I got rid of the sharks before I completed the Lift and established my orchid. Now when i do my weather dance it doesn't rain (my previous tribe died, and when they rain danced it rained.)
So now my question is, does the weather dance make it rain?
and does completing the shark puzzle before the lift puzzle cause some kind of glitch?
please any kind of knowledge would be a real big help. My little village is finally up and running on my 3rd attempt, and i really dont want to start again.

Those particular puzzles are not related, so it's unlikely that you've caused a problem with your game. It's probable that you've forgotten the correct procedure for successful weather dancing. We get a lot of questions from people who are playing the game again and can't make various puzzles work, because they've forgotten something important. It's very easy to do.

You could always refer to the Official VV3 Guide to refresh your memory, or just click below for the quick answer.

And ...

Thanks guys, I finally got my orchid up and running. Just needed a little patience and I think I wasn't doing my weather dance properly.

My chief is 3 years old. I have his leadership up to 2nd level (actually everything is 2nd level) and all 4 available adults dancing with him. But nothing happens. I know he has to be 18 to start teaching other kids...does he also need to be 18 to do the weather dance?

There are some specific requirements for the weather dance to work. If you want to see the exact requirements, you can check our Official Game Guide.

Three of my adults are adapt farmers, do all 4 need to be?