Kennedy Center Announces National Dance Day 2018

The Kennedy Center, in partnership with the Dizzy Feet Foundation and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), invites everyone to celebrate the art of dance and joy of movement as the Center hosts the East Coast's chapter of the annual National Dance Day on Saturday, July 28, 2018, from2:00 to 10:30 p.m.

This free, day-long celebration encouraging Americans to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health takes place outside on the Kennedy Center's North Plaza and includes a 6:00 p.m. Millennium Stage performance in the Grand Foyer, which will be streamed live on the Kennedy Center website. Two additional free participatory classes are scheduled in the morning at 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

The day also features interactive dance lessons, indoor and outdoor performances, and more, culminating with the summer night social Dancing Under the Stars with Afro-Colombian beats and beginner-level Soukous and Champeta dance lessons, followed by two hours of dancing with the Soukous & Bazurto All Stars on tour from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Columbia, respectively. Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) troupe member and So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Season 10 top six finalist Hayley Erbert will lead patrons in the National Dance Day routine.Food and drinks will be available for purchase on site.

2018 National Dance Day Routine

Choreographed by Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore, the 2018 National Dance Day routine is available now on Dizzy Feet Foundation's YouTube channel and is set to Kylie Minogue's newest single "Dancing." The public is also encouraged to submit videos of themselves performing this year's routine and participate in the dance challenge, #DanceMadeMeDoIt. Encouraging all to celebrate dance in one's own way, this year's challenge is to create your own version of the National Dance Day Routine.

Featured Artists

• Emceed at the Kennedy Center by New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Ashley Bouder, National Dance Day features performances and instruction in a wide variety of dance styles by artists including:
• Michael Mindlin, Dance Supervisor from the national tour of Hamilton
• Dance fitness warm-up with Kazaxe
• Traditional Chinese dancers from Xuejuan Dance Ensemble
• Choreographer and Hip Hop dancer Teren Dickson
• A fusion of Middle Eastern, modern, and traditional folkloric dance styles from Sultanas Troupe
• Hip Hop from Velocity Dance
• Tap dancer and choreographer Cartier Williams
• Modern dance in the style and tradition of Isadora Duncan from Word Dance Theater
• Contemporary and Hip Hop with students from CityDance DREAM & CityDance Conservatory
• Salsa with Instructor Gina Safadi from Salsa with Silvia Dance Studio
• Beginner-level Soukous and Champeta dance lessons with the Soukous All Stars and the Bazurto All Stars
• D.C.-area studio Dance Institute of Washington, part of the Dizzy Feet Community Partner Program
• Local students of the DEA Youth Dance Program, part of the Dizzy Feet Community Partner Program of the DEA Educational Foundation
• A free master class tailored for person's with Parkinson's Disease and their care-partners led by Lucy Bowen McCauley
• Free Yoga class in the Grand Foyer, as part of the Kennedy Center's Sound Health program, led by Lakshmi Kanter

National Dance Day at the Kennedy Center Schedule

• 10:15-11:15 a.m.: FREE Yoga class in the Grand Foyer as part of Sound Health12:30-1:30 p.m.: Dance for Parkinson's Disease FREE masterclass led by Lucy Bowen McCauley (meet in the Hall of States)
• 2:00-5:30 p.m.: Dance performances and activities on the North Plaza including Hayley Erbert and the official National Dance Day routine
• 6:00-7:00 p.m.: Millennium Stage event in the Grand Foyer featuring the DEA Youth Dance Program, the Dance Institute of Washington, CityDance, and a reprise of the official National Dance Day Routine led by Hayley Erbert
• 7:30-10:30 p.m.: Dancing Under the Stars with Afro-Colombian beats and beginner-level Soukous and Champeta dance lessons with the Soukous All Stars and Bazurto All Stars, followed by dancing and live music on the North Plaza

In addition to the Kennedy Center, The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, California, joins for the first time as an official 2018 host venue for July 28. For more information about National Dance Day, please visit the Dizzy Feet Foundation website.

Launched in 2010 by So You Think You Can Dance co-creator and Dizzy Feet Foundation co-president Nigel Lythgoe, National Dance Day is an annual celebration that takes place on the last Saturday in July. National Dance Day achieved national recognition in July 2010, when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a longtime proponent of healthy lifestyles, announced that she was introducing a congressional resolution declaring the last Saturday in July to be the country's official National Dance Day.

Biographies

A troupe member of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Haley Erbert was a Season 10 top six finalist on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance.

New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Ashley Bouder began her ballet training at the age of six. After attending the 1999 Summer Program at the School of American Ballet, she was first named apprentice of the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and later rose to the rank of soloist and then Principal dancer. Bouder has danced in ballet galas around the world and guest starred in companies including the Paris Opera Ballet and Rome Opera Ballet, among others. Her awards include the Janice Levin Honoree from the New York City Ballet, and a 2014 Benois de la Danse nomination, among others. Bouder has taught at summer programs around the country and continues to be a frequent guest teacher at Ballet Academy East, MYB, and SAB, and has also guest taught at Princeton University. Using the arts collaborative she founded, The Ashley Bouder Project, as an outlet for her work, Bouder hopes to promote other female choreographers while setting an example for women to be more forward and prominent in the creation and directorial sides of the arts world. Her previous work has been presented at the SAB Choreographic Workshop, the NYCB in the Dancer's Choice Program, the Ashley Bouder Project at New York's Peter Norton Symphony Space, and at Bryant Park Presents.

About The Dizzy Feet Foundation

The Dizzy Feet Foundation was founded in 2009 by producer Nigel Lythgoe and director Adam Shankman, among others, to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the United States. Guided by a board representing all aspects of the American dance community, the foundation provides scholarships to talented students to support the next generation of professional dancers. The Dizzy Feet Foundation also strives to support, improve, and increase access to dance education through the community dance programs they fund that expose children in low-income areas to the life-long benefits of dance. The Dizzy Feet Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 charitable organization. For more information, go to dizzyfeetfoundation.org.

About the Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America's living memorial to President Kennedy. Under the guidance of Chairman David M. Rubenstein, and PresidentDeborah F. Rutter, the nine theaters and stages of the nation's busiest performing arts facility attract more than three million visitors to more than 2,000 performances each year, while center-related touring productions, television, and radio broadcasts reach 40 million more around the world. With its artistic affiliates, the National Symphony Orchestra andWashington National Opera, the Center has produced more than 300 theatrical productions, and dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works, in addition to hosting numerous international cultural festivals. The education programs of the Kennedy Center, including those of its affiliate VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, have become models for communities across the country and have unlocked the door to learning for millions of young people. The Center and its affiliates stage more than 400 free performances by artists from throughout the world each year on the Center's main stages, and every day of the year at 6 p.m. on its Millennium Stages, which are also streamed live, online. To learn more about the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.

The 18-19 Kennedy Center Ballet & Dance season includes Lucky Plush, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker, Mariinsky Ballet, National Ballet of China, and more. For further information, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.

Photo by Jati Lindsay