After school, about 18 students meet in the dance room at Marymount High School. They stretch, bend and flex legs, arms and back in preparation for the afternoon's practice. They seem quieter and more purposeful than their friends on the school's walkways heading to rides home. They are members of the Marymount Liturgical Dance Ensemble, practicing for Youth Day at the 2006 Religious Education Congress.

After Communion at this year's Youth Day liturgy, these young girls will prayerfully perform "Stand Up For Love" by Destiny's Child. Chosen as the anthem for the United Nations-sponsored 2005 World Children's Day, "Stand Up For Love" is a reminder that each person can make a difference to the children of the world --- to those who suffer and die every day as a result of starvation, abuse, AIDS and warfare.

"If we all stand together this one time, then no one will get left behind," read the lyrics of the song. Marymount students --- through their movements, gestures and arabesques --- convey the belief that the world is obligated to "stand up for life, stand up and sing, stand up for love."

Marymount's Liturgical Dance Ensemble has worked for many long hours after school to prepare for Youth Day. Under the leadership of director Marina Benedict, this troupe of students has learned that prayer can be expressed in gesture and movement as well as in words.

"I like it because it is a way to express yourself other than in using words or writing," says Kristen Partipilo, student captain of the ensemble, who danced at Youth Day 2005 and before last year had danced off and on since kindergarten. "You can become in touch with yourself and who you are and just find inner tranquility."

Dancing at Youth Day 2005 was very moving for Kristen, which she says "wasn't like performing in any other setting. All those people really respected who you were."

Senior Connolly Smith is nearly speechless as she tries to describe the experience of dancing in front of her peers at Youth Day. "It's an honor for me because it makes me part of such a large celebration," she says finally. "It gives me an opportunity to express my faith in a different way than I am normally able to do. It is the reverence, just the feeling you have when you are up there --- it's incomparable."

Connolly has danced at Youth Day since her freshman year. She is also the campus ministry representative on Student Council and a member of the school's Mission Integration Steering Committee, which helps to integrate into school life the mission of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary sisters who sponsor Marymount.

Dance at Marymount is incorporated into liturgies, prayer services, the school's Winter Concert and at special events. Recently the ensemble danced at a school fundraiser for Marymount's sister school in Zambia, Africa.

"It has been a personal commitment of mine to integrate dance within our liturgies," says Dr. Mary Ellen Gozdecki, Marymount principal. "I firmly believe that we bless life by dancing, and that with each gesture of praise our prayer is deepened."

Dr. Gozdecki attributes the strength of the dance program to teacher Benedict who has taught dance at Marymount High School for the past three years. "Marina's remarkable gifts in this area have graced our students who dance and our school community as we worship," says Gozdecki. "All of us have rejoiced as our students have also shared this joyful message at Youth Day and in other meaningful settings."

"It's why I've danced my whole life," says Benedict. "It's been a huge part of my relationship with God --- it makes me closer to God and the whole community. It's a universal communication. For me I don't think there is any other way to glorify the beauty of life than in dance --- and with gratitude and celebration."