Greg Miller

Executive Director

Dance Parade

 

 

 

 

Dance Parade New York, the annual celebration of dance in all its forms, hosted its interactive online dance festival on Saturday, May 22nd from 1pm - 4:30pm ET.

                                               (Photo Credits Josef Pinlac and Rengim Mutevellioglu)

 

 

39,678 dancers from around the world joined celebrity Grand Marshals to celebrate the resilience of dance through the pandemic with family-friendly fun and movement joy in DJ-lead dance rooms, free dance classes with renowned leaders of dance and dance-battles between participants. Winning videos from the Dare-to-Dance challenge contest were also announced.

 

 

“The past year has been really hard on all of us, including the thousands of dancers we serve,” ruminated Greg Miller, Executive Director of Dance Parade New York. “This year we embraced the theme Dance Brings Us Together in an effort to offer opportunities and accessibility in these trying times."

   

 

Among Parade & Festival highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Stage: Latina Pop Music Legend Lisa Lisa opened the Home Stage with a live appearance and medley of her life-long work. Ali Coleman put out a soulful house dj set and encouraged all to dance. Our scouts went through all the fearless dancers who had their cameras on and spotlighted those with great energy, costumes, and artistry. Emcee RedNESS hosted three rounds of dance battles and Zoomers voted for their favorites. Winners were Javon Brewster who took the $500 cash prize and six year old Princess Hazel who fought for and won the $250 semi-finalist prize.

 

 

Dare To Dance Challenge: The winners were announced for the Dare To Dance Challenge video contest which challenged house-bound choreographers to create a new work during this period of isolation and social distancing. Thanks to Nancy Steele of STEELE DANCE, three winners received cash prizes and Dance Parade premiered their winning videos. 1st Place winner Zheng Wang won $1000 cash prize for The Umbrella Project, Moriah Markowitz took 2nd for  "Mo.vement" and 3rd place ($250) went to Jordan Ryder for Safety Dance.

 

 

Grandstand Performance Stage: Included were performances from artists who bucked the pandemic to create riveting work in the past year, with interviews that give an inside glimpse behind dozens of movement cultures...Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Chinese, African, Flamenco, Mexican, and more. Special tribute was offered to remember Jacques D'Amboise, ballet star and founder of National Dance Institute.

 

Dance Film: Portions of Dance Parade's film, "Dance Brings Us Together - Resilience of Dance Through The Pandemic" were premiered:

 

 

 

 

Dance Parade's one-hour TV special is due to air June 10th at 8pm ET on NYC Life (WNYE TV). The program includes interviews and performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Heidi Latsky Dance, Saung Budaya, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, National Dance Institute, DrumatiX, Urban Bush Women, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Dance Rising, among others.

 

 

Teaching Stage: Ten dance classes were offered including BodyMind Dancing, Salsa, Break Dance, African, Hip-Hop, Indonesian, Lit Fit, Latin Boogaloo, Bhangra and others.