April 29 is International Dance Day
2021 Alberta Messages for International Dance Day
Initiated in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute International Dance Day falls on April 29 of every year, commemorating the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a distinguished choreographer that brought about significant reforms in ballet production. Every year, an international message authored by a well-known dance personality is circulated around the world as part of International Dance Day celebrations.
ITI Unesco Message
Banner Image: Friedemann Vogel, Germany (Ballet Dancer)
“Everything starts with movement – an instinct we all have – and dance is movement refined to communicate. Much as flawless technique is important and impressive, it is ultimately what the dancer expresses inside the movement that is the essence.
As dancers, we are constantly on the move, aspiring to create these unforgettable moments. Regardless of the dance genre, it’s what every dancer strives to achieve. So, when all of a sudden, we aren’t allowed to perform anymore, with theatres closed and festivals cancelled, our worlds come to a standstill. No physical contact. No shows. No audiences. Never in recent history has the dance community been so collectively challenged to stay motivated, to find our raison d’être.
Yet, it is precisely when something precious has been taken away from us that we truly appreciate how vital it is what we do, and how much dance means to society at large. Dancers are often celebrated for their physical prowess, when in fact we are sustained even more by our mental strength. I believe it is this unique combination of physical and psychological agility that will help us overcome, to reinvent ourselves to keep dancing, and to keep inspiring.”
Canadian Dance Assembly
International Dance Day Actions & Celebrations
#PassTheDance
This year CDA is celebrating with a #passthedance chain linking dancers across the country! We have picked 12 dancers who have been inspiring us to keep moving. Look out on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter all day April 29th to witness their #passthedance chains and join in!
A message to the Dance Community on International Dance Day
Lauren Ritchie
We danced in our diapers.
Before we had words, training, history, or context.
Before we could filter, judge, or compare our moves and grooves.
In the most primal, uninhibited, wild and free way, we moved because it felt good. It felt truthful. It felt right.
Our drive to dance is more than moving our body. It is the embodiment of emotion, the physical manifestation of story, the expression of culture, the universal language of humanity.
I have dabbled in writing, yoga, graphic design, photography, not to mention an exhaustive number of exercise classes and disciplines. But nothing could ever replace the experience of dancing. The incomparable fusion of artistry and athleticism. The access to emotion. The feelings of freedom. The undeniable authenticity.
My soul always came back to Dance. Our souls are always wanting to dance.
Without rules or judgement.
Without expectations or conditions.
With full bold, unapologetic veracity.
As we celebrate International Dance Day, may we all reconnect with instinctual bops, our intuitive sways and, inevitably, our diaper bum bounces.
IDD EVENTS
Submit your International Dance Day event to:
- ADA via e-mail (incl. online streams, etc.)
- The Dance Current Magazine
- UNESCO International Dance Day (by email)
#InternationalDanceDay
In addition, please enjoy this: The official 2021 IDD UNESCO Message
80 years ago, Europe around 1941: a great part of Europe is occupied, curfew is imposed, radio is forbidden, sometimes no electricity. Families stay long evening hours at home with nothing to do, under conditions leading to depression and nervous breakdown – they get desperate.
Grandparents come to the rescue – their memories go back to the time when people could produce their own enjoyment, when they did not depend on TV, on dining out, going to the cinema or attending events. They had active, not passive entertainment. Younger ones had lost the ability to take pleasure in relating stories, telling jokes, singing and dancing at home in good company.
The aged people became the soul of the party singing the old songs, dancing the dances and taking the whole family with them, plus the neighbors. This is how the half-forgotten songs and dances jumped one generation and survived, producing after the War a revival of folk dancing.
As dance professionals, think of your role in the present situation of pandemic, lockdown and curfew. People need you now and will need you after this crisis. You produce a vaccine against the virus of the soul: you know how to make people dance. You hear the call, answer it!
