2011 April « All World Dance: Videos

Global Celebrations Abound for World Dance Day & National Dance Week!

April 29, 2011 · allworlddancevideos

The 954 Dance Movement Collective Celebrate World Dance Day

The 954 Dance Movement Collective Celebrate World Dance Day
[Credit: 954 Dance Movement Collective]

Ran into some conflicts with blogging today and almost forgot to mention the fact that today, Friday, April 29th is World Dance Day, aka International Dance Day, which has been celebrated around the globe since its founding 1982 by UNESCO's International Dance Committee which has apparently become the International Dance Council. Though the UN doesn't seem to be keeping their web presence very organized, dancers are out in droves for World Dance Day as well as the United States' National Dance Week, which is now in progress.

Here are some examples of dancers celebrating World Dance Day:

The 954 Dance Movement Collective are performing as I post. The above graphic is the poster for their event.

In Orlando, Florida, activities take place on Saturday and are dedicated to Kip Watson, a local dancer, choreographer and teacher who recently passed away.

The Good Women Dance Collective of Edmonton, Alberta are staging What's Cooking tonight combining "dance, conversation, and a home-cooked meal."

The Scotiabank Dance Centre is helping organize all sorts of performances on and offsite in Vancouver, BC.

In Galway, Ireland, The Spirit Centre in Nuns Island and the Galway Dance Co-op are presenting a day of dance and movement workshops for all moving bodies.

A cross-cultural performance is planned in Lyme Regis, England as part of the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival.

Sumeet Nagdev is producing a contemporary dance art festival in Mumbai, India.

Lots of dancers in India are planning performances as well.

And others celebrating National Dance Week:

The Alameda Civic Ballet of Alameda, CA is presenting United We Dance, an "exuberant celebration of ethnic dances from around the world" on Saturday, April 30th.

The Bay Area is doing things big over 10 days for Bay Area National Dance Week.

Folks in Houston are celebrating Dance Day and Week with all sorts of international dance activity.

Of course, there are lot more dancers out there celebrating both National Dance Week and World Dance Day. Why don't you join them?

Related All World Dance Coverage:
Dance Routines for National Dance Day

Let’s Move! Flash Workout: Beyonce Encourages Kids to “Move Your Body” in English & Spanish

April 28, 2011 · allworlddancevideos

Let’s Move! “Move Your Body” Music Video with Beyonce [Credit: NABEF]

Beyonce contributes her superstar status and remakes the single Get Me Bodied ft. Swizz Beats off the 2006 album B’Day for the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation’s dance fitness campaign Let’s Move! Flash Workout.

“Let’s Move” Flash Workout – Instructional Video Part 1 (Spanish)
[Credit: NABEF]

Apparently the event is intended to be done at middle schools across the U.S. on Tuesday, May 3rd, “in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative to help curb childhood obesity”.

“Let’s Move” Flash Workout – Instructional Video Part 2 (Spanish)
[Credit: NABEF]

This song rocks in Spanish!

NAB Education Foundation: Educator Resources ~ Facebook

Prince Charles Breakdancing Video is Positive Boost for Royal Brand

April 28, 2011 · allworlddancevideos

“Prince Charles breakdancing with black youths” [Credit: iconic]

Although the title is a bit odd, if technically accurate, the above video featuring Prince Charles breakdancing with some teenagers back in the 1980s has been picked up by mainstream media as the next Royal Wedding approaches.

Interestingly enough, everybody’s going with the same story, that it shows an unexpectedly positive side to the man who may be the next King of England:

“Prince Charles will breakdance right into your heart“

“1980′s Video Shows the Future King of England’s Fun Side“

“Prince Charles break-dancing video shows new side to the Royal“

I guess that’s a win/win for Prince Charles and for breakdancing!

Game Analysts Call Dance Video Games a Fad, Ignore Major Worldwide Dance Boom

April 27, 2011 · allworlddancevideos

top games january to march 2011 in united states

Top Games in the U.S. from January to March 2011 [Credit: Nintendo]

As popular video participation games shift from music to dance, game industry analysts are starting to wonder if dance games are also a fad. Michael Pachter states:

"I think dance is even more of a bubble than music. There is simply too much content out there and barriers to entry are way too low. When Majesco can have a modest hit with Zumba Fitness – average Metacritic 43 on Xbox 360 – it shows that anyone can succeed if the underlying music or IP is sufficiently compelling. I think that Ubisoft's success with Just Dance will attract even more competitors, and think that the genre will fast become saturated."

While Jesse Divnich holds that:

"The rise and eventual fall of the dance category will be no different than what occurred in music games. What is great about interactive entertainment is the constant evolution and experimentation with technology that allows consumers to experience video games in a manner not possible in the past. This is why we've seen dance, music and fitness grow into respectable categories; however, those that consume it rarely show long-term frequency consumption. In the simplest terms, they are fads. People like to dance, but not every day. They want to be fit, but quickly stop any diet regimen when a target goal has been met."

However, game industry execs beg to differ. In yesterday's Financial Results Briefing by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, dance games were shown to be doing quite well worldwide. As one can see in this group of charts, initial sales of top dance games are rising faster as new games are introduced. Iwata maintains that 2011 is going to continue to be a boom year for dance games.

For his part, Ubisoft's Tony Key also believes there's more to come and that comparisons to music games are offbase:

"Before Just Dance came along you had no good excuse to actually be dancing in your living room with a group of people. We've created a reason for a home dance experience."

What I find interesting is that nobody seems to be talking to fans of dance games. They're just talking about them. And, as is sometimes the case with industry analysts, larger social and cultural factors are being missed, like the undeniable fact that we're in a major dance boom that's not just limited to one country. Dance on television is huge, hip hop dance is everywhere, great movies are coming out with dance themes and it shouldn't surprise anybody that folks are drawn to dance games that allow them to participate without having to build lots of skills before they can have fun. Besides, dance games always have music giving the category a richer appeal than music games alone.

Of course, any boom eventually comes to an end but I think it's a mistake to think that dance games will rise and fall as quickly as music games like Guitar Hero did. The popularity of these games is part of a larger dance boom that definitely has legs!

Archive For April, 2011

Global Celebrations Abound for World Dance Day & National Dance Week!

Let’s Move! Flash Workout: Beyonce Encourages Kids to “Move Your Body” in English & Spanish

Prince Charles Breakdancing Video is Positive Boost for Royal Brand

Game Analysts Call Dance Video Games a Fad, Ignore Major Worldwide Dance Boom

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