a Master’s degree in Recording Arts. Playing the guitar, bass, piano, and drums, Michael is very interesting in the production and
recording process of music, and would like to become a producer. He is considering taking classes at Full Sail in Orlando, FL. Outside of dance and music, Michael enjoys his studies, as well as late night movies with friends and weekly games of ultimate Frisbee at the park by his home. With all his different activities, it is safe to say that he is never bored. Michael has two siblings in the company, Rebekah (20) and Benjamin (16).
q/a w/ mike How did you start dancing? Basically, because everyone else was doing it. I mean, it really started as learning some gymnastics, and what kid doesn’t want to learn how to flip, right?!? Then we started flipping and dancing and now we’re dancing and flipping. Tell me one of your favorite experiences with the company. Probably just leading worship, in general, in different places around the world... especially a couple times in Bulgaria, but in the U.S. too... you get some really cool moments...feeling the presence of God where ever you go is awesome. Even comforting.
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What is your favorite nonministry experience? Probably just getting to see some of the world in general. Being in the airports of different countries...actually, our 8 hour bus ride through part of Bulgaria, though mostly kind of boring, featured some scenery unlike anything I’ve seen. Talk about driving through some real mountains. Why do you keep dancing? Because I believe it is what God has me doing right now... Why New Zealand? The fact that it’s so far away and we’ll be there for a while. And that it’s a pretty amazing part of the world.
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Photo by Krystina Davis
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Infusion Dance Company at The River Church in Sandpoint, ID. They spent a five-day weekend in Ohio at both The River Church and at The Gateway Church in Couer d’Alene, ID, ministering several times over the weekend. They also taught a five hour workshop to over 40 participants.
Photo by Rebekah Lee
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It
amaryah bone
all started when I was born into the Bone family on April 18th, 1990 in Vermont. When I was very young we lived in Germany for about 2 years, and then for a year in Norway. I never really established a sense of ”home,” travelling so much as a missionary kid. While living in Germany as a toddler, I was bitten by a tick and began to experience some odd symptoms. I was experiencing unusual rashes, earaches and body pains, but the doctors could not explain any of it. At four, we moved back to the States, and the symptoms continued, even growing worse. My mom took me all kinds of doctors, but none of them had any solutions.
stairs. God had healed me! Since this healing, I have had an even greater passion for movement and sports of all kinds. The summer after my healing my family and I drove out to Montana together with group from our church to minister to the Native Americans living on the reservations. This was an amazing experience, something completely different from mission work in Europe. We were able to have a Bible camp for the children in the area, and also help paint and rebuild houses that were in need of repair. After much prayer and a strong word from God, my dad announced in the summer of 2001 that he felt we were called to move back to Norway. So that very July, my whole family, including my two older brothers Caleb and Christian, packed up everything and moved over to Norway. I only had vague memories of Norway from when I was young, but I enrolled in school and quickly learned the language and embraced the cold but unique Norwegian culture.
“I was experiencing unusual rashes, earaches and body pains, but the doctors could not explain any of it.””
This continued for several years when, at the age of 7, it suddenly got much worse. I had extreme pain in my legs, so much so that I couldn’t walk for more than an hour a day. I also experienced an amount of short- term memory loss.