President of the International Dance Council
CID, UNESCO, Paris
The official message for Dance Day is sent to dance professionals in 200 countries. Translate the message to your language, post it online, send it to the media. Find guidelines for your own celebration as well as previous DD messages at www.DanceDay.CID-world.org
Dance Day, every year on 29 April, established in 1982 and coordinated by CID, aims at attracting attention to the art of dance. It is celebrated by millions of dancers around the globe. On that day dance professionals organize an activity addressing an audience different from their usual one.
- The International Dance Council CID is the official organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world.
- Its members are the most prominent federations, associations, schools, companies and individuals in more than 170 countries.
- CID was founded in 1973 within the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it is based.
- CID is official partner of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
International Dance Day 2020
Alberta’s Official Messages
Official Messages for International Dance Day 2020 from Alberta
Wunmi Idowu
Artistic Director
Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc.
We are here. Bathed in uniqueness, pulsating with vibrant artistic traditions.
If you were to hold up a mirror to your soul what would you see? Would the mirror reflect a similar image if held up to the soul of your city, your home?
There is a disconnect between the existence and visibility of African diaspora in the Calgary arts scene. The intrinsic structures, rhythms, tones and textures that shape and enrich African cultures are scarcely represented in the visual, performing, and literary arts mainstream. Art making for Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc. became more than a question of what is being presented but how can we provide a unique opportunity for space making and a system breaking in the prairie region.
As I continue in my artistic practice, I am catalyzed by the desire to propel the arts to include topics that are often relegated to the margins of history and criticism. It begins with actively pursuing a shift in the canon rather than asking for permission for our voices and presence to be visible, scalable and impactful. This is an essential component in igniting critical moments of discovery and change among groups of people.
Dance has the power to transform culture and consciousness. It opens us up to an incredible sense of power that comes from the freedom of self-expression, demystifying the origins of modern dance forms to educate communities about other cultural nuances, and celebrating our creative spirit. The ever-growing reception to preserving the African culture in Calgary and Canada exhibits the powers and possibilities of dance as a tool of dialogue and deliberation of social, political, personal, and spiritual concerns.
My endeavors in dance continue to center around the idea of representing and communicating a sense of oneness that ensures that we do not lose our culture and inheritance for our children and our children’s children. Dance gives birth to our limitless potential, providing a window of investigation into the fears, questions, and desires that lurk amongst our personal closets of thought, perception, and spirit. Dance for me is survival and the privilege to live exclusively as an artist gives testament to the continual fulfillment of my life’s purpose. Undeniably, dance provides an avenue for healing; igniting sensations of freedom and applied effort while acknowledging moments of vulnerability and openness that are at the root of humanity and artistic expression.
Wunmi Idowu, Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc. | wuidowu@yahoo.ca
Facebook: @WoezoAfrica / Insta: @WoezoAfrica
Yukichi Hattori
Choreographer & Co-Founder
H/W School of Ballet
What is dance? I ask this question to my students and myself all the time. Emotion envisioned? Music translated to a movement? Passion that can not be contained? A way of communication?
There are so many answers to this question and all of them seem correct and wrong at the same time. Maybe if you could put it to words, it would deny the very nature of what dance is.
The only undeniable truth about it is that every living thing moves. Movement is a driving force for everything. Sound is movement. Energy is movement. Emotion is movement. Time is movement.
You could almost say dance is life itself. Just like black and white, moving, not moving and everything in between. There are infinite amounts of shade between the two extremities and therefore, the answer to “what is dance” is also infinite.
To celebrate dance is equivalent to celebrating life. As long as lifeforms exist, there is dance. To deny dance is like denying life. Dancer is not a profession. We have all seen different animals do their “dance”. It is not just for human beings.
We sometimes worry if dance will exist without patrons and sponsors. Set pieces, lighting, props, music, etc. All these things are great tools to make dance sophisticated, tell a great story, create an atmosphere. No matter what happens in the future, dance is still dance without any of it. As long as life exists, there will be dance.
Let’s keep dancing. So we keep living . Together.
