TEACHERS
Katarina Stella (SWE)
Early in life, dance became Katarina’s expression and interest. She has studied at the Swedish National Ballet School in Gothenburg and in Stockholm. For 10 years she worked as a freelance dancer in various independent companies and in the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company. She was also involved in other dance projects in Sweden and Italy. The she worked as a musical artist for 13 years in the Nordic countries. Katarina then educated herself to become a dance teacher and has taught at various cultural schools and high schools.
Late in life, God came into Katarina’s life and changed her direction. She did a year of theological studies, and it became clear for her that dance has a greater depth and meaning. She led a dance group for a few years in her church and trained herself through the course École de formation sur l'identité et la lounge par le mouvement arranged by Machol danser la vie (France).
Katarina´s focus is our identity in the Lord, the possibilities of dance and the biblical basis. With her teaching, she wants to provide dance technical knowledge, but the focus is to provide tools and contribute to conveying freedom through movement. The language of dance can serve as a tool for the Holy Spirit as we minister to one another through prayer, prophetic speaking, in worship, and for healing in a deep and direct way.
Photo: Katarina Ninna Johnson
Instagram: @sma_avtryck
Kitty Lindgren (SWE)
Kitty lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is a trained professional dancer in ballet, jazz, modern/contemporary, improvisation and tap dance at the Ballet Academy. Kitty started her creative company KITTY KREATE this spring, where her dance school based on Christian values is called "Dance into Freedom", which she received as a vision from the Lord back in 2012.
She has danced all her life, and since Jesus healed her neck injury in 2012, (which she had for three years) she has consciously danced for the glory of God with her spirit, soul and body. Kitty loves to worship Jesus with her whole being. Dance is a strong language of prayer for her, and Jesus has taught her to dance through joy and sorrow. Kitty is made to dance and redeem the presence of God wherever she goes. She regularly dances in her church, with Hope for this nation and at Scandinavian School of Missions, and has taught in several churches and at Christian conferences in Sweden over the years. Kitty loves to see people being healed, established and redeemed into more freedom and allowed to blossom even more into their unique personalities.
Jesus has given Kitty a big heart for the nations. She longs to see people redeemed in dance and movement, so that His free children can honour King Jesus with their whole lives, which He so much deserves, as He is our Creator. She has also trained through Iris Ministries; School of Arts in the USA, as well as through Machol Danser la Vie in France which is also her Christian dance family that she meets twice a year, to receive more of God and serve with the team.
This spring she also became a certified Tikva instructor, which she sees as a good form of training for increased stability and flexibility, stress reduction and becoming present by receiving God's love when Bible words are spoken out to calm movements during the session.
Levi Blad (SWE)
Levi has been living in Uppsala for seven years with his wife Linda. His interest in dance started early, it was barefoot dancing, scarfs and jumps, which led further to an education in classical ballet with advanced movements to well-composed music. It has subsequently developed into a job where he teaches and creates within dance, recently with a bachelor's degree in dance pedagogy (2024). The Christian faith, like dance, has followed Levi since childhood. This belief has since been deepened in Christian community, where he has both received care and been challenged. He has also been a youth leader in central Stockholm and participated in various Christian conferences as a non-profit leader. He sees faith, life and dance as closely intertwined and like to emphasize the practical nature of dance, which informs his artistry, as well as his discipleship.
Siren Godø (NOR)
Siren Godø is a dancer and choreographer. Her main focus is to create productions that point to Jesus and God's love. Siren often choreographs with film as a tool. Most of the films shown on screen as a backdrop to the choreographies are produced by her husband Anders Godø. Anders often acts as co-choreographer. The movements she uses in her choreographies are "born in prayer" and in communion with God. She is inspired by silence, prayer and the movements of nature. Siren wants the dance to be dedicated to God and for God's love to be expressed through movement and image.
To see what Siren and Jesus are up to, see these links:
https://www.sirengodo.no
Elisabeth og Lars Godman (NOR)
Elisabeth is a specialist nurse and has worked in psychiatry and in upper secondary school, among other things. Lars is a priest and owns a consulting firm that works with organizational development, learning and hiring. He has worked as a priest in the Church of Norway and as a teacher in upper secondary school.
The first time Elisabeth and Lars saw the banner was at the Swedish OAS in 2003. Banners were used during worship, praise and in procession. They knew that through banners God brought his presence. Early on they understood that the use of banners had its roots in the Bible. When Lars began to immerse himself in the Hebrew Bible, he became aware that banners had strategic and prophetic meanings for the people of Israel. Since then, Elisabeth and Lars have held banner and dance seminars for children, young people and adults and participated with banner and dance in Norwegian OASE and in Swedish OAS. In recent years, they have been linked to Dans for Jesus as intercessors and course holders.
Tanya Winsnes (NOR)
Tanya started to dance at the age of three. She trained in jazz, tap, ballet, modern theater, chourseline and improvisationm in Canada and was a competitive dancer for many years.
She took a DTS (Discipleship Training School) through YWAM in 1998. From there she joined a mission tour (Impact World Tour) in 1999 and came to Norway where she met her husband. Together they started Alive Dance School in 2002 and they grew to 650 students. Together they ran Alive for 16 years and raised 5 beautiful children together.
Tanya’s passion is to be a bridge between society and church, to help lead people to Jesus. She uses her own life stories to inspire, challenge and bring hope to people. She creates shows and choreography that brings up hard subjects, lining it with the truth of God, bringing hope and direction. The last couple of years, she has done a show with her partner Mathilde Thrana - Ufiltrert (unfiltered).
She is a faithful wife, mother of five, grandmother and a lover of Christ.
Abraham Winsnes (NOR)
Abraham Geoffrey Winsnes started dancing at the age of 2. He has practiced jazz, lyrical, tap, modern and many street styles . As a youth he attended the dance program at Cissi Klein Upper Secondary School, while focusing in his spare time on street styles, popping and locking. This is where his passion for popping began. Abraham has competed in the Udo European Street Dance Championships in Germany and in Scotland, with ACI crew. He has done competitions in both Trondheim, Oslo and in Sweden.
Abraham has also been active in "Ufiltrert", a Christian project with dance and drama that helps people understand faith and hope in real life situations. Now Abraham is stydying his second year at the modern dance program at KHiO - Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Abraham is the son of Tanya and Hans Jakob Winsnes, past owners of Alive Dance School. He is their third son out of five siblings. He loves the Lord, loves mission trips and is active in his church in Oslo. He loves reading his Bible and learning the word of God. He also loves dancing to worship music praising Jesus.
