Keeping the faith: Former Miami Heat dancer is on God’s squad now

The transition from Miami Heat dancer to Miami Heat chaplain hasn’t always been easy for Adrianna Smith.

A Heat dancer for three seasons (2016-2019), Smith didn’t make the team until her fifth try. By then she had just joined another team:

God’s squad.

Smith, ordained in 2022, is an evangelist at Victory Faith Chapel in West Palm Beach. She also has a ministry called: The Huddle.

But some people had a problem with Smith after she went on Facebook and posted two photos of her: one of her dancing with a bare midriff and the other of her preaching.

“A lot of people were encouraging, knowing that I had to go where God sent me. But other people were trying to stone me,” Smith said in a figurative sense. “That picture of me in my Heat uniform with a bit of my stomach out went viral. People were wondering how I could be a Heat dancer and also a preacher.”

Smith kept the faith — literally.

“I knew the truth,” said Smith, 32. “I understood when I made the team what God was going to use me to do.

“People judged me a lot. But I wasn’t going out [to party]. After games, I would go preach. As preachers, we are taught to be a light — even in darkness.”

Smith has been a light to many people, including 22-year-old Alexandra Alemany, who recently finished her third season as a Heat dancer.

Alemany said Smith meets with the dancers in the locker room before every home game.

Each time, Smith gives the women a card with a different Bible verse on one side and an inspiring quote on the other. Then, Smith explains what’s on the card and goes out of her way to speak to each dancer individually.

Smith, who is a Christian, then offers a group prayer, taking specific requests.

“What’s amazing about Adrianna is that even if there are girls on the team who don’t have the same faith as her, they still love [Smith]. They love the person she is and the message she shares.

“She never talks about dancing. She talks about life and how we can become the best version of ourselves.”

Alemany, who is planning to return to Miami Dade College this fall to major in chemistry, said she feels “seen” by Smith.

“I was raised with a faith in God, but I wasn’t overly religious,” said Alemany, who is also the director of business growth for a staffing company. “When I started living on my own is when I found a new relationship with God.

“Then I met Adrianna, and she became not only my chaplain but also my mentor.”

Smith, a Miami native, has had her own journey to God.

Speaking and performing in front of crowds comes naturally to Smith, who as a kid thought she would be a singer.

As it turns out, she didn’t have the voice for that profession, and she turned to dancing.

Smith didn’t come from a family of churchgoers, but she always loved God.

Then, in December of 2015, something dramatic happened.

“I was 25, and I had an on-and-off relationship with my boyfriend at the time,” Smith said. “It was not a good situation, but I went to see him in Orlando.

“As I hugged him goodbye, I heard a strong and audible voice saying: ‘This is the last time you will see this person.’

“It was such a loud voice that I started crying. I knew it was God.”

Smith decided to pursue a relationship with God.

“I was in a place of surrender,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to run anymore. I had come to the end of myself.”

Just a few months later, she made the Heat dance team for the first time.

That’s not a coincidence to Smith, who believes God is using her to reach people who might otherwise be unreachable.

One of those persons Smith has reached is Karina Webb, a 32-year-old former Heat dancer who had turned her back on religion … only to return like never before.

“I was born Catholic, but after age 17 or 18, I stepped away from church completely,” Webb said. “I had my own thoughts on God.

“But then I had a daughter and became a single mom. Adrianna told me about this church named Trinity.

“She said: ‘Why don’t you come to church with me?’ It didn’t take long for me to say yes.”

That was in 2016.

By 2018, Webb had been baptized.

“I had been baptized as a baby, but this was me as an adult, knowing what I know now, saying, ‘Yes, I’m going to give my life to God’.”

Webb, who is now a dance instructor, said she owes a lot to Smith.

“I thank God for Adrianna. She has seen all sides of me, and — even when she saw the ugly side of me — she never ran away,” Webb said.

“Adrianna is always there to help. She loves pouring into people. She has a beautiful heart, and I love her.”