Meet Jessica Abejar
JESSICA ABEJAR is a Catholic artist and sacred and liturgical dancer, under the name The Moving Prayer, based in Massapequa, New York.
links to her work:
The Moving Prayer official website
Jessica shared her journey with the Catholic Artist Connection:
I am a sacred and liturgical dancer whose mission is to nurture and uplift the mind, body, and spirit, and I fulfill this mission through my dance company The Moving Prayer. Through presentations and performances as well as resources and workshops, in real life and online, we help people move - either to the beat of the song or the rhythm of their hearts.
When I was younger I never really thought the identities of “Catholic” and “artist” could intersect, but as I grow older and fully embrace who I am, what I am called to do, and how I fulfill that, it seems natural. And that’s sort of what I hope to do with The Moving Prayer: to help people move through life by being wholly themselves - to encourage them to receive gifts from God (dreams, talents, hopes, desires), to share it with one another, and to become living and breathing manifestations of God’s love (or “moving prayers” as I like to call them). This is something not only ever present in my work but also how I hope to live my life.
I start my day (or at least try to) with two short movement exercises - one I call the Flow of All Things and the second The Five Positions of Focus. The first is based on the Sign of the Cross, and the second is based on the foundational five positions in ballet. The exercises are meant to ground myself, bless the space that surrounds me, and focus on my call as moving prayer.