Yukichi Hattori, Choreographer and H/W School of Ballet | yukichihattori@yahoo.co.jp
Facebook: @HWBallet / Insta: @hattoriwilliamson
Kimberley Cooper
Artistic Director
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks
My Fellow Dancers,
don’t forget
what we have in us
how it feels to get down and to soar
to laugh and cry with our bodies
and how we can physically speak in ways even poetry can’t
don’t forget
touch
and what it feels like to sync with other bodies
harmonize breath
to take up space
to embody music
the deliciousness of becoming those beats, that riff, that groove
how history lives through us
that our blood, muscles and bones carry deep knowledge
that we are alchemists, inventers, shape shifters
how watching us move can change how people think, feel, live
that many envy us
the richness of our lives, what burns in us
as we do not sit idle
but when we do, we can express a 500-page novel with our little fingers
know that in whatever comes, we will be looked upon for comfort and solutions
don’t forget
to keep listening
to whatever lights that fire
your pulse, wind, white noise, jazz music
to trust our ancestors
real and imagined
that through war and famine
through enslavement and desolation
through thick and thin
dance has survived
it will always be ours
to confide in that elusive in the moment magic we have in us and always will
in how we walk
how we hold our heads
and in my circles, how we can’t help but to respond to music
please don’t forget
this thing we have
in this moment
it may be contained
it may be resting
but it’s in us and it will rise again
Kim Cooper, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks | kcooper@decidedlyjazz.com
Facebook: @DecidedlyJazz / Insta: @DecidedlyJazz
Wen Wei Wang
Artistic Director
Ballet Edmonton
On this day we celebrate dance.
We celebrate the art of telling our stories with the body through the language of movement.
On this day we celebrate dancers who dedicate their lives to learning and growing and trying and reaching and being in the moment. They bring themselves to the work with so much beauty, skill and humanity.
On this day, we celebrate the creators who dream, who search, who long to say something, who find new language in every body they move.
On this day we celebrate the lighting and costume designers whose work illuminates, shapes, colors and intensifies the stories we tell – they are dancing with us.
On this day we celebrate the community who gathers to watch us, to listen, to ask questions, to weep, to laugh and to bear witness to everything we offer them.
And on this day we celebrate all the art that is born in Alberta, Canada and around the world.
We are all dancing to the beat of our own hearts.
Wen Wei Wang, Ballet Edmonton |
Facebook: @BalletEdmonton / Insta: @balletedmonton
Tara Wilson
Creative Director
Pulse Studios
Thank you DANCE for all you given me:
The gift of connecting to everything that is REAL:
What is more real than the human body?
What is more real than the connection we feel when we dance together?
What is more real than feeling the blood moving through your muscles and organs?
What is more real than the connection of mind and body as we navigate endless patterns of movement?
What is more real than falling through space, landing on the earth and breathing in the air?
Thank you for the moments that have inspired me, motivated me, healed me, cleansed me and taught me.
Thank you for the gift of raising my vibration into my BEST SELF:
A way of sharing my energy, speaking about my life experience, sharing my present state, connecting with others as the most pure form of myself – the body doesn’t lie!
Thank you for the gift of raising up my community and fellow humans: A way to help others, to serve and to effect change.
Thank you for filling me with love and compassion and joy and pain and anger and frustration and sadness and hunger. You have reminded me that I am ALIVE!
I am grateful.
Tara Wilson, Pulse Studios | tara@pulsestudios.ca
Facebook: @PulseStudiosCalgary / Insta: @PulseStudiosCalgary
Rebecca Sadowski
Métis Dance and Theatre Artist
This is Rebecca Sadowski- Métis dance and theatre artist from Edmonton Alberta. I wanted to give a big Happy international Dance Day to all of my fellow creators and dance artists out there.
If you’re like me right now, you’re at home and seeking connection to your community and to finding ways to navigate your way around this space we find ourselves in currently. I remind myself that this space has purpose, it is giving room for important work to be done, for healing, and for the earth to breathe. So I encourage you to find ways of connection whether that be virtually taking a class, or talking with loved ones and other artists about your work, or finding connection within yourself and your own bodies. It’s a vulnerable time, and remember to be gentle with yourselves and the expectations you have in your creative practises. Some days are more productive than others, but all of this time and space is okay and is completely valid. All the best to you today, dancers.
