[SustainableTompkins] DANCE & be counted! one-hour national dance-a-thon April 21 to break world record & raise scholarship $ for local arts programs

[Patricia Haines]

I would love to hear from folks who love to DANCE - and might consider being part of a national Dance-a-Thon scheduled for Saturday, April 21st, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern time across the country.
   
  This project is the vision of National Dance Week-USA, in partnership with the Project Action Foundation, which combats youth substance abuse and crime through the arts.  Its goals are simply to 1) break the world record for the number of people dancing all at the same time; and 2) through sponsorships for the Dancing Hour, raise scholarship funds for local youth arts programs. Further information may be found at <nationaldanceweek.org>
   
  Being part of this can be easy. National Dance Week-Ithaca is working on having open, public Dance-a-Thon spaces at the Farmers Market, Pyramid Mall, and Center Ithaca, linked with Earth Day Ithaca's 10th anniversary celebration.  We need folks to help with providing simple and fun music, and getting visitors dancing at these public gatherings.
   
  Elsewhere in the U.S. dance studios and student groups are hosting their own gatherings.  You would be welcome to similarly offer your own gathering in your home or community space, just for yourselves or for family and friends - however you might want to do it.  
   
  All we would need for you to count in the national record is a list of folks who participated, or a head count with some kind of official host  signature. Any scholarships funds you raise through sponsorships would go for whatever youth arts program you designate..
   
  I would be delighted to talk with you about this - and I would love your help to make sure that the invitation to be part of this fun and important national event reaches the entire community. 
   
  This Dance-a-Thon will be part of Ithaca's community Earth Day festivities.  Dance is one of the best art forms for bringing people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds together in celebration of our common creativity and humanity.  For this reason, National Dance Week is now a member of the U.S. Partnership for the (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
   
  And if you haven't yet read Barbara Ehrenreich's inspiring Dancing in the Streets, a History of Collective Joy, I highly recommend it!
   
   Thanks for your thoughts.


- fostering social, economic and environmental justice through collaborative initiatives in hospitality, education and the arts, in the 150 year-old democratic community spirit of the Danish Folk School
 
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