International Dance Day 2016- Preparations

On April 29, 2016, as every year since 1982, International Dance Day will be celebrated around the world.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The International Dance Council CID has prepared the following guidelines for World Dance Day, proposing a useful list of ideas to those institutionally involved in the broader field of dance: teachers, choreographers, group managers, journalists, researchers, associations, suppliers, organizations, etc. The proposed actions related to dance and addressed to everyone interested are also presented in detail.

Target

The main goal of the events is to draw the attention of the general public to the art of dance. Emphasis is placed on attracting a “new” audience, i.e. people who do not participate in dance events during the year.

Events
Dance Day events can be: special performances, open lessons, public rehearsals, lectures, exhibitions, articles in newspapers and magazines, dance evenings, radio and television broadcasts, visits, outdoor performances, parades, etc.

Organizers
These events are primarily organized by professional or amateur groups, schools, clubs and other organizations active in dance. It is preferable to co-organize with an organization with a purpose other than dance, such as a public service, a school, a municipality, a business, a union.

Content
The organizers have complete freedom to define the content of the event. They make sure to include general information about the art of dance, its history, its importance for society, its global character. This can be done with a short speech, a note in the printed program, a text distributed to the audience. By adding this dimension, we differentiate the event from others that take place on any other day. You can read a message from a personality, a poem, a quote from a famous author.

Coordination
To ensure the greatest possible success, preparations should start early. It is essential to inform the media about the event. Inform a central organization at national or regional level, which will publish a list of events for World Dance Day. It is preferable that admission is free, or by invitation. Invite people who do not usually attend dance events.

Locus
In the best case scenario, the events take place in “new” spaces, such as streets, parks, squares, shops, factories, villages, discos, schools, stadiums, etc. By placing the event in an original context, we emphasize that it is dedicated to the planetary family of dancers.

Programming
If you would like your event to be included in the national program of events for Dance Day, please contact: Greek Dance Theater “Dora Stratou”, Scholeiou 8, Plaka, 10558 Athens, tel. 210 324 4395, fax 210 324 6188, [email protected].

Beyond the text for the preparations and the official message, below are some ideas about what one can do on International Dance Day, where hundreds of millions of people on the planet dance, watch dance or think about dance.

1. Performances
Put on a show, preferably different from the ones you've presented so far. Change the content of the show, or the space where you appear, or the way you present it, or the people who watch it.

2. Lessons
Teach in a different way, for example: uninterrupted lessons, with free entry, with other students (very young, very old, with special needs, passersby, etc.), in a new place (kindergarten, supermarket, factory, prison, hospital, ship, barracks, etc.).

3. Speeches
Explain dance – people are used to seeing dance or dancing, but very rarely think about dance. Talk to them about it or invite speakers from various fields of knowledge (historians, writers, journalists, painters, musicians, politicians, priests, etc.)

4. Exhibitions
You can exhibit a collection of costumes, photographs, objects, postcards, stamps, posters, books, etc.

5. Articles
Write an article and submit it for publication in a magazine or newspaper. Ask a journalist to write an article with you, presenting your work and ideas.

6. Programs
Participate in the production of a radio or television program.

7. Parades
Parades are very popular and attract crowds of spectators. There are three types: a) The groups move forward more or less continuously, dancing. b) They dance a little, everyone moves forward at the same time, dance again, c) They dance on platforms pulled by cars.

8. Decorations
Public spaces are decorated with a dance theme. Private spaces too, such as storefronts – you can ask shopkeepers to take part in a competition for the best decoration.

Dr. Alkis Raftis
President of the International Dance Council CID UNESCO, Paris
President of the "Dora Stratou" Theater, Athens

Article source: dancetheater.gr