Rebecca Sadowski
IDD EVENTS
Submit your International Dance Day event to:
- ADA via e-mail (incl. online streams, etc.)
- The Dance Current Magazine
- UNESCO International Dance Day (by email)
#InternationalDanceDay
Ukrainian Shumka Dancers & Shumka School of Dance
In celebration of International Dance Day, the Shumka Dancers present Isolation Hopak, a compilation of Classic Hopak choreography performed by members of the company in isolation, and edited together by the fine eye of Senior Creative Director Les Sereda.
Shumka means “whirlwind,” a powerful display of artistry, energy and emotion through dance. Through their 60-year history, and after decades of performances near and far, the whirlwind has truly brought Ukrainian-Canadian heritage to the world and community together.
“These are trying times but we also know our community wants to see Shumka survive these hardships and come out stronger than ever”, says Executive Director Darka Tarnawsky. “If you are someone who is able to consider a gift of support during International Dance Day, rest assured your generosity will go a long way to keep the whirlwind moving. Consider supporting Shumka in this time of uncertainty. For as little as $25 per month, you can help us keep our boots moving!”
Even though the whirlwind is currently on pause, Shumka remains committed to doing everything they can to continue serving the community while supporting their dedicated dancers, instructors, and staff who are all part of preserving the Shumka legacy. From regular online rehearsals involving 50 dancers in homes around the Edmonton area, to video dance instruction custom-made for each Shumka School dance class; from online ballet and Ukrainian dance programs connecting seniors through remaining active, to choreography and craft challenges for young Ukrainian dancers across the globe; from complimentary access to video of past Shumka productions, to our upcoming Ukrainian dance workshops open to this new online world we live in, they are adapting their programming to the unique situation of today. It is as close as they can get to “the real thing,” but knowing it isn’t the same.
Shumka has temporarily postponed its Spring 2020 Shumka 60 On Tour dates until Fall 2020.
Edge Studios
Opens its Doors to the World for International Dance Day
Edge Studios, in Calgary, Alberta, opens its Zoom enhanced studio doors to the community and the world, for this year’s International Dance Day, Wednesday, April 29. This is an exciting first for the studio.
Free dance classes for dancers will be offered at the junior level ages nine to 11, intermediate for ages 11 up and advanced for 14 plus. To participate in these classes all that dancers will need is the free Zoom app.
Read more about Edge Studios digital dance class endeavour here on their blog!
Ballet Classes with Caitlin Lockwood
4-5 pm MST Junior Ballet Class Ages 9-11 (Zoom ID: 95365810065)
5:15- 6:15 pm MST Intermediate Ballet Class Ages 11 plus (Zoom ID: 95284567671)
6:30-7:30 pm MST Advanced Ballet Classes Ages 14 plus (Zoom ID: 98065576658)
Classes with Rylee Fieldstone
4-5 pm MST Intermediate Lyrical Ages 11 plus (Zoom ID: 74314127340)
5:15- 6:15 pm MST Junior Jazz Ages 9-11 (Zoom ID: 71493930648)
Classes with Kirsten Wicklund
4:30-5:30 pm MST Professional Insight Q&A
5:15-6:15 pm MST Yoga for Dancers
Classes with Amy Gardner
5:15-6:15 pm MST Intermediate/ Senior Urban Contemporary (Zoom ID: 88904144020)
6:30-7:30 pm MST Improve All Levels (Zoom ID: 83572502178)
Register Now!
To register and receive links and passcodes:
Send a Direct Message on Instagram to edgestudiosyyc
Or email Cyndi Scott cscott@edgeschool.com
Ballet Edmonton
Ballet Edmonton will host a live ballet class, taught by two of our dancers, Yoko Kanomata, and Diego Ramalho. They will be teaching from our studios, and it will be streamed from our Ballet Edmonton Facebook Page.
Good Women Dance Collective
STRENGTH & STRETCH WITH AUDREY BOCCARA
Wednesday, April 29 @ 7-8pm (Beginner)
Join on zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81810340124
Orchesis Dance Performance Group
Please join us on Saturday, April 25 for an online workshop to celebrate #internationaldanceday2020!
