Celebrate National Dance Week

Dance Magazine, April, 2003

Seven, even eight, days a week are no longer enough to celebrate National Dance Week. So the Coalition for National Dance Week, which sets the official dates, has designated ten days this year in which to celebrate and propagate the idea and embodiment of dance. Traditionally, the week includes the April 29 birthday anniversary of eighteenth-century ballet master and dance theorist Jean-Georges Noverre. On these pages are some examples of events that are planned for NDW 2003 in various parts of the U.S. But, what, you may be thinking, can you do this year? Here are some suggestions.

Buy a ticket. Buy two and take a friend, a student, a stranger. Support other members of the dance community and recharge your own batteries by seeing someone else's dancing. National Dance Week is a grassroots movement that is meant to show dance and its possibilities to those who don't already know. Its mission is "to heighten the awareness of dance and its contributions to our culture. Dance is good for the mind, body, and spirit." So show someone.

If you have a performance, provide flyers from neighboring companies. What's good for one company's dance is good for all dance. The more people know or see, the more they understand, like it, and participate.

Involve the greater dance community, such as dance-medicine specialists or bodywork practitioners, production technicians and designers, publicity and promotion planners, and administrators. Arrange an open workshop so the public will know about the symbiotic relationship between performance and its support system.

Take a risk. Put your shoes on--or take them off--and try a different form or style yourself. Dance-a-thons often attract new or sometime dancers back into the fun since they can join in anytime and not be judged on their performance.

Write a letter to your parents, a soldier, editor of a newsletter you read, your alumni association, the free weekly paper, your favorite radio or television station's assignment editor--or your governor. Announce National Dance Week 2003 to them, explain what it's about and invite them to help you get the word out (and maybe include news of your planned events).

Contact your school or public library. Libraries are under siege right now with federal, state, and municipal budget cuts that mean no new acquisitions. Make them a gift of dance magazines, books, of videos. Volunteer to help them set up a display about dance or to read or demonstrate during story time for little readers during this week.

Follow Kim Shipp's lead. She invites audiences to see the rehearsals and processes for her next work, which is to premiere at the Retail Dance Festival. A retail dance is one in which choreography, improvisation, of audience activities take place in a shop setting, such as store windows and showrooms (see "Twenty-Five to Watch," DANCE MAGAZINE, January 2001, page 54).

Don't just reach out, reach in. Demonstrate your own dance heritage. Every dancer has a family tree that is rooted on every teacher and tradition he of she learns. Make that really clear this week. Who were your teachers, and who and where did they learn from? Bournonville, Cecchetti, Vaganova? Clogging, hoofing, or zapateado? Giordano of Luigi? Could you be an Ailey dancer without knowing about Katherine Dunham and Lester Horton? Fayard Nicholas of the famed Nicholas Brothers tap duo is the 2003 national celebrity spokesperson; Jo Rowan, head of Oklahoma City University's dance department, is national education spokesperson. Past spokespersons have included Gregory Hines, Chita Rivera, Paula Abdul, Gus Giordano, Ann Reinking, Joe Tremaine, Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Allen, Sandy Duncan, Luigi, and Ben Vereen. Where do they fit on your family tree? Maybe you could have them tell their heritage.

Prepare entries for next year's poster contest (see below) and display them so they are ready for the January 5, 2004, deadline.

More information on National Dance Week is available at www.nationaldanceweek.org. NDW is co-sponsored by United Dance Merchants of America and UNITY, an association of dance teaching organizations. Patricia A. Goulding is executive director. Special thanks to her for helping to assemble our sampling of NDW events.

APRIL 25-MAY 4

APRIL 26 AND 27

HARRISBURG, PA

Regional Director Janice Brougher, in conjunction with the Greater Harrisburg Arts Council, will produce the fifth annual kickline on the steps of the state capitol on Sunday, April 27, at noon. Holly Evans, a Harrisburg native and present member of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, will instruct a kickline that follows the event, held at Strawberry Square in Harrisburg. Scheduled workshops will offer classes for beginning through advanced levels in ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. For information and registration, contact Janice Brougher at 717/691-5567 or janice@studio91.com.

APRIL 25-MAY 3

PHOENIX, AZ

Arizona's weeklong festivities end with its fourth annual "Celebration of Dance" May 3 at the Herberger Theater in Phoenix, at 7:30 P.M. Dee Dee Wood (an Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer) will be a special guest at the event co-hosted by performance artist, dancer, and actress Gina Tleel and celebrity spokesperson Stacy Van Dyke (daughter of Dick Van Dyke). Former NDW Spokesperson Joe Tremaine will be a guest speaker. Festivities include tap workshops and a performance, classes, seminars, and a dance-video-viewing party. Local dance performers include Ballet Arizona, Scorpius Dance Theatre, and regional college and university troupes. Contact Helena Saraydarian: 623.465.2720 or helenasaraydarian@yahoo.com.