WASHINGTON – Saturday marks the 14th annual National Dance Day, which this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop as a genre, making that musical and dance form the focus of activities in the nation’s capital.
“I am pleased to join the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the American Dance Movement again this year to enjoy and celebrate our nation’s rich artistic, regional, ethnic, and racial diversity in honor of National Dance Day,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia, said in a statement. “I look forward to being dazzled once again by this year’s talented dance troupes.”
National Dance Day was created in 2010 when Norton, who has a passion for dance, partnered with “So You Think You Can Dance” co-creator Nigel Lythgoe to initiate the first celebrations in Washington and California. Norton has introduced a congressional resolution honoring the day every year.
The Kennedy Center’s events on Saturday begin at 10:30 a.m., featuring Washington area movement artists Lauren DeVera, Project ChArma and Chitra Subramanian, as well as dance classes and performances. The center also is headlining DJ sets from True School DJs, including DJ Face, DJ Marc Nfinit and DJ Spinderella.
Additionally, hip-hop nonprofit Words Beats & Life is hosting its annual “Freshest of All Time” competition and its “Fine Line Paint Jam.”
Mazi Mutafa, the executive director of Words Beats & Life, said National Dance Day gives people an opportunity to both learn about dance and to experiment with dancing in a social environment.
Mutafa said National Dance Day focusing on hip-hop styles of dance is also significant because 2024 will be the first year where breaking, a particular style of hip-hop, is now a competitive sport in the Olympics.
“So this idea that something that started out on the street corners in New York City, on linoleum or cardboard boxes is now an Olympic event is really significant,” he said. “It says a lot about the decades of work put in by dancers to host events like this.”
Words Beats & Life’s “Freshest of All Time” competition is one of the city’s largest breakdancing competitions, featuring crews from the Washington region, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Winners will collect a $1,000 prize.
The nonprofit’s “Fine Lines Paint Jam” will highlight 11 artists from all over the country who are coming to the Kennedy Center to create live mural paintings.
Mutafa said these paintings, which will be on movable wooden boards, will be donated to Washington’s Anacostia High School on Tuesday so they can be presented to the community at large.
Words Beats & Life partners with that high school for programming such as free, after-school arts classes for breaking, fine art, street art and graffiti.
“We invite former and current students to come out and showcase some of their murals,” Mutafa said. “Two of the murals that are going to be featured are (from) former students of ours.”
American Dance Movement also aims to make National Dance Day as accessible as possible by providing an instructional dance routine people can learn at home, choreographed by “World of Dance” finalist Poppin John.
“American Dance Movement believes that participation in dance connects the mind and body, promotes health and wellbeing, connects us with others and enables us to find joy through dance and movement,” according to the organization’s website.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misnamed the group Words Beats & Life in some references.