Praise His Name With Dancing was founded in 1991 by Scott & Diana Hoffman. Following Diana Hoffman’s conversion to Christianity in the fall of 1988, she spent a lot of time dancing as a form of worship in her quiet time.  With her passion for expression through dance for Jesus in her home, she branched out of her home and began teaching worship dance pieces to the children at her local church to be presented to the congregation. At the time, Diana was also an aerobics instructor was hired at the YMCA in Akron, and was encouraged to use Christian music during her classes. It was during that time at the YMCA that she began teaching worship dance classes to homeschooled children with a performance at the end of the sessions to showcase their progress. 

 

Following the first of these performances, Diana’s husband, Scott, felt the need for the boys to have their own classes with a more masculine focus and began teaching the boys worship dance classes separately. 

 

After a time at the YMCA, Scott and Diana moved the worship dance classes to another facility at a local church.  They charged a small fee for the classes and with that money, along with their own, the Hoffman’s used their sewing and building skills to make costumes, props, ballet barres, etc. Over time, they started fundraising rummage sales to earn money to buy flooring and other necessities. Many others quickly joined in with their creative skills to sew costumes, make props, banners, etc. which were all used to put together a year end performance as well as local outreaches sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their students and their audiences. 

 

Praise His Name With Dancing is a nondenominational organization with one primary purpose-- to honor and glorify Jesus Christ through dance. What began as an expression of love and adoration between Diana and Jesus has turned into a ministry that has trained over a thousand dancers over the past 31 years.

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In this new season, we aspire to become incorporated and a Non-Profit, feeling the need to broaden our reach by becoming a 501(c)(3). This will allow more opportunities for grants and donations. We believe with that this new status will allow more programing for our students to grow in their giftings and allow them to present the Gospel to a much broader audience, both locally and hopefully internationally.

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