Dance Day to activate capital

SINCE 1982, International Dance Day has been celebra-ted worldwide as a tribute to the French dancer, choreographer and father of modern ballet, Jean Georges Noverre. The message is to celebrate dance by unifying its myriad forms and emphasising the way it connects people of all backgrounds and transcends national, political, cultural and ethnic barriers.

In Slovakia, two dance studios will celebrate the occasion: the Elledanse dance school and theatre in Bratislava, and the Štúdio Tanca theatre (DŠT) in Banská Bystrica.

Elledanse has been organising events around International Dance Day since its inception in 2007, and this year the core events will take place on the weekend before April 29, which is International Dance Day. On April 26, there will be a series of workshops for various dance styles, and the eight dance lessons will cost only €7. In the end, a Flashmob will be rehearsed, to be performed the next day.

On April 27, Eurovea shopping centre in downtown Bratislava will offer a rich selection of dance performances between 9:00 and 20:30, spanning everything from Oriental and Latin, to hip-hop and ‘funny folklore’, all of which will culminate in a dance parade with the Batatimba percussion group. The ensembles involved include Hip Hop Fakulta, Balet SND, SĽUK, CreDance, Bata-timba, EtnoDance, Stefan Toth Irish dance School, Eire Dance Academy, Diera Fellaz, Tanga Vida and others.

In Banská Bystrica, the DŠT will host open dance courses on the very day of dance, April 29, starting at 17:00.

Each year on International Dance Day, a dancer/choreographer is selected to deliver a message. “Thanks to dance, immersed in the beauty and complexity of the world, I have become a citizen,” reads an excerpt from the message of Mourad Merzouki for IDD 2014. “A peculiar citizen who reinvents the social codes in the course of his encounters, remaining true to the values of hip-hop culture, which transforms negative energy into a positive force.”