Marquette’s Christian Praise Dance group Faithful Flow had their first-ever showcase in the Varsity Theater on March 23.
The group was founded by juniors in the College of Arts & Sciences Ela’jah Dixon and Kamaria Gragston in November 2024. Other than the founders, the group is made up of first-years in the College of Arts & Sciences, Kumani Browne and Zhian Lagare, first-year in the College of Health Sciences Brandon Rosemond, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and College of Communications Aryana Street and sophomore in the College of Arts & Science Iyanna Phipps.
“Me and [Gragston] work together. After coming together and saying that we really wanted to build our connection with God a little more, we said that we wanted to start a praise dance group,” Dixon said.
The showcase consisted of five dances by Faithful Flow, a solo singing performance from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee first-year Ashley Nash and a performance from the Marquette Gospel Choir.
“I used to praise dance when I was 12 or 13 and I wanted to bring that experience of ministering God’s words to Marquette’s campus,” Dixon said. “The purpose is just to celebrate a shared faith and inspire others through a meaningful performance and outreach.”
The group originally started with four members, but gained two more in the past month and a half, and practiced anywhere from two to six times a week.
“We have scriptures that go with our dances and then, throughout the process and after we pick a song, everyone kind of freestyles and then we integrate it all together,” Street said. “Literally everyone is the choreographer for our dances because we want everyone to feel comfortable doing the dances and we want everyone to feel like it makes sense.”
The first two dances were “Speak the Name,” by Koryn Hawthorne and “Your Spirit,” by Kierra Sheard and Tasha Cobbs, both which brought the mood in the room in a more serious direction.
The Marquette Gospel Choir performed after the intermission, which came about 30 minutes in after the second dance concluded. Browne and Rosemond are members of both MU Gospel Choir and Faithful Flow.
“We have a really great group of people and we really built bonds with each other,” Dixon said. “There was one point where we hung out every day for two weeks — we had to study together, pray together and we’re all filled with excitement to show everybody what we created over the past semester.”
The show concluded with the final three dances, to “Imagine Me,” by Kirk Franklin, “Better,” by Jessica Ready and “Victory,” by Tye Tribbett. “Victory” brought the energy up a notch to end the show, with the dancers getting the audience involved in clapping and singing along.
“In our group, even if we butt heads, we always know this is for God, and we have to get over it,” Street said. “We have a mission and we know what we need to do, so I feel like I’ve grown as a person with my communication and people skills because it can get hard and frustrating, but we’ve always overcome.”
The show ended with bows from each of the performers and a few words from each of the members of Faithful Flow. Each member introduced themselves and expressed their gratitude to the audience for coming out to see them perform.
“I honestly learned that there’s so many ways you can express your love for God, and there’s so many people out here who want to do the same thing,” Dixon said.
To learn more about Faithful Flow and its members, click here to find the group’s Instagram.
This story was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at annie.goode@marquette.edu.
