Feature: NATIONAL DANCE DAY 2024 at The Kennedy Center

Saturday, September 21, 2024 marks the 15th year of National Dance Day, a celebration of artistic expression and the joy of movement. The Kennedy Center is continuing its longtime support for this day with an all-day schedule of free classes, community conversations and performances beginning at 10am. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a champion of National Dance Day who, in partnership with American Dance Movement, helped to found the day back in 2010, will be onsite in the afternoon.

This year coincides with the 5-year anniversary of the REACH, the Kennedy Center’s home for non-traditional programming and community engagement. National Dance Day events will take place on the REACH Plaza and inside various spaces. National Dance Day also features numerous artists who have longstanding relationships with the Kennedy Center as educators and creators; showcasing them on National Dance Day illustrates the Center’s commitment both to the DMV dance community and to bringing audiences closer to the artistic process.

To get the full scoop on the day’s programming I sat down with the Kennedy Center’s Mallory Miller, Assistant Manager of Dance Programming, and Jane Raleigh, Director, Dance Programming as well as with Ashanté Green, Artistic Director of Dance Institute of Washington, one of the artists scheduled to perform.

Miller opened by explaining that the theme of the day is exploring “what it means to have community and what it looks like to have community wellbeing through dance…so we are bringing in artists who focus more on brain health like Dance for Parkinson’s to others who focus more on community building, like Ferocity Dance Company and DC Rawhides.”

Raleigh added that this is a “day where you can come at 10am and stay until 11pm or pop in at any moment…there will be food trucks onsite, t-shirts, and a classroom set up if you want to cool off or take a step back if you need a sensory break.”

National Dance Day includes performances, conversations curated by DMV dance community-builders and even classes for families, such as Dance Together/Bailar Juntos beginning at 10am. These bilingual classes for young dancers ages 3-7 are designed for families to attend – and dance – together. If you’re a little older, there’s swing, cumbia, ballet, improvisation and tap as well as an official National Dance Day routine you can learn.

One of the featured groups will be the Dance Institute of Washington, a professional training ground that targets young people that might not otherwise have the resources to pursue dance. Committed to developing the whole person and providing wraparound support for dancers, Dance Institute of Washington (DIW) is a leader in addressing gaps in racial and economic equity in dance.

For National Dance Day intermediate and advanced dancers ages 13-17 will perform current repertory and demonstrate the DIW core belief that, in the words of their founder Fabian Barnes, “movement is power.” Performances like this, Artistic Director Ashanté Green explained, “are critical for artist development. The dancers have to learn to go beyond execution and share their own creative voice with the audience.” If you haven’t seen these dancers before, you’ll be amazed by their maturity and individuality – don’t miss them!

National Dance Day’s focus on providing local dancemakers and artists with opportunities to build connections and present work will continue throughout the year and is part of the Kennedy Center’s overall approach to dance programming.

While the 2024-2025 season will include many outstanding performances for audiences in the Center’s largest proscenium venues, we are invited to engage more deeply through discussions, classes, works-in-process showings and other more intimate opportunities to meet with and hear from artists.

If you choose to join the Kennedy Center’s dance community, National Dance Day is just the beginning.

Photo Credits: Jati Lindsay

Special thanks to the Kennedy Center’s Brittany Laeger, Senior Press Representative for her assistance in coordinating this interview.