Happy International Dance Day! and Hump day weekly roundup 2

I thought hump day is a good time to do a roundup of the most interesting dance world news Google alerts brought to my inbox over the past week and now curated for your reading pleasure. But before I launch into this past week’s events, I want to wish all a very happy International Dance Day celebrated on 29 April ever since 1982. 🙂

Several of this week’s stories are about hardships people face while trying to do what they love and what most of us (certainly I) would take for granted: simply wanting to move your body to the beat. It is not easy being a boy in Iraq and wanting to dance, as this beautiful story about an aspiring dancer – who received tutelage through Skype – shows.

Nor is it easy being a black gay or transsexual person and wanting to do the same in Alabama (that’s United States of America.)

Oh, and if you happen to be in Russia, think twice before twerking in front of that war memorial because you may end up in jail. According to the Guardian, “prosecutors said the ‘erotic and sexual twerk dance’ was disrespectful to the memory of those who fought in the second world war.” And the country’s “progressive” lawmaker Vitaly Milonov – credited for inspiring the legislation banning “gay propaganda” that makes Alabama suddenly look pretty good – welcomed the arrest with the following quote “next time, excuse me, some brainless she-goat will think twice.”

As much about oppression, these stories are also about perseverance and dedication – qualities that dancing demands and cultivates.

On a lighter note: Russian American Jews seem to be at the forefront of the ballroom dance in the United States,  and this cute little dancer and her crew have taken the internet world by storm as well as brightened up my day and introduced some new lingo into my dance vocabulary…

So let me see you do the “whip,” the “nae nae” or say the “stanky leg”!