EV Grieve: Dance Parade 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Dance party

Dance Parade... DanceFest, etc. today....

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Shall we dance?

EVG contributor peter radley took these photos in Tompkins Square Park today ... at the end of the Dance Parade and beginning of the DanceFest...

Here comes the Dance Parade

Coming through now on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue... where they will end up in Tompkins Square Park for the DanceFest.

Photos by Stephen Popkin.

We'll post more photos this evening...

Prepping for the Dance Parade and DanceFest (and DANCE FEVER)

Prep work continues this morning ahead of the annual Dance Parade and DanceFest ... the parade route comes across St. Mark's Place and into Tompkins Square Park...

Here is the official press (woo!) advisory on today's events:

A WORLD RENOWNED CHOREOGRAPHER, A DANCE INNOVATOR, A GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING DJ JOIN 10,000 DANCERS IN THE 7TH ANNUAL NYC DANCE PARADE AND FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013

[New York] May 18, 2013 – Dance Parade New York presents its Seventh Annual Dance Parade and DanceFest on Saturday, May 18, 2013. Joining 10,000 local and international dancers are three Grand Marshals: world-renowned choreographer, Jacqulyn Buglisi, DanceAfrica founder, Baba Chuck Davis, and Grammy Award-winning DJ, Louie Vega.

Dance Parade and DanceFest is the only event to celebrate dance in all its myriad forms. It is a moving street parade through Greenwich Village, with a festival featuring staged performances, free workshops and dance classes in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. For this year’s theme, Unity Through Dance, 200 dance groups will performing 80 styles of dance from African to belly dancing, hip-hop, Peruvian, roller disco, Jamaican Dance Hall, tango and zouk. The event will also feature 100 youth who have participated in Dance Parade’s Community Engagement Education program sponsored by New York City Departments of Parks and Recreation, with additional support by Dance Parade’s Board of Directors, and a grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Greg Miller, Executive Director of Dance Parade New York said "Dance Parade and DanceFest are a celebration of dance, and all dance shows a collaboration of spirit and imagination, and pleasure in movement."

Dance Parade originated as a reaction to a 2006 lawsuit against New York City’s 1926 Cabaret License Law that restricts social dancing. After New York State Supreme Court Judge ruled that social dancing was not considered expressive activity protected by the State Constitution’s freedom of expression amendment, the organization leveraged an outpouring of vibrant cultural and dance expression into what became a nonprofit artistic and cultural event.