Our Leadership
Yvonne (Dawn) Benjamin
Director of NLDNUK
Dawn committed her life to her Lord and Saviour at the age of 16 whilst attending The Pilgrim Church in Nottingham. Her desire from the start has been to walk closely with the Lord and to be used for His glory. As an active member of the church, she has worked in various roles within Sunday School, Women’s Society, and the Youth Department. Dawn first witnessed worship in dance at a conference in Washington DC in 2006. Her pray at the time was to ask the Lord to help her use that experience to bring dance to her church in the UK. Her specific request was ‘Help me to make a difference with this wonderful gift’. Within 3 months Pilgrim Sacred Dancers was formed and they ministered their first dance.
Dawn became a member of The National Liturgical Dance Network in 2008, after attending ‘The Greater Allen Cathedral ‘Worship in the Arts conference’. The following year NLDN - UK was established when the NLDN founder, Rev Eyesha Marable, visited the UK with a team and appointed Dawn UK Director.
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Dawn admits this has been an extraordinary journey, and she acknowledges how the Lord had provided many mentors, in particular Rev. Eyesha Marable as well as Amanda Standard of Divine Dance Institute, Minister Sentheia McLeod of Cathedral Dance Ministry and Marilu Susanna from Curacao. She also received teaching and guidance from Dr Pamela Hardy, Stephanie Butler-Adams, and many others that have all contributed to establishing a Liturgical Dance Ministry, that not only promotes praise and worship through dance, but also unites those that minister in dance across denominational boundaries.
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Dawn acknowledges Karen Oates, of Dance Doctors, Katie Fazakerley of Lady Bay Ballet, and Alison Ray Dance Company, for the various techniques dance classes they provided over the years for Pilgrim Sacred Dancers and NLDNUK.
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Dawn is a qualified social worker and worked for Nottingham City Council for 30 years, largely in management within Fostering and Adoption. Now retired, Dawn is able to devote more time to establishing and developing the ministry the Lord has entrusted to her, using the many skills she had developed whilst working for the local government.
Dawn completed several online courses such as Back to Basics facilitated by NLDN. Graduated from PUSH 1 and 2 courses in 2016 (which were designed by Rev. Eyesha for UK participants). These programmes are now established within NLDNUK providing teaching, uniting worshippers, and sharing best practices. Dawn is one of the creators and lead facilitators of the PUSH 3 programme, which was launched in the UK in 2020 and is now a respected teaching programme around the UK for Liturgical dancers. She has completed ‘Eagles International Training Institute’ Dance 1 course graduating in 2018.
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Dawn has been married to Clement for over 40 years and he too has been instrumental in supporting her with this ministry. They have been blessed with 3 children and 3 grandchildren.
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Dawn’s desire has always been to be used by the Lord, but she continues to seek a deeper relationship with Him, an in-depth knowledge of the gift of dance to share with others for His glory.
Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all this through Him who gives me strength’
Sandra Julian
Assistant Director of NLDNUK
Sandra Julian has been a follower of Christ for many years. Sandra was called to dance ministry in 2014 since then Sandra currently leads a dance ministry called Vessel of Honour UK. Leading and educating women to become more active in ministering in dance for the Lord. Sandra also ministers as a solo dance minister and has been booked at many venues in and around the United Kingdom under the dance ministry Vessel of Honour.
Sandra is also the Assistant Director of National Liturgical Dance Network UK. A network which brings dance ministers together from around the world all with the aim to dance for the kingdom of God. The NLDNUK is part of National Liturgical Dance Network Global which is based in USA.
Sandra has studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, completed Post Graduate course in Community Dance. Furthermore, Sandra has also completed the PUSH Course (Praise Until Something Happens) 1, 2 and 3. This course was led by National Liturgical Dance Network UK.
Sandra’s vision is to bring healing and deliverance to the community through different dance routines.
Sandra consider it an honour to dance for the Lord - as David did - to show Joy in movement expressing his faithfulness and goodness bringing light, peace, love, and joy to the world.