Dance Day celebrations
With my best wishes for our Day
Prof. Dr. Alkis Raftis
President of the CID
Guidelines for the Dance Day official website
1. Go to the website www.DanceDay.CID-world.org
Find your region and the location of your event.
2. Send a message to us including:
– Country, region and location of your event
– Attach one image in format .jpg maximun size 1 mB
or one text in format .doc
3. Send to your contacts a link to www.DanceDay.CID-world.org
inviting them to visit it.
4. Find in the website the official message.
Read the message at your event.
Do not hesitate to write to us in case the above is not clear.
With best wishes for the celebration of Dance Day
Dance Day preparations
On the 29th of April, as every year since 1982, the official Dance Day will be celebrated all over the world by millions of dancers. It is an initiative of the International Dance Council CID, UNESCO.
We have prepared the following guidelines as a checklist for persons active in the wider field of dance: teachers, choreographers, group leaders, journalists, researchers, associations, suppliers, organizations etc.
Object
The main purpose of Dance Day events is to attract the attention of the wider public to the art of dance. Emphasis should be given to addressing a new public, people who do not follow dance events during the course of the year.
Events
Dance Day events may be special performances, open-door classes, public rehearsals, lectures, exhibitions, articles in newspapers and magazines, dance evenings, radio and TV programs, visits, street shows, parades, shop window decorations etc.
Organizers
Events are primarily organized by dance companies, amateur groups, schools, associations and other institutions active in dance. Wherever possible, it is better for events to be organized jointly with a non-dance institution such as a government agency, a public school, a municipality, a business enterprise, a trade union.
Content
Organizers have full freedom to define the content of the event.
Make sure that you include general information on the art of dance, its history, its importance to society, its universal character. This can be done in a short speech, a note in the program, a text distributed to those present. By adding this dimension you make the event different from dance activities taking place any other day.
Read a message from a prominent personality, a poem, a passage from a text by a famous author.
Coordination
In order to achieve maximum success, it is important that preparations start early enough.
It is imperative to inform the press and generally the media about your event.
Notify an organization holding a central position at regional or national level, which should publish a list of events planned for Dance Day.
Entrance to events should preferably be free, or by invitation. Invite persons who do not normally attend dance events.
Location
At best, events should take place in “new” places, such as streets, parks, squares, shops, factories, villages, discotheques, schools, stadiums etc.
By setting the event in original surroundings you stress the fact that this is an event dedicated to the universal family of dancers.
Ideas for Dance Day
Every year, millions of dancers around the globe celebrate World Dance Day on 29 April. Initiated in 1982 and coordinated by CID, it is not linked to any particular form of dance.
Further to our documents “Dance Day Preparations” and the “Annual Official Message”, here is a list of ideas for this special day. We want to make sure that more and more persons on the planet will practice dance, watch dance or think dance.
1. Performances
Stage a performance, not as you would have presented another day, but a different one: change the content of the performence, or the venue, or the way you advertize it, or the persons who execute it.
2. Classes
Teach in a different way: hold non-stop open-door classes, teach to new people (very young, very old, impaired, passers-by etc.), in new locations (kindergarten, supermarket, factory, prison, hospital, ship, barracks etc.).
3. Lectures
Explain dance: people are used to watching dance or dancing themselves, but they very rarely think dance. Tell them about it, or invite speakers from various areas (historians, writers, journalists, painters, musicians, politicians, religious etc.) to speak about dance.
4. Exhibitions
You can exhibit collections of costumes, photographs, accessories, postcards, postage stamps, posters, books, works by your dancers, your students etc.
5. Articles
Write an article and send it for publication to a magazine or a newspaper. Ask a journalist to write an article with you, presenting your work and your ideas. Write a poem; make a blog; use social media to circulate news, photos, videos.
6. Programs
Cooperate with a TV or radio station to produce a program.
7. Parades
Parades are very popular and mobilize crowds to watch. There are of three kinds: a) Ensembles advance more or less continuously while dancing. b) They dance for a few minutes, then they advance all together, then they dance again, c) They dance on platforms drawn by cars. Sections of the CID cooperate with municipalities to organize parades or other events.
8. Decorations
Public places are decorated around the theme of dance. Private places too, such as shop windows or building fronts – you can ask shop owners to take part in a competition for the best decoration.
9. UNESCO open policy
Dance Day is open to all, there is no copyright, no exclussivity, no priorities.
Members of the CID pioneer in celebrating, all others are encouraged to follow.
DD is addressed to all: dancers and non-dancers, amateur and professional, young and old, private business companies as well as public institutions and agencies.