Watch: Missionary Who Starred on Broadway Portrays First Vision through Dance

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Elder Tade Biesinger has loved to dance and entertain others ever since he was a little kid and remembers constantly showing his parents what cool new move he had come up with. 

Knowing they needed to find a creative outlet for their son, Tade's parents signed him up for neighborhood gym classes when he was 5 years old and formal dance classes when he was 7 years old, according to Deseret News

Four years later in 2011, Tade was dancing on Broadway in the title role of “Billy Elliot the Musical.” In 2013, he starred in that same role in London’s West End and then played the part once again in St. Louis in 2014. Throughout his busy dancing career, the church and seminary were always a priority for the dancer, Deseret News reported.

Now, the missionary is using his gift to portray a more spiritual story—the First Vision.

“I love dancing. It’s the way that I can express myself to show who I am, to connect with other people that I’m around,” says Elder Biesinger in a Facebook video, which was created by fellow missionary and videographer Elder Spoors.

Normally, Elder Biesinger says he tries to create moves that will entertain when he dances. But choreographing this number felt different than the others.

“This is the experience of a young boy, Joseph Smith, who lived something extraordinary,” says Elder Biesinger. “And as I thought about what he experienced, what he was going through, what he felt, that’s what I wanted to portray through this dance. And as I did that, it really touched me to think about how the heavens are opened—that we can talk with our Father in Heaven just like Joseph Smith did that day long ago.”

Watch Elder Biesinger's interpretation of the First Vision in the video below.

Featured Image: Facebook screenshot
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