In addition, please enjoy this: The official 2020 IDD UNESCO Message
Before film and video, dance used to be “the evanescent art” – choreographies throughout history have disappeared while masterpieces of painting, sculpture, poetry, or theater remain for thousands of years. The widespread use of video has revolutionized the art of dance; its contribution is invaluable.
Dance Day 2020 is celebrated in cooperation with the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (CICT/ICFT), a partner of UNESCO just like CID. The general theme is “Youth-Dance-Video.” Choreographers and dance school directors are encouraged to produce a work executed by dancers under 18, record it on video and send it to be screened at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
This short choreographic piece should be inspired by values defended by UNESCO; for example: intercultural and interreligious dialogue; anti-doping; promoting shared history and memory for reconciliation; protect, promote, and transmit heritage; culture of peace, non-violence, and sustainable development; poverty, climate change, natural disasters, and social inequities.
You will find more values, such as equality, democracy, peace, and human values, at the portals of UNESCO and the United Nations. The challenge is how to portray such abstract notions through concerted movement on stage. The most important objective is for your young dancers to understand the importance of one or more of these values and to engage in expressing them.
On Dance Day the attention of the world is directed towards the art of dance. Video serves us immensely as a simple means for recording and disseminating our creative work. This year, dance and video will combine in celebrating the uplifting of humanity towards the noble goals set by its summit organizations.
Alkis Raftis
President of the International Dance Council
CID, UNESCO, Paris
Dance Day, every year on 29 April, established in 1982 and coordinated by CID, aims at attracting attention to the art of dance. It is celebrated by millions of dancers around the globe. On that day dance professionals organize an activity addressing an audience different from their usual one.
- The International Dance Council CID is the official organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world.
- Its members are the most prominent federations, associations, schools, companies and individuals in more than 170 countries.
- CID was founded in 1973 within the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it is based.
- CID is official partner of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
International Dance Day 2019
Submit your International Dance Day event to:
- Email ADA your Event (including online streams, etc.)
- The Dance Current Magazine
- UNESCO International Dance Day (by email)
#InternationalDanceDay
Alberta’s Official Message
The complete text of Sasha Ivanochko’s Official Message for International Dance Day 2019
Dance can be about, for and speak to many, many things. Underlying all the various purposes we attach to dancing, it is first an expression of our individual bodily form. Our bodies express what is in them; our history, our culture, our pedagogy, our scar tissue, our joy, our anatomical limits, our dreams, our strengths. As each of our bodies is unique and special, so is each expression. Even when moving in the most unison gesture, multiplicity is present. This is important.
When we share our dancing, we create multiple channels through which multiple discourses are uttered. It is not so important that we are entertained by dancing, but that we acknowledge it as a direct and valid form of communication. This is important.
Because dance is inherently multiple, receiving dance requires us to attend to and make space for what we love, but also what we do not understand. This is very important.
To hold this in our awareness is to think in revolutionary terms.
This is important.
This is a day to celebrate dance, but also each other, through dance.
Dance is life. This is most important.
Sasha Ivanochko | Alberta’s IDD Message
Artistic Director, Dancers’ Studio West, Calgary, AB
A great many thanks to Sasha Ivanochko for her thoughtful and inspiring words about dance, providing the Official IDD Message from Alberta for this year’s International Dance Day on April 29th!
Sasha Ivanochko is a choreographer, educator and the Artistic Director of Ivanochko et cie. In August 2018, she became the AD of Dancers’ Studio West, an organization dedicated to the evolution of contemporary dance practices in Alberta.
Sasha first developed her powerful physicality competing for ten years on the Canadian National Gymnastics Team. At the age of 14 she began training in Ballet and Modern dance at the Etobicoke School for the Performing Arts, and in 1991 she graduated from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She has an MFA Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University.
