International Dance Day 2021 on 29 April: History, Themes, Importance

World observes International Dance Day (also called World Dance Day or just Dance Day) on 29 April every year to celebrate dance — one of the oldest art forms known to mankind. From the cave paintings of Bhimbetka in India to modern day hip-hop and street dancing, we have covered a long way but the essence throughout the journey has remained the same. Moving one’s body rhythmically on a beat or a music — that’s called a dance!

International Dance Day: Quick Facts

• Founded in: 1982
• Created by: International Theater Institute (UNESCO‘s main partner for performing arts and it has been formally recognized to be the creator and organizer of the event by UNESCO)
• Observed by: United Nations Member States
• Frequency of Celebration: Annual
• Objective: To encourage dance participation and emphasize on the importance of dance education. Thus, various events are organized all across the world to mark this day.

Why is the International Dance Day celebrated on 29^th April every year?

The International Dance Day is celebrated on 29^th April every year because this day observes the birth anniversary of the creator of modern ballet; Jean-Georges Noverre.

Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and ballet master who is credited for creating a hybrid genre of expressive and symbolic ballet called Ballet d’action. This form of ballet emerged during the 18th century .

How is International Dance Day celebrated across the world?

Every year International Theatre Institute (ITI) officially organizes a Gala Celebration. For this, the Institute invites its members, dancers, choreographers, dance enthusiasts and students for the celebration. The Executive Council of the Institute chooses a host city each year for the Gala Celebration event. Some recent host cities for this annual event include Shanghai (2017) & Havana (2018).

While ITI hosts the official event, International Dance Day celebrations are certainly not restricted to them. This is an event celebrated by the whole world. Various Dance festivals, shows, road exhibitions are organized all across the world to mark the significance of this day.

Message Authors

The International Theater Institute selects a personality as a Message Author for that year’s event. The Message Author emphasizes on the relevance and significance of Dance. Many big names have served as the Message Authors for the International Dance Day in the past. Interestingly, in the year 2018, 5 Message Authors were chosen from 5 different UNESCO regions to mark the 70th Anniversary of International Theatrical Institute. The past Message Authors include:

Year	Message Author(s)	Nationality
2020	Gregory Vuyani Maqoma	South Africa
2019	Karima Mansour	Egypt
2018	Georgette Gebara, Salia Sanou, Marianela Boan, Willy Tsao & Ohad Naharin	Lebanon, Burkina Faso, Cuba, China & Israel
2017	Trisha Brown	United States
2016	Lemi Ponifasio	Samoa & New Zealand
2015	Israel Galván	Spain
2014	Mourad Merzouki	France
2013	Lin Hwai-min	Chinese Taipei
2012	Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui	Belgium
2011	Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker	Belgium
2010	Julio Bocca	Argentina
2009	Akram Khan (dancer)	United Kingdom
2008	Gladys Agulhas	South Africa
2007	Sasha Waltz	Germany
2006	Norodom Sihamoni	Cambodia
2005	Miyako Yoshida	Japan
2004	Stephen Page	Australia
2003	Mats Ek	Sweden
2002	Katherine Dunham	United States
2001	William Forsythe (choreographer)	United States
2000	Alicia Alonso, Jiří Kylián & Cyrielle Lecueur	Cuba, Russia & France
1999	Mahmoud Reda	Egypt
1998	Kazuo Ohno	Japan
1997	Maurice Béjart	France
1996	Maya Plisetskaya	Russia
1995	Murray Lewis	United States
1994	Dai Ailian	China & Trinidad and Tobago
1993	Maguy Marin	France
1992	Germaine Acogny	Benin and Senegal
1991	Hans van Manen	Netherlands
1990	Merce Cunningham	United States
1989	Doris Laine	Finland
1988	Robin Howard	United Kingdom
1987	Dance Committee of ITI	International
1986	Chetna Jalan	India
1985	Robert Joffrey	United States
1984	Yury Grigorovich	Russia
1983	No Message Author	N/A
1982	Henrik Neubauer	Slovenia

International Dance Day 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected each one of us and brought our world to a stand still. So this time the dance enthusiasts all across the world are marking this day by opting for the virtual world. Theme of International Dance Day 2021 is ‘Purpose of dance’.

International Dance Day Quotes

“Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” — Sarah Dessen

“Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.” -Johann Sebastian Bach

“Dance is a timeless interpretation of life.” — Shah Asad Rizvi

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” — Voltaire

“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” — Amit Ray

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” — Kahlil Gibran

“Passion drove her deeper, into the abyss beneath his skin where she mapped his soul to the dance of his heartbeat…” — Virginia Alison

“To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?” — Michael Jackson

“My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.” — Martin Luther

“Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” — George Eliot

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” — Martha Graham

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wildflowers in our hair…” — Susan Polis Schutz

“Music is the universal language of mankind.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man – the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.” — Martha Graham

“Dance from your heart and let your passion shine through” — The Dance Mum

“The first dance is the worst dance; the last dance is the best dance! All the roads of persistent practice lead to the Land of Perfection!” — Mehmet Murat ildan

“If a man doesn’t know how to dance he doesn’t know how to make love, there I said it!” — Craig Ferguson

“Life is sweet when you pay attention. When it doesn’t seem sweet, put a sticker on your nose and do a funky dance.” — Whitney Scott

“I don’t want people who want to dance, I want people who have to dance.” — George Balanchine

“Music is an outburst of the soul.” — Frederick Delius

That was all about the International Dance Festival from our side but if you have something interesting to share or something relevant to ask us, feel free to leave a comment below. We would love to connect with you!