They dance for the glory of the Lord.

The story of Madison residents and professional dancers Jiri and Cassandra Voborsky's faith and commitment to God could stop with the beauty of their work on stage. But they live out their faith in Christ-centered lives and marriage.

"They are an inspiration to the younger single dancers," said Kathy Thibodeaux, founder and director of Jackson-based Ballet Magnificat!, a Christian dance ministry, where the couple met in 1994.

After six years of being friends only, they married in 2000.

"We have so many people away from home for the first time who dance here," said Thibodeaux of the professional dance troupe that ministers to churches and secular audiences across the country and around the world through Biblical interpretive dance and classical ballet training. "We hope it is an environment where they will grow in their technical abilities and in their faith."

Although they grew up in vastly different worlds, their desire to honor God with their talents drew the couple together when they both moved to Jackson to join Ballet Magnificat!.

Jiri Voborsky graduated from the State School of Ballet in the Czech Republic.

"When communism fell in 1989, my professor introduced me to Christ," he said. "He was my ballet teacher."

"I was struggling with the whole aspect of darkness behind the curtain," Voborsky said of backstage life. "There is peer pressure in class to steal the eye of professors and to be the best in the class.

"There is non-stop competition among dancers, and the whole lifestyle — alcohol," he stopped, shaking his head.

Said Voborsky: "I lived with my parents at home until I was 14 and I moved to the State School. After that I saw them once a month. It was the hardest four years of my life.

"If I had to pick one word to describe the school years it would be 'darkness.' In ballet the focus is on making money. You are achieving things in a life-oriented focus. As a Christian that is not supposed to be the focus."

Disillusioned with his chosen career and trying to find his way as a new Christian in a predominantly atheist country, Voborsky decided to leave Europe and take three months of classes in Houston, Texas.

While he was there a choreographer showed him a video of Ballet Magnificat!

"I came for two weeks to see it and 10 years later, we're sitting here," he said from a quiet spot in the dance studio where he was taking a break from morning classes.

Cassandra Voborsky sat on the floor as their 1-year-old son, Benjamin, toddled around the room chasing a green apple. "It's amazing what the Lord has done with my life" she said.

She had been at Ballet Magnificat for a year when Jiri arrived.

"I grew up in Maryland, studied ballet and played soccer," she said. "I accepted Christ when I was 8 years old.

"I knew I was a sinner and needed a Savior. It was just that simple."

Said Cassandra Voborsky: "I left home at 18 to train with the Washington Ballet in D.C. and after seeing all the darkness in the dance world, I didn't have a heart for it anymore. At age 19, I realized it was futile."

Then in 1991 she heard about Ballet Magnificat!. She and a friend drove for five hours to attend a performance in Pennsylvania.

"I knew in my heart the Lord was combining my desire to glorify Him and to use dancing to share the gospel," she said.

She moved to Jackson in 1992 to study at the school until there was an opening for a professional dancer in the touring company. A year later, Jiri arrived.

"We worked together, became friends and we clicked as buddies and hung out a lot," she said.

There was never even a hint of romance between the two, although she admits she was interested in him. He didn't seem to notice.

Following Ballet Magnificat's code of conduct for integrity in the ministry, the couple was never alone together, never dated and never even held hands until after he asked her to marry him.

"I knew the Lord was leading me toward marriage," Jiri Voborsky said.

He said he just was not clear on the details and took a sabbatical to sort out his thoughts.

"I knew the best thing was to get out of here, so I went to Europe and South America on mission trips for three months," he said. "Between two trips I stopped at home and picked up a ring."

Once he returned, he carried the ring with him every day waiting to know when to propose. The perfect opportunity came, he said, when one evening a friend was visiting and Cassandra borrowed a boat from a friend and the group went sailing on the Reservoir.

For five years, she had been waiting and praying. Friends had told her to give up; he wasn't the one for her.

"I would ask the Lord if Jiri was the one," she said. "I knew the Lord would show me whether it was him or someone else.

"Then it was out of the blue. He pulled out a ring and proposed."

Once engaged, they chose to continue to follow the strict physical guidelines, and added some of their own, choosing only to hold hands until they were married. Their first kiss occurred at their wedding.

"We wanted to build a spiritual foundation first. We knew the physical would catch up," Jiri Voborsky said.

Everyone warned them the first year of marriage was difficult.

"But it was easy in a sense," said Cassandra Voborsky. "We knew each other so well and traveled together.

"It was fun to go to work together and minister together with your best friend."

They follow a daily schedule, leaving their home in Cobblestone subdivision and arriving at the studio by 9:30 a.m. for group prayers and devotion, followed by 90 minutes of ballet class, a short lunch break and an afternoon of rehearsals.

They are on the road touring two weeks out of each month.

Benjamin accompanies them to rehearsals and performances. Babysitters are provided when they are on stage.

Along with expecting their second child in May, "The Prodigal Son," a new program written and choreographed by Jiri Voborsky, will premiere in Jackson on Dec. 13-14.

"The Lord gave me the vision for it in late April," he said. "The story line is of the son growing up in a faithful family but not finding his need for the Lord until the middle of the program.

"There are aspects of darkness and humor as he comes to the understanding he needs the Lord."

Said Jiri Voborsky: "We don't want to do just a story. We want it to speak and have eternal affect when people leave the theater."

""Best bet"
     Los Angeles Times

"Best bet"
     TheStraitsTimes
     Singapore

"...sublime beauty...height of professionalism"
     Dallas Morning News

"...truly one of the most outstanding tributes to our Lord Jesus Christ that I've ever seen!"
     Dr. Ed Young
     Senior Pastor
     Second Baptist Church
     Houston, TX

"I've loved having the opportunity to work with Ballet Magnificat! They are extremely talented and gracious people who understand why they do what they do and truly offer their gifts to the Lord and to the body of Christ in ministry."
     Twila Paris
     singer/songwriter

"Every now and then a dramatic presentation comes along that pursues the Gospel with an unusual freshness and creativity that is deserving of the broadest possible exposure. Ballet Magnificat! is just that."
     Dr. David Berg, Pastor
     Calvery Chapel
     Brea, CA

"We have had nothing but positive feedback, both from the Christian community, and from the local ballet folks. Your dancing was not your only means of witness. Your whole team's loving, kind, patient attitude was a grand witness to those in our church who worked with you. One of the reasons your ministry has credibility is that you minister both off the dance floor and on."
     Keith Hill, Pastor
     Fain Presbyterian Church
     Wichita Falls, TX

"...our viewers were blessed to see the Lord glorified through this art of dancing"
     Pat Robertson
     The 700 Club

"The risks of putting dance to Christian music are legion. The choreography, for example, might become nothing more than melodramatic. Turning too far the other direction might lead to the sort of artistic abstraction that garbles the text and music in the eye of the beholder. Ballet Magnificat! walks that path with stunning success. She doubtless would say her choreography is inspired by God. So be it."
     Corpus Christi
     Caller-Times

"America's premier Christian ballet company"
     Charisma Magazine