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International Dance Day messages 29 April 2005 Dear colleagues World Dance Day is among the most important projects of the International Dance Council CID. This year's focus is on primary education. I would like to ask you to contact the Ministry of Education on behalf of the CID, asking them to issue a circular to all schools in your country. You can urge state or private agencies to issue similar guidelines on a regional scale. In every class, pupils can write an essay about dance, draw a dance scene, sing dance songs, read relative passages from books, collect pictures (photos, postage stamps, postcards etc.). They can dance in the yard or - better - out in the streets. It is extremely important that Dance Day becomes as well known and as widely followed as Mother's Day. And this begins at the youngest ages, who represent the future of our art. I count on your cooperation in this matter and look forward to your remarks. Cordially Prof. Alkis Raftis President of CID president@cid-unesco.org Memorandum 1. The official Dance Day message is mailed to 30,000 dance professionals in 200 countries. It is translated to dozens of languages. Please ask for a translation, or translate the message to the language of your country and send it to dance organizations and the media. You can read guidelines and previous messages at the CID web site. 2. World Dance Day has been established in 1982 in view of attracting attention to the art of dance, every year on the 29th of April. On that day, dance companies, dance schools, organizations and individuals, professionals as well as amateurs, are asked to organize an activity addressing an audience larger than their usual one. 3. The International Dance Council (Conseil International de la Danse - CID) is the official umbrella organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world. It is a non-governmental non-profit organization (NGO) founded in 1973 within the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it is based. It is a worldwide forum bringing together international, national and local organizations as well as individuals. It represents the interests of the dance world at large and consults accordingly governments and international agencies. Conseil International de la Danse - CID - International Dance Council UNESCO, Paris, France cid-unesco.org Every year a message from a well known dance personality is circulated throughout the world, with the intention of uniting all dance on this day. It is a day to celebrate the art form and revel in its universality, to cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers and bring people together in peace and friendship with a common language - Dance. Past years have featured messages from Maurice Bejart, Merce Cunningham, Maguy Marin, Jiri Kylian, Alicia Alonso, and other international figures. The 2005 message is from Miyako Yoshida. Message by Miyako Yoshida - 2005 Dance is exclusive to no one. It grants joy and elation to all that partake or spectate. The language of dance knows no boundaries. It reaches beyond class, education, country and belief. Its vocabulary is infinite, as human emotion resonates through movement. Dance enriches the soul and uplifts the spirit. Dance lives within all that live. Let all the children dance and peace shall surely follow. Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. A native of Japan, Ms. Yoshida studied in Tokyo and at the Royal Ballet School after winning the Prix de Lausanne. She rose to the rank of principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet (formerly Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet), and joined the Royal Ballet in 1995, where her repertoire includes principal roles in Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Cinderella, Don Quixote, and Coppelia, to name a few. Ms.Yoshida has received numerous prizes and honors, and on July 22, 2004, was named 'UNESCO ARTIST FOR PEACE" by Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO. ITI International Theatre Institute UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France iti-worldwide.org Greetings and warm wishes for World Dance Day As once again, we celebrate the presence of Dance in our lives on Friday, the 29th April 2005 (World Dance Day), may your days be filled with creativity, joy and excitement that dance expressions bring into your lives. As you observe this day with dance activities; colouring your hours with sensitivity, painting the day with movements, creating visuals with rhythm and tuning all that to music, we join in a joyous celebration of a passion for Dance we all share. I noted with much satisfaction that for this year's International Dance Day the focus is on Dance and the Child. In the message received from the President of the International Dance Council, CID-UNESCO, Prof. Alkis Raftis states: “This year's focus is on primary education. I would like to ask you to contact the Ministry of Education on behalf of the CID, asking them to issue a circular to all schools in your country. You can urge state or private agencies to issue similar guidelines on a regional scale. In every class, pupils can write an essay about dance, draw a dance scene, sing dance songs, read relative passages from books, collect pictures (photos, postage stamps, postcards etc.). They can dance in the yard or - better - out in the streets.” The message sent by the Vice President of International dance committee of ITI (UNESCO) Jetty Roels has the following line reflecting the thoughts of Miyako Yoshida, spokesperson for 2005 and Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet: "Its vocabulary is infinite, as human emotion resonates through movement. Dance enriches the soul and uplifts the spirit. Dance lives within all that live. Let all the children dance and peace shall surely follow." Dance and the Child is also the theme for celebrations at Kala Bharati this year as we focus on Shishu Sadhana: its Impact and Implications. For those of you, who already have copies of the book and the DVD, you know what Shishu Sadhana refers to. For others the distribution is under way. Please send your current postal address as that would help us enormously to get it to you. We have been truly overwhelmed by the very positive and appreciative response that the book, which describes the creative process of a child friendly Bharata Natya repertoire and includes a DVD with the choreography of the items, has received in India and outside. We invite you to visit our website at kalabharati.ca and go to the Dance and the Child thread in the Forum link or click on the Shishu Sadhana icon on home page, to read some of the comments and share the joy. In the spirit of sharing, with fond thoughts of dance and love, Mamata Niyogi Nakra Montreal Ph: 1-514-522 9239 Fax 1-514-522 4186 e-mail: nakrabm@istar.ca |