As you can imagine, I was forced to quit all the physical activities that I loved. I had to quit both soccer and gymnastics. And for a time I couldn’t even continue my home school studies because of my loss of memory. This lasted for another three years. We prayed every day through all these years, but one night we were just at our wits end. We sat down and prayed on my bed for God to do something because we had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. All of a sudden I felt an unnatural heat course from my hips all the way down to my toes. And the pain was gone! It was the most amazing thing I have experienced in my life. I started jumping up and down and running up and down the
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Two years after moving to Norway I became interested in dance. I took a couple of street jazz classes and joined the church dance group, but I only considered it a new hobby. My passion grew, however, and in 2006 I enrolled in an arts magnet high school in Oslo, the best dance high school that Norway has to offer. Majoring in dance, we train daily 3-4 hours in ballet, jazz and contemporary. After school I can be found at the local hip hop school in the middle of Oslo; I clean the studio in exchange for classes, and have just started teaching the younger kids as well. When not there, you’ll
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Photo by Ariel Peck
find me breaking and hitting the beats together with the local bboys and b-girls. Of all of these countries I have been to (10+), Bulgaria has meant the most to me. My dad started an arts academy in Sofia together with Rosi Fernandandova and Shawn Erb. The first year was extremely important for me, because it was at this academy that I really experienced God in a completely new way. Though I’d grown up in a Christian family all my life, and had accepted Christ at an early age, it was at this academy that I got ”truly saved.” I went home a
new person; excited, inspired, and closer to God than ever before. After this academy in 2006 was also when I started to recognize a new and rising passion and talent for art (drawing, designing, graphic, hairstyling, etc.). Though I’ve never had any kind of formal training, I just experiment and try new things and God has been blessing everything I’ve done in amazing ways. At the 2007 summer academy I met IDC. We quickly became friends, and I knew there was something really special with them, especially when we became such
good friends after only one week! We kept in contact throughout the entire year, and after much prayer and a clear word from God (Isaiah 41:2-10 was a big part of that!) I felt that it was God’s calling and encouragement to join IDC! I am finishing up my last year of high school in Norway, and then I will be moving to join IDC in Florida! I hope to get my AA degree and then go on to get my BA in either Dance or Graphic Design. My passions and interests are so varied, who knows where I’ll end up!
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Photo by Rebekah Lee
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bulgaria: 2007 We
were welcomed in Sofia with a bottle of wine and a host of effervescent faces. After nearly 24 hours in airplanes and foreign airports, their sparkling eyes and cheery faces served as a welcome jolt of vigor. Fourteen in all, the dance company had arrived in Bulgaria to teach and minister at the annual Freedom Generation conference in Sofia; every year artists gathered from all over the world to instruct the inner-city kids of Sofia in the disciplines of dance, gymnastics, painting, and music. The strangers that welcomed us at Sofia International Airport were to be our fellow teachers during the day and co-ministers at night.
Gypsy Neighborhood
Freedom Generation wasn’t our only reason for traveling (x miles) around the world to Bulgaria, however; over the last several years our home church has formed a close relationship with Bulgarian pastor Zhoro Penchev and his wife, Mariana. Every Wednesday evening Pastor Zhoro and his church travel to the outskirts of Sofia, about a 30 minute drive, and spend a few hours with the Gypsies. On day two of our time in Bulgaria, we were invited to join them. The Gypsies live in some of the worst conditions in the world. Most people think of Africa or India when they hear the word “poverty,” but in Eastern Europe, poverty belongs to the Gypsies. Sometimes known as the Roma people, the Gypsies are free spirited nomads. They live in ghetto-like neighborhoods. Nothing valuable is attached to their name. Rejected and hated by regular society for their lack of education, refusal to work traditional jobs, and habit of stealing to avoid starvation, the Gypsies can rarely
- Rebekah Lee
find jobs even when they do try to assimilate with their larger communities. According to National Geographic, if Gypsy children are sent to school, close to 75% are put in special schools because of their pronounced learning difficulties. They people we visited just outside of Sofia experienced all of these hardships. The neighborhood of about one hundred people had to share just one sink with running water. As we walked through the neighborhood, it was difficult to avoid the utter devastation in which these beautiful people live. Their homes were not homes, but tents made of worn fabric with poles extending into the black muck. The kids ran around playing barefoot, literally in dirt and soot. Remarkably, they were happy anyway. The adults wore continually pained expressions; the reality they live with is not a comfortable one. In 2003 the Council of Europe body ECRI delivered a report that stated that the Roma people in Bulgaria face “serious difficulties in many spheres of life.” They went on to say that “the main problems stem from the fact that the Roma districts are turning into ghettos. Most Roma neighborhoods consist of slums, precariously built without planning permission on land that often belongs to the municipalities. As the Bulgarian authorities have not taken steps to address the situation, the people living in these districts have no access to basic public services, whether health care, public transport, waste collection or sanitation.” What the Gypsies here outside of Sophia tell us is that they are hated by most and forgotten by everyone else. Many just want better lives for their children, but until the government recognizes the destitution and suffering they face, nothing can be done. bulgaria IDC 25
Andrew Brooks (center) and Benjamin Lee (left). Photo by Rebekah Lee
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Photo by Rebekah Lee
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Miriam & Amelia’s Story
it off in order to dance. One of those times, I just put it away permanently. I mean, I LOVED this ring, but I didn’t feel right wearing it.
