A few weeks ago, the World Dance Party was held as a part of the Rainier Valley Heritage Parade and Festival. Were you there?

Star says, “My favorite part of the WDP was seeing how the audience slowly warms up to the idea of the WDP. At first everyone is watching and unsure, then they start bobbing their head along with the music, and then next thing you know they’re dancing along with the group. I think that it shows that sometimes we all need an extra push to do something out of our comfort zone and that’s okay!”

The party included four mini-lessons – thank you to all the volunteer instructors! We learned line dancing, Vietnamese dancing, Ethiopian dancing, and merengue.

“My favorite part of this particular event was the Ethiopian dance–they were fantastic!” Tara says. “And, I would like to thank the amazing volunteers who jump in to make WDP possible, we couldn’t have done it without them and their energy.”

We want to give a special thank you to Susan Davis, Beau Hebert, and David McGraw, all of our volunteer dance instructors, as well as our fantastic volunteers for jumping in and helping us out in all areas: Nikki, Dori, Ann, Star, Jake, Joe, and Shelly.

Missed out? Come to the next event!

Couldn’t make it to the last event? The next World Dance Party will be from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm on September 12th during the Beacon Art WalkAbout.

As part of a larger event, once again, there will be differences from the usual WDP — the location is outdoors in Stevens Place Park (a block away from the Beacon Hill Library), and doesn’t have the typical potluck buffet (but there will be a food truck there!). If you’ve never tried a World Dance Party before, now’s the chance! You’ll probably see other new people exploring what WDP is all about. If you’ve come before, please join us to give the newcomers a big welcome and make them feel included!

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This is a guest post by Shelly Najjar. When not volunteering as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Senior Services, she blogs about wellness and bucket lists.