About Us


Paradosi Ballet Company is a touring ballet company that utilizes dance as a ministry tool for evangelism and worship. The ministry is the Pacific Northwest's first professional Christian ballet company that was founded in 2007 by Joel and Tennille Carver with the goal of sharing the love of Jesus Christ through dance, drama, and personal witness.  While the ministries primary focus is on the West Coast of the United States, the company has toured extensively across the United States and Europe proclaiming the name of Jesus to the world!


The dancers in the ministry are all full-time volunteers who have a passion for the Lord and making Him known.  Instead of entering the entertainment world, these women have chosen to use their gifts to glorify the Lord and draw people to Him.   The members of the ministry do not want to be seen as entertainers but rather as worship leaders and evangelists proclaiming the name of Jesus to the world!


Paradosi currently dances at a wide variety of venues such as churches, conferences, theaters, fairs, festivals, fundraisers, schools, shelters, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and even on street corners. 


Why Form A Ballet Ministry


The arts have the unique ability to cross social, language, economic, and cultural boundaries like no other medium. Using dance as a ministry tool opens doors that might never otherwise be opened to share the Gospel and reach the lost. 


When Paradosi dances during evangelistic outreach programs people stop, watch, listen, and often start asking questions; questions that will change their life forever. 


When Paradosi dances in a church, it is our hope that we will lead God's people in worship in a way that they never thought possible.  It is our desire that the congregation will have an encounter with God that transcends their understanding of His immense love for all of us and that they may be inspired to use their own gifts for the glory of God. 


Dancing in churches also presents an opportunity for the members of a congregation to invite their friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors to an event that may stimulate conversations that will open the door for them to witness to the people in their circle of influence.  


We want all to be saved and when we come to a community we want to partner with the work already being done by the local body of Christ in sharing His hope with the world!

Our History

Founders Joel & Tennille Carver


How It All Began

Before starting Paradosi, founders Joel and Tennille Carver both ministered with Ballet Magnificat, the world’s premier Christian Ballet Company located in Jackson, Mississippi. 


While serving at Ballet Magnificat, Tennille was blessed to be mentored by Director Kathy Thibodeaux and after three years of training and dancing she began teaching in the ministries school of the arts. During her tenure, she helped to develop Ballet Magnificat's Trainee Program overseeing thirty college aged students while directing Ballet Magnificat II for six years. 


After ten years of service in that ministry, Joel and Tennille felt God calling them back to the Pacific Northwest where they were both born and raised.  With the Carver's having a deep passion for the Pacific Northwest, the arts, and most importantly for their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they began the process of forming Paradosi.  After two years of preparation, counsel, and recruiting, the plans fell into place and Paradosi came to life in August of 2007.  


During the first year of ministry Paradosi received dancers from all over the country with the same passion as the Carver's to worship the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength as well as present the gospel of Jesus Christ through dance, drama, and personal witness.    As additional talent and resources came alongside of Paradosi the ministry started a school of the arts and a Trainee Program to mentor, disciple, and train the next generation of Christian artists to glorify the Lord through dance.  


After eight-years of faithful service as the Directors of Paradosi, the Lord placed it upon the Carver's to focus on their family and they stepped aside to let the next generation of leaders carry the ministry into the next decade.  The Carver's still serve as council to the ministry leaders and are excited to see how the Lord will continue to use Paradosi in the years to come.