The International Dance Day

In 1982 the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (Unesco) founded International Dance Day to be celebrated every year on the 29th April, anniversary of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), the creator of modern ballet.

The intention of the «International Dance Day Message» is to celebrate Dance, to revel in the universality of this art form, to cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers and bring people together with a common language – Dance.

Every year a message from an outstanding choreographer or dancer is circulated throughout the world. The personality is selected by the founding entity of the International Dance Day – the International Dance Committee of the ITI, which collaborates with World Dance Alliance, a Cooperating Member of the ITI.

More information: international-dance-day.org

Picture: © by Buby Bode, 2018 ITI International.

International Dance Day Message 2018 – The Americas

Your body begins before you and is the place of all the rituals that belong to you.

When you listen to your body through dance, you also hear the bodies and dances of seduction and celebration which belong to your ancestors and your species.

In your body you carry the dances that will save you.

The one who dances touches the other beyond the skin; dance touches their weight and smell, it defeats the tactile screens and it erases the borders between bodies and nations.

I have lived on both sides of history. I have seen poverty and wealth, landscapes and bodies fed and abused by power. My work excavates, looking for the real bodies among those officially on display.

Being a choreographer in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the magical islands where I live, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and people dancing before birth, is an unmentionable privilege.

Dancing is the great antidote to the madness of mankind.

To each displaced person, refugee and exile from around the world, I say: you have a country that goes with you that nothing and no one can take away; the country of your body.

Marianela Boán, Cuba - Choreographer, dancer and teacher
Traduction : Malory Domecyn and Tom Johnson

 

image
Picture by Buby Bode, ITI International

Messages from the 4 other continents

You can access the other four messages through the links below:

Perform Europe Open Call

1 December 2023 - 31 March 2024

the call is open

Perform Europe launches a new call for performing arts professionals and organisations across the 40 Creative Europe countries.

More