International Dance Day (29/04)

Every year on April 29, International Dance Day is celebrated around the world.

This holiday, dedicated to all styles of dance, began to be celebrated in 1982 on the initiative of the International Dance Council (CID) of UNESCO on the birthday of the French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre, a reformer and theorist of choreographic art, who went down in history as the «father of modern ballet».

Jean-Georges Noverre (April 29, 1727—October 19, 1810) — French choreographer, choreographer and ballet theorist, student of choreographer L. Dupre. He performed as a dancer and led a ballet troupe at the «Drury Lane» Theater in London.

Noverre developed the principles of heroic ballet and ballet-tragedy. In 1759, his famous work «Letters on Dance and Ballets» was published, where Noverre substantiated the principles of ballet-play, embodied through the means of effective pantomime and dance in the collaboration of composer, choreographer and artist.

Therefore, according to the founders, the main idea of this holiday — is the unification of all directions of dance as a single form of art, and Dance Day — itself is a reason to honor it, as well as — its ability to overcome all political, cultural and ethnic boundaries, the ability to unite people in the name of friendship and peace, allowing them to speak the same language — as the language of dance.

Of course, on this day, the entire dancing world — groups of opera and ballet theaters, modern dance troupes, contemporary ballroom and folk dance ensembles and others, both professional and amateur artists —, will celebrate their professional holiday. The forms of celebration are very diverse — from traditional concerts and performances to dance flash mobs and unusual performances.

The main idea of this holiday is — unification of all directions of dance (Photo: Yuri Arcurs, licensed by Shutterstock.com)

At the official level, according to tradition, every year a famous person from the world of choreography addresses the public with a message reminding people of the beauty of dance. Thus, over the years, such world celebrities as: Yuri Grigorovich (Russia), Robert Jofrey (USA), Magie Maren (France), Maya Plisetskaya (Russia), Maurice Bejart (France), performed ceremonial speeches on the occasion of International Dance Day William Forsyth (USA-Germany), Stefan Page (Australia), Miyako Yoshida (Japan-Great Britain), Julio Bocca (Argentina), Lin Hwai-ming (Taiwan), Gregory Wuyani Makoma (South Africa) and others.

In Russia, on International Dance Day, there is also a tradition of presenting the only professional ballet prize — prize «Soul of Dance». The award was established in 1994 by the magazine «Ballet» together with the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and is awarded to masters for achievements in the development of domestic choreographic art.



• Infographics – poster «April 29 — International Dance Day» • Story «Dance happiness»

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