In Bulgaria, we were able to visit a gyspy camp with Zhoro and Mariana on a Wednesday night to have an outside church service. After having a wonderful time of singing, dancing, healing, and loving on the gypsies, we got to try and communicate with the people.
Fast forward two weeks later: We’re in Bulgaria, and here I remember my ring, still in that box. I ran to the van to get the ring because I knew this was why I put it away! My eyes began to water as I was getting out the ring to bring to Amelia and Pepi.
- Miriam Peck
There was specifically a young couple, Amelia and Pepi, who were two newlyweds and didn’t yet have rings (which the Gypsies consider a very sacred symbol of marriage) because they were too poor to afford even a simple band. Haven had previously considered giving her wedding ring, but felt it wasn’t right from the Lord. I then came up to join in on the conversation and realized the ring situation. It was immediately quickened in my spirit to give her my silver purity ring I was wearing at the time… but she tried it on and it was just too small to get over her knuckle. At this moment I remembered that I had one more ring with me in my bag in the van. It was the ring Mirna (my precious Mayan mother in the Lord) gave to me as a love offering in the jungles of Mexico just a few months ago. A beautiful gold beaten ring with a crystal diamond in the middle, the coolest thing was that earlier while touring in the States, I had to take
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Running back, I put the ring on her wedding finger (right hand for the Gypsies) and it fit PERFECTLY! It was so beautiful on her, and she just glowed with joy and appreciation. I couldn’t believe that the ring given to me in Mexico, traveled with me to the States, where I wore it proudly with love, and then traveled once more to Bulgaria just so that this couple could have the desires of their hearts! Amazing…what a destiny. We just hugged and hung out the whole entire night until the moment we all piled into the vans to leave. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
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Pastor Zhoro Penchev (left), Kathleen Peck (center), and Mariana Pencheva (right), dance with the Gypsy kids during the Penchev’s weekly church meeting at the camp. Photo by Rebekah Lee
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company (snap)shots benjamin lee Primary Dancer, 7 years
Why do use some many different forms of dance/art?
Because we can.
miriam peck asst. Director, 9 years
What is your inspiration for choreography? Inspiration comes from all
different
directions for me. Whether it’s seeing a new
combination on the internet/TV, or seeing a lift in a photograph, I’m always inspired to try it!
benjamin cliff Primary Dancer, 7 years
Why do you keep dancing? I really enjoy learning/choreographing new 30 IDC company snapshots
dances.
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josh mckisic Primary Dancer, 2 years
What is your favorite non-ministry experience as a company? My favorite experience is actually the down time we get while on tour. What I mean by that is the time after we actually have a production and we get to just hang out with one another and relax. I really enjoy a happy, relaxed group.
ariel peck
Primary Dancer, 9 years
What is it like traveling with all your family/friends? Because most of us have had the priviledge of grow ing up and remain friends together, we are alreadly close to begin with.Yet, having these experiences with someone, regardless of past history, definitely brings you closer. Traveling together also brings in a new perspective of friendship. It’s great!
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Infusion Dance Company in Canada on their summer 2008 Northwestern Tour. Top row (l-r): Haven, Michael, Levi, Miriam, Josh, Ariel, Brianne, Ben L., Judah, Frankie. Bottom row (l-r): Charity, Ben C. Photo by Rebekah Lee
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