Leeds Christian Lives Dance Dream

Dancing is Nicola Blake’s passion. She began after she became a Christian at the age of 15, and trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance between 1993 and 1996. Dancing has been a natural way for Nicola to express her faith in God, her innermost thoughts and her hopes for her own life and the lives of those around her; “Divine Expressions was born out of a really difficult period of my life. I’d been through a divorce, and my daughter Franceska was born terminally ill with Myloid Displacia which converted into acute Myloid Leukaemia. All glory to God she is a testimony of God’s power and is now 10 years old.”

Nicola had personal experience of deep pain, and creative expression helped her to process and come to terms with it. As a Christian, it was a natural next step for Nicola to want to help others to come to terms with their own brokenness through opening up the world of dance to them. Says Nicola; “Dancing touches hearts and creates a resonance without using words. It helps the searching hearts to respond to God in a fresh way, allowing the Holy Spirit to minister and bring healing to both believers and non-believers.”

For eight years now, Nicola has been taking her ministry to youth groups, concerts, conferences and church groups. Four years ago, through her links with Aglow International, Nicola began to take her work into prisons, to reach some of the most disadvantaged women in our society with a message of hope; “Many of the women in prisons have been survivors of abuse and have ‘learned’ to split their personhood, disassociating their body, mind, emotions and spirit. I believe dance workshops are a non-threatening way to help them explore and reconnect with their emotions, express them through bodily movements and music, and in time help them to reintegrate their body, mind, soul and spirit, and move towards wholeness.”

Up until now, Nicola has undertaken all of this work on a voluntary basis, out of a deep desire to share the love that she had experienced so tangibly. In 2008, Nicola also started working with the Joanna project, which reaches out to women who are exploited through prostitution. Joanna is a project that was born out of the dream of a small group of Leeds-based Christians in 2004, and Leeds Christian Community Trust (LCCT) got behind the vision with some start-up funding and development support. At a time when Nicola was questioning whether she would financially be able to continue her dance ministry, a chance conversation in the LCCT office led to an application for Divine Expressions to join the trust, and a new phase in the life of the dance ministry began.

Nicola now has the resources to undertake two weekly prison workshops with female inmates. She will also be running a new programme called ‘Fit4Worship’, a weekly group exercise and dance programme held at local churches. This programme offers a friendly environment where Christians and non-believers can come and explore creative worship in their own spirituality or simply keep fit.

For Nicola, this is just the beginning of what she hopes will be a long journey to develop dance therapy programmes in prisons around the world, to bring freedom to the captives, starting right here in Leeds.If you would like to find out more from Nicola, she can be contacted by email: nicola-blake1@sky.com or her mobile is 07775 289592