National Dance Day is this Saturday!

National Dance Day is coming up this Saturday, July 25! Launched in 2010 by So You Think You Can Dance Co-Creator and Dizzy Feet Foundation Co-President Nigel Lythgoe, National Dance Day is an annual celebration that takes place on the last Saturday in July.

This grassroots campaign encourages Americans to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health and fight obesity. NDD achieved national recognition when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a longtime proponent of healthy lifestyles, announced at a press conference on July 31, 2010, in Washington, D.C., that she was introducing a congressional resolution declaring the last Saturday in July to be the country’s official National Dance Day.

This year, dancers, studios and companies across the country are hosting events. Check out all the NDD events here to find a celebration happening in your area.

As always, the Dizzy Feet Foundation joins with the Music Center in Los Angeles for a West Coast celebration while Senator Norton hosts events at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. These activities are free and open to the public.

At the Music Center, Lythgoe and SYTYCD Season 9 winner Chehon Wespi-Tschopp, along with other celebrity dancers, will be on hand to lead two dances for attendees. The routines, which include the “Beginner Routine,” choreographed by tWitch, and the “Advanced Routine,” choreographed by Travis Wall, both to “Shut Up and Dance,” are available at www.musiccenter.org/nationaldanceday.

Meanwhile, the East Coast installment of National Dance Day will feature dance performances and interactive dance routines and lessons, as hosted by Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer, runner-up on SYTYCD Season 9. Tap dancer Baakari Wilder (known his Broadway role in Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk), deaf African American choreographer Antoine Hunter, D.C.-based hip-hop crew Culture Shock, and Evan Ruggiero, a one-legged tap dancer, singer and guitarist, will be on site. Performances and dance lessons will be offered by companies from all over the country, including AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s most acclaimed physically integrated companies; ClancyWorks Dance Company, a D.C.-based contemporary group; and D.C. Bhangra Crew, Indian traditional dancers; as well as Move this World, a global non-profit using creative expression to fight violence and bullying.

Some other events to note: National Dance Day in Buffalo, NY, hosted by Devi Bollywood Dance & Free Soul Dance, presenting classes all day; National Dance Day at Ballet Austin’s Texas studios, presenting classes like Zumba, ballet, jazz, modern and even Michael Jackson Videodance “BAD”; and Philadelphia Dance Day, featuring more than 20 free workshops, live performances from some of the city’s best-known instructors and a huge dance party.

Performances and events that happen to fall on National Dance Day include Ballet Hispanico at Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York; the Cape Dance Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts; Daniil Simkin’s new INTENSIO at Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires; and youth dance classes at American Dance Festival in North Carolina.

Dance Informa wishes you an early Happy National Dance Day! Be sure to get out and dance in your community! 

Image courtesy of Ballet Austin.