Tuesday, 2 May 2017

What was International Dance Day?

The first person to wish me a Happy International Dance Day was Sir Matthew Bourne who tweeted the following greeting:
The British Museum followed suit
as did the National Ballet of Canada
Edinburgh University
and many other dance companies, ballet schools, educational institutions, dancers and others though, apparently, not Ore Oduba:
But what exactly was International Dance Day?

Well according to its official website "International Dance Day was created by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute ITI, the main partner for the performing arts of UNESCO." The day falls on the 29 April as it was the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727 - 1810).

So how was it celebrated?

Apparently, there was a mega shindig in Shanghai with a conference, workshops and a whole load of performances.

There were also satellite events in the Azores, Buenos Aires and Leipzig.

According to the Celebrating the International Dance Day page of the ITI website, anybody and everybody can organize an event but it does not appear that anybody outside Shanghai, Argentina, Germany and the Azores has actually done very much about it.

I think Ore Oduba can be forgiven for missing International Dace Day ..... don't you?

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