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Why would the state-run Canadian Arts Council fund two missionaries in the arts? James and Cindi Croker relinquished work with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in 1989 to start a contemporary dance troupe in Toronto, Motus O. The name refers to the Latin term for "a way of moving," and the troupe is one of the most active touring companies in Canada.

James Croker, who was born in Canberra, Australia, met his Minnesotan wife while touring with YWAM across four continents over 18 years. "Because our aesthetic development happened with YWAM," he ex plains, "we tend to tell stories in dance. But mainly, YWAM taught us how to fail. Most of what we do in the studio is failure; for every eight hours of choreography we end up with a minute or two on stage."

Dance has always been a hard mistress. Dancers typically live on subpoverty-level salaries, lack benefits, and usually toil in anonymity. The vocation's physical demands defeat most dancers by their early thirties. The Crokers, approaching their forties, continue a rigorous regimen that includes 15 to 20 hours a week of workouts and rehearsals. Well beyond the age of most contemporary dancers, and with three growing teenagers to raise, they do this for a salary that is far less than their YWAM missionary stipend in the 1980s.

In fact, inasmuch as Motus O is supported mainly by grants and audience ticket sales, the actual cost of a performance cancels out the possibility of anything resembling a salary—which is why the Crokers and their ensemble also have part-time jobs as custom framers, accountants, dance instructors, and cryogenic technicians. To keep their name in front of grant-providing agencies, they must also give at least 40 performances per year.

But despite the thin financial rewards, Motus O's reputation in Ontario glows more brightly with each new production, owing mainly to the acrobatic style of its choreography rather than pure dance—and to the innovative, improvisational content of its repertoire.

One would be hard-pressed to find any obvious statement of faith in Motus O's program notes or pieces. "We do not try to represent a particular theology or brand of Christianity," Croker states. "We represent our personal faith and our struggles in dance. God is an intrinsic part of that struggle; he is the question, he is the answer, and sometimes he is the struggle. We feel comfortable exploring struggles with no immediate answers, because God is there for us, individually. We don't consider ourselves a Christian dance company, although we are unanimously Christian in our beliefs. We never use the company as a pulpit to express political or religious ideas."

This motus operandi contrasts with the mission statements of dance companies such as Hosanna Sacred Dance of Nashville or Ballet Magnificat of Jackson, Mississippi, whose aim is to reveal the glory of God through artistic excellence and beauty. These groups appear at worship conferences, church-based conventions, or before audiences with a majority of Christian supporters; their grants are sometimes from Christian sources.

The Crokers began in the arts as a missionary couple and are now devoted to maintaining a professional standing in the secular arts world, while Ken Tolle of Hosanna Sacred Dance became a Christian dancing leading parts with the Boston and Indianapolis ballets and a professional contemporary troupe. He has applied professional standards to dance with the single-minded goal of revealing the essence of God and spurring a worshipful response from audiences. He often sets powerful, original choreography to excerpts from Scripture—an approach Motus O would avoid. Still, both groups share the same intense passion about the place of Christians in dance.

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August 9 1999, Vol. 43, No. 9