A virtuosic and multi-talented interpreter, she performed in the works of many outstanding choreographers, including Michael Trent, Peter Chin, Susie Burpee & Linnea Swan, Toru Shimazaki, Denise Fujiwara, DA Hoskins, Peggy Baker, James Kudelka, Tedd Robinson, Citadel & Compagnie and for nine seasons with Toronto Dance Theatre. During her final two years with TDT, Ivanochko was the Artistic Assistant to Director Christopher House.
Sasha made her choreographic debut in 1997, and since then has created a body of work renowned for its dramatic physicality, unflinchingly candid performances and detailed craftsmanship. Alongside her choreographies for Ivanochko et cie, she has been commissioned by Toronto Dance Theatre, Via Salzberg, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, TILT sound+motion, Toronto’s Crazyfish Collective, multiple Canadian dance conservatories and universities, and independent artists Helen Husak (Calgary) and Naoko Murakoshi (Kobe, Japan).
An educator since 1996, Miss Ivanochko has developed a training methodology that is specific to the demands of her choreography. The class supports participants developing a kinetic and interpretive understanding of her movement vocabulary, but as well encourages a broader range of skills that has applications towards many performance avenues. Sasha has guest taught internationally, was the Artist in Residence at The University of Calgary in 2014 and 2018, and is a regular guest artist at École de danse contemporaine de Montréal and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She currently teaches at The School of Alberta Ballet.
Sasha’s creative output extends into the worlds of other artists. She works as an outside eye for peers and provides creative facilitation and mentorship for young dance artists. A passionate advocate for the health and status of artists and the position of the milieu in greater culture, Sasha served as Chair of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, Ontario Chapter, from 2006-2009 and Chair of the Independent Standing Council with the Canadian Dance Assembly from 2009-2011.
Throughout her career, Sasha’s artistic contribution to the Canadian dance milieu has been acknowledged through a variety of awards and bursaries. She is a five time Dora Mavor Moore nominee for Outstanding Performance and Best Choreography, the recipient of the 2007 K.M. Hunter Award, a two-time recipient of the Chalmers Family Fellowship, and the first recipient of The Kathryn Ash Award dispersed by the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. In 2006, Sasha was profiled in the Bravo Channel Documentary Freedom Series. Her MFA research was awarded the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate-Masters Award.
Workshop with international Indigenous dance artist, Maura Garcia Dance
April 28 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Wild Mint Arts are pleased to present a workshop with international Indigenous dance artist, Maura Garcia Dance.
Ages: 12+
Cost: Sliding scale $5-$20, cash or email money transfer. Youth 12 to 18 are free. No one turned away due to lack of funds.
Drop-in and pre-registration accepted.
Please email wildmintarts@gmail.com for more information/confirmation of attendance.
About Dancing Stories Workshops:
These workshops allow people to move, learn and have fun while exploring the oral tradition through dance. Students interpret stories through self-created choreography and group dance collaboration.
About Maura Garcia Dance:
Maura Garcia Dance offers performances featuring choreographic works of Artistic Director Maura García and collaborating artists. García (non-enrolled Cherokee/Mattamuskeet) founded MGD to uplift Indigenous cultural values, to form connections and to explore the rhythms of the natural world. From compelling solos to community-integrating ensemble shows, MGD provides deeply engaging performances for the stage, the out-of-doors and in response to specific places and events.
García is dedicated to collaborating within communities to create stories of identity and place. Accordingly, MGD facilitates long-term collaborative arts projects exploring narratives and history through dance and other art forms. MGD also provides workshops, residencies and artists talks for both adults and children.
About Wild Mint Arts:
Wild Mint Arts is Calgary’s newest Indigenous performing arts company. We are dedicated to sharing Indigenous performing arts performances and educational opportunities from around the world.
MZD: Dance Blitz
April 29 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Final MZD Dance Salon, Dance Blitz, celebrates International Dance Day with 20 artists.
What does Black Sabbath have to do with plastic surgery? This International Dance Day, 20 local and national artists will explore various themes such as this one via short three-minute works at Mile Zero Dance’s (MZD) Dance Blitz, as part of MZD’s Dance Salon.
“For International Dance Day, we wanted to zoom in on the city’s broad dance community,” says Gerry Morita, Artistic Director of Mile Zero Dance. “We wanted to connect the city’s dancers together under one roof to promote dance and showcase the amazing talent we have right here.”
