1500 dancers to perform for National Water Dance

Coming together on Saturday, April 12 at 4 pm, eastern time, are 1500 dancers from across the country to perform a site-specific dance at a river, a bay, a lake, the ocean, or any water site nearby for National Water Dance. From the University of Alaska to Miami Dade College, from the Dance Engagement Company in California to Bates College in Maine, students from colleges and universities, private dance schools, high schools and elementary schools, and dance companies will unite to celebrate Water. 

“My desire in creating National Water Dance was to inspire young artists to go beyond the studio and the stage with their art; to connect with the environment and realize the power of art to bring awareness to environmental issues, particularly water,” said National Water Dance founder and artistic director Dale Andree. “Through the internet National Water Dance has become the community of artists/activists that I hoped it would.”

Founded by artistic director Dale Andree and produced by Daniel Lewis, National Water Dance has been created to bring attention to the power and fragility of the nation’s waterways. Bringing dancers and musicians together from across the country and using dance as a form of social activism is, according to Ms Andree, “a force that can create social change.” 

The Miami performance of National Water Dance will feature 80 dancers and 50 singers at the 444 acre Deering Estate at Cutler (16701 SW 72 Avenue, right off Old Cutler Road) as part of their Festival of the Arts, at 4 pm on Saturday, April 12. The artists will perform to an original score performed by its composers Miami musicians Vicki Richards and Jeff Deen. Admission from 3:30 pm on is free. Participating schools include New World School of the Arts, South Miami Community Middle School, Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts, RR Moton Elementary School and Miami Dade College/Kendall Campus under the direction of Michelle Grant-Murray, assistant director of the Miami-Dade portion of National Water Dance. 

“It will be so exciting to see dancers from across the nation, talking about our environment and turning those ideas into a symphony of movement across the country,” said Daniel Lewis, founding Dean of Dance of New World School of the Arts.

The entire local and national event will be live streamed.



Additional Florida Events of National Water Dance:

* Composition Concert by Dr. Susan Epstein Garcia 
April 8, Colony Theatre, Lincoln Road on Miami Beach
7:30 pm, Free & Open to the Community
Featuring student composers from the New World School of the Arts performing new music in a program called New World: An Evening of Contemporary Original Compositions.
Information: 305 237 7855

* Free Showerheads provided by Earth Ethics Institute of Miami Dade College to anyone who brings in an old showerhead to the April 8th concert or the Main Event on April 12. The new showerheads are provided by Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department, and is part of their indoor water conservation campaign. Earthethicsinstitute.org

*Arts for Learning has worked with over 600 students from across the county in dance, music and visual art, culminating in performances to take place simultaneously at Shenandoah Park, Flamingo Park, Centro Mater East, Silver Bluff Elementary, The Barnyard and North Beach Elementary.