Review: Kicking Off DANCE PARADE'S DECADE OF DANCE

In light of their 10th anniversary, Dance Parade celebrated and launched its Decade of Dance campaign with a "Taste of Dance Parade" performances featuring ensembles and groups representing a wide variety of dance genres and cultures. This event brought a nice crowd of folks of all ages and backgrounds to support and celebrate dance.

The program began with the fun and energetic Fusha Dance Company featuring African dances of the Congo, the intricate clapping rhythms and footwork by Xianix Barrera & the Sabor Flamenco Jr. Company, the strong technical dancers of the American Swiss Ballet performing a tango-inspired piece, followed by the absolutely stunning belly dancers of Dancing Rubies whose costumes and beautiful fans with ribbons caught your attention so that you couldn't take your eyes off of them!

And there was more! The program continued with Yeah Man doing two fun Lindy Hop pieces that brought smiles to your face, Saung Budaya bringing dances from Indonesia whose dancers moved with such grace and ease, and concluded with B-Girl Rokafella & the Full Circle Souljahs who brought a burst of energy of the coolest hip hop moves with breaking, locking, floorwork, and flips!

And believe it or not, this is just a sample of what is to come over the next few months!

The celebration continues with the "Taste of Dance Parade" Showcase on Sunday, April 17 at 6pm at Dixon Place, followed by the 10th Annual Dance Parade and Festival on Saturday, May 21 with the parade from 1-3pm starting from 21st Street and Broadway, a Grandstand on 8th Street & University Place, and "DanceFest" in Tompkins Square Park full of dance performances, workshops, lessons, and social dancing from 3-7pm. This is the largest, single-day dance event in the world with 140 dance groups representing 75 different styles and cultures!

Dance Parade started in response to a 2006 New York State Supreme Court Judge decision ruling that social dance was not considered an "expressive activity" protected by the State Constitution's freedom of expression amendment. Upon that ruling, several dancers and dance groups came together to create a vibrant cultural dance event. Ten years later, Dance Parade has grown and works to honor dances of different cultures and styles, celebrate creativity, support and empower the dance community, educate the public through dance, recognize unity through dance, and accept and acknowledge dance as a communicative, social form of dance.

For more information, please visit their website at: www.danceparade.org.

Photo Credit: Charles Evans

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