Hosted by Rapid Fire Theatre’s Sydney Campbell, the interdisciplinary dance salon will feature works three minutes or less including: Sean Freya Giroux with a movement-based dance on plastic surgery; Jen Mesch with a solo response to a recorded rant regarding a warm front during a Saskatchewan winter; emerging Calgary-artist Amy Badry with a contemporary and street style piece—combining vogue, lite feet, and hip-hop dance styles—in a new work called “When Life Gives You Lemons”; Su Lin Tseng with a contemporary Chinese dance that examines the internal struggle of womanhood; and more.
Featuring: Afternoon, Amy Badry, Gerry Morita, Iskotew Iskewak, Jen Mesch, Jordan Sabo, Kat Smy, Kate Stashko, Lesley Kosinski, Leslie Bellydance, Leslie Holmes, Lin Snelling, Naren Ganesan, Raena Wadell, Sangea, Sean Freya Giroux, Shaktiflow Studio, Su Lin Tseng, and Zach Polis.
Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Tickets are available online at https://danceblitz.eventbrite.ca or at the door. For more information, visit: http://milezerodance.com/2017/2018-salons-dance-blitz/
About Mile Zero Dance
Mile Zero Dance Society is an Edmonton-based contemporary dance company that creates and produces original dynamic interdisciplinary works focusing on performance, collaboration, community outreach, and training.
Sangharsh – The Conflict Within
April 26 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Natyam Dance Academy cordially invites you to an evening of south-Asian dance and music.
Evening features presentations by local talents and a dance theatre presentation ‘Sangharsh – The conflict within’ featuring our guest dancer Karthik Datar from Bangalore, India and a with live music ensemble.
‘Sangharsh’ – constant conflict within every being explored through the characters of Mahabharatha.
Music: Dr. Deepak Paramashivan
Choreography and dancers: Malavika Venkatsubbaiah and Karthik Datar
Tix Adult $15/ under 12 – $10.
International Dance Day Workshops – Fundraiser
April 27 @ 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Hello Orchesis Members and the Dance Community at Large!
We are hosting our annual
International Dance Day Workshops – Fundraiser
April 27, 2019
Hosted by – Orchesis Dance Performance Group Supported by – Orchesis Dance Society Location: University of Alberta VVC 2-635 Dorothy Harris Dance Studio.
The schedule is:
10 – 11 am Garuda – Raena Waddell
11:15 – 12:15 Ballet – Emily Noton
12:30 – 1:30 Contemp/Jazz – Emily Noton
1:30 – 2:00 Lunch Break
2:00 – 3:00 Contemp/Modern – Tamara Bliss
3:15 0 4:15 Indian Folk – Riya Mittal
4:30 – 5:30 Yoga – Lyndsey Daniels
FEES FOR WORKSHOP:
Adults/University students: $15/class,$60/day, 35/half day (AM or PM session)
High school students: (*must show ID)
$10/class, $45/day, $25/half day
For registration:
Contact Orchesis Director – Kathy Metzger-Corriveau at kathym@ualberta.ca
For payment:
ODS website –www.orchesisdancesoc.ca
Paypal, etransfer —> orchesisdancesociety@gmail.com
Drop-in: at the DOOR
2019
If you have an upcoming event for International Dance Day 2019, be sure to let us know!
2018
Initiated in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute, International Dance Day falls on April 29 of every year, commemorating the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a distinguished choreographer that brought about significant reforms in ballet production. Since 2005, the Canadian Dance Assembly has issued a Canadian message in conjunction with the UNESCO message. This year, CDA invited Vivine Scarlett of Dance Immersion to share her inspirational message to all Canadians.
The universal movement of dance releases the very essence of what is all around us. It connects and weaves so deep that one can feel the wisdom, patience and graciousness of its flow. With each move made there is a giving and receiving communication in that universal experience. Dance is a vehicle that lends itself to learning about oneself. It helps us move through life’s experiences by expressing our stories and our history, by commenting on our present and nurturing our future.Dance for you.
