After posing, prancing, pirouetting and changing costumes in rapid fashion, a few dancers ran back out on stage ready to fight. 

Redemption Story Dance Company, led by instructor Lorien Legler, held its first recital on Dec. 16 in the Powell High School Auditorium. The company was started this past summer with a focus on ballet and tap.

But the dancers weren’t alone in filling the auditorium; they were joined by Big Horn Martial Arts Academy. It is an affiliate school of Master Larry Voorhes out of Iowa and is under the local leadership of Master Vickie Prante, Master Dustin Paul and Lynnet Paul. 

When the budding martial artists’ time came they ran on stage to an audience who was encouraged to cheer at their impressive physical feats. Boards and bricks were broken, students and instructors were flipped (safely) and there were even some flying kicks. At one point, they engaged in a choreographed fight to the tune of “Techno Syndrome,” that would have made John Wick proud.

First, however, Redemption Story Dance Company opened the afternoon with their public debut. The unconventional pairing of the two schools came about in part through shared students and a shared history.

“(Lynnet) asked if I was teaching dance at all because she was looking for a place for her girls,” Legler said. “And when I said no she asked if I would be interested in starting one and she said that she’d help with some of the start-up stuff if I wanted to do that.”

This was a pretty quick decision, Legler said, but it seemed like a nice idea. When she was around the age of 14 she had actually written out a plan for a dance group.

Back then, she envisioned a group that would pray before every class, was God centered and glorified him. She also saw modest costumes, something that’s hard to find now, she said. 

Legler named her company Redemption Story Dance Company because at one point in her dancing career the sport itself became, “a little bit too much of an obsession and less of a good thing.” 

Now, God has redeemed it in her life and made it a good thing.

“It’s kind of nice that God was able to take that and use it as a good thing in my life now and put it back in its proper place where I can help others and not just make my life all about ballet but be able to use it in a good way that can help other people but not be obsessed about it,” Legler said.

When Legler was invited on stage to introduce her dancers, her speech quickly gave the glory to God. 

After the curtains drew back on the first group of dancers, the two young ballerinas danced gracefully. Olaf, the snowman from Frozen, served as a fitting backdrop. They took their bow and were followed by more dancers, with each performance matching their skill level. At one point several of the Redemption Story dancers donned track suits and tap shoes, showcasing the variety of skills they had learned in only a year.

Redemption Story Dance Company is shaping up to be a lot like what Legler had envisioned when she was younger, which is exciting, she said. 

Apart from the culture of the group it has always been a goal to perform in competitions but also in locations like nursing homes, “places that we can serve other people with our performance.”

“The goal with how I teach is that we do this to glorify God and so people are encouraged then to have good attitudes and to encourage one another … some dancers are going to be better at one thing than another but we all have our own skills,” Legler said. “And we’re all unique and have something to offer the way God made us and that also dance should be to have fun, so while you should do your best, that shouldn’t outweigh being able to enjoy it.”

The girls in her company have bought into the idea and classes are really relaxed, “they do their best and they do listen to me but they also laugh and have fun,” she said.

When it came time for their mid-December debut Legler said that the girls did a good job with their dances, “I loved watching each one because I think they did great.”

After the curtains drew on the final performance the martial artists and the dancers excitedly ran to their teachers, friends and family. 

“Some of our students who have trained for years, they don’t ever really get to perform for people besides doing tournaments,” Lynnet said. “Tournaments are hard, you kind of have spectators but you don’t have an audience, where you get to really show off and have fun.”