Dance for us.
Just dance and let the rhythm of our spirits soar in the movement of DANCE.
~ Vivine Scarlett
Vivine Scarlett is an administrator, choreographer, and instructor, whose artistic goals and aspirations are rooted in the love of dance. She is the Founder and Executive Director for dance Immersion, an organization that presents, produces and supports dancers and dances of the African Diaspora and provides a variety of programs for children and adults. Vivine’s contributions to the field of dance are generated from an energy that has fuelled her passion leading her on a journey for over 34 years of giving and serving through the arts. As former Artistic Director and performing member of the Usafiri Dance & Drum Ensemble, Vivine created and presented works in both traditional influenced African and contemporary African dance styles.
Drawn to all kinds of dance expressions and movement, Ms. Scarlett’s passion has manifested many experiences that have served Canadian artists of African descent with opportunities that have laid a foundation for continued growth and representation. Vivine is the recipient of the 2016 Dance Ontario Lifetime Achievement award with numerous other awards which some include: Planet Africa Heritage Award received for her contributions; a Chalmers Arts Fellowships to work with youth in Ghana, West Africa; Dora Mavor Moore award for her choreographic endeavours in the theatre production of “The Adventures of a Black Girl in search of God”; a Dora nomination for her work in “The Freedom of dreams: The Story of Nelson Mandela” and a K.M. Hunter Dance Artist award to list a few. Ms. Scarlett has taught for numerous institutions and organizations throughout Canada.
Her efforts to connect international Blacks in dance to Canada has resulted in dance Immersion bringing two youth organizations to perform in Ghana West Africa. Under her guidance, dance Immersion has hosted two International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) Conference & Festival and preparing to host this event again in 2021. Vivine continues her creative explorations as a freelance choreographer while nurturing a new generation in arts administration.
International Dance Day Youth Messages submitted to Alberta Dance Alliance
Sophie Margaret Leiteh – Grade 7 ~ “I dance for myself, I do not dance for you. I do not dance for the technique, but my body. I dance for the choreography and for the music. I do not dance for approval, recognition. I dance to instill that small feeling into onlookers that is so indescribable. When we begin to dance not for the sake of dance, but for the sake of competition, we lose the dance itself. And so take the critique and tips and listen to your teachers, and those critics that pick you apart and try to separate movement from technique. But when you dance, dance for dance. When the going is tough, and the success is little, that is when you separate artist from athlete. And when we dance for others, dance for their hearts, not their minds.”
Anna Johnson – Grade 7 ~ “Dance is a universal language. Dance can communicate everything about someone. When i dance, I feel as if a weight is being lifted from my shoulders. Dance makes me feel vulnerable and strong at the same time. Dance is more than an art form, It is a life style.”
UNESCO International Messages – April 29, 2018
Initiated in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute, International Dance Day falls on April 29 of every year, commemorating the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a distinguished choreographer that brought about significant reforms in ballet production. Every year, an international message authored by a well-known dance personality is circulated around the world as part of International Dance Day celebrations. Check the ITI Unesco website to view the international message.
To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the International Theatre Institute and to underline the cross-cultural and international aspect of this common language – Dance, the Executive Council and the International Dance Committee of ITI have selected five message authors to write a message – one from each of the five UNESCO Regions: Africa, the Americas, Arab Countries, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Africa: Salia SANOU, Burkina Faso
>>More info about Salia SANOU
>>International Dance Day 2018 Message Salia SANOU
Arab countries: Georgette GEBARA, Lebanon
>>More info about Georgette GEBARA
>>International Dance Day 2018 Message by Georgette GEBARA
Asia Pacific: Willy TSAO, Hong Kong, China
>>More info about Willy TSAO
>>International Dance Day 2018 Message by Willy TSAO
Europe: Ohad NAHARIN, Israel
>>More info about Ohad NAHARIN
>>International Dance Day 2018 Message by Ohad NAHARIN
The Americas: Marianela BOAN, Cuba
>>More info about Marianela BOAN
>>International Dance Day 2018 Message by Marianela BOAN