High Fives All Around! We had incredible support from the Rainier Beach community and the amazing staff and students at Rainier Beach High School who helped us plan the event. Students volunteered to emcee, teach dances, shoot photo/video, and take on responsibility of set-up and cleanup. They were incredible! We had about 300 people attend the event to share some delicious meals and test out some new dances: West African, Persian, Iranian, Somali, Zumba, the Slide, Bachata, Oromo, Japanese, Hip Hop, and Arabic styles. Shout out to our DJ and volunteer dance instructors- you all brought your A-game!

Upcoming WDP stuff:

-We’re participating in the Seattle Foundation’s GiveBig on May 5 this year to raise money for future WDP’s in your community. Please give $20, $2000, or something in between to help us spread the love to more locations around Seattle! Stay tuned for updates here and on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/worlddanceparty

-We’re recruiting new members to join our planning committee. Requirements: must be nice, must like dancing, music, food and/or building strong communities. Email us for more info at: worlddanceparty@gmail.com

-WDP 13: When and where will it be? Do you have ideas? Share them with us!

Greetings Fellow Dance Partiers,

This is your 24 hour countdown reminder to WDP 12. We’ll be in the gym at Rainier Beach High School- 8815 S Seward Park Ave, Seattle, WA 98118. Bring some grub to share and some comfy shoes. Check out our rad lineup of dances: -West African Dance -Mexican Folk Dance -Persian Dance/Iranian Dance -Bachata -Zumba -Sliders -Somali Dance -Japanese Dance -Hip Hop

The World Dance Party 12 is just 3 days away! We are all excited and hope that you are too. Hopefully all of you will be able to join us this Saturday. Don’t forget to spread the word about the World Dance Party to your family and friends, the more the merrier. Don’t forget to bring a scrumptious dish for the potluck buffet with you.

Our dance line-up for the night is the following:

6:06 p.m.-6:20 p.m.-Magnus (West African Dance)

6:20 p.m. -6:45 p.m. – Dayanara and Estela (Mexican Folk Dance)

6:45 p.m. -7:05 p.m. – Janelle (Persian Dance/Iranian Dance)

7:05 p.m. -7:25 p.m. Diana and Ruben (Bachata)

7:25 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Toni (Zumba)

7:45 p.m. – 8:05 p.m. Central Area Sliders (Slide & More)

8:05 p.m. – 8:25 p.m. Rukiya (Somali Dance)

8:25 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Misaki (Japanese Dance)

9:00 p.m. – 9:26 p.m. Magnus and/or others

Many thanks to those who have helped us organize this event and that have volunteered to teach us fabulous dances. Get ready…TO DANCE! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

It’s beginning to look a lot like spring in Southeast Seattle! We do hope you’ve all been enjoying this warmer weather. We’re gearing up for what is going to be an amazing World Dance Party on March 21st, 2015.

This particular World Dance Party is quite unique for us. Why? Well, we’ve partnered with a group of students from Rainier Beach High School to plan World Dance Party 12. They have been working hard making posters/decorations for the event, sharing their ideas, volunteering to take pictures at the event, spreading the word on social media, and you may even see a couple of these students teaching dances. They have been absolutely awesome and a pleasure to work with. Many thanks to staff and students at Rainier Beach High School for being willing to partner!

WDP 12 will be a fun-filled event with many dances to learn, delicious food to try at our potluck, and some  icebreakers to participate get people interacting. Some of the dances that you will see at the World Dance Party are: Mexican Folk Dance, Hip Hop, Japanese, Zumba, West African Dance, and Central Area Sliders.

Spread the word to your community networks about this fabulous event. Feel free to check us out on Facebook. We hope to see all of you there.

World Dance Party has an amazing group of volunteer instructors that share their dance styles with the community and lead us all in simple routines at our parties. We’d like to honor our instructors for their contributions and give them a chance to tell us more about themselves and their dance backgrounds in a series of blog posts called “Meet the Dancers.”  

Name: Suma Mondal

Where did you grow up?: Calcutta (Kolkata), India

What style of dance do you teach?: Indian (Classical, Folk & Bollywood)

What can you tell us about your dance style?: All Indian classical dance forms are the ‘mudras’ or hand gestures as a common language of expression, rhythmic flow of body movement, foot work keeping up with taal/beat with facial expression and were originally performed in the temples to entertain various Gods and Goddesses. As far as my classical training goes, I started learning at the age of 6 yrs and till today I am learning as well as teaching. I have learned various classical forms but my most favorite is Odissi, a dance of love, joy and passion. In Odissi, the lower part of the body works with the percussion while the upper part of the body with melody. My classical dance training has helped me to be flexible to perform folk, Bollywood, and other styles of dance.

Why do you love to dance?: I am a very shy person, but when I dance I feel I can express better and open up. Dance gives me the opportunity to be creative and is a great way to use my passion.

Tell us about your experience with WDP: Great! It’s a happy place I love to be. The sharing and all uniting in the name of dance is a great idea. Hope it grows from county to state to country to the world. It’s a great effort by the WDP team!

What are some of your other hobbies: Singing and cooking!

Is there anything else you’d like us to know about yourself?: I do take interest in social justice/humanitarian work. I am a part of the Equity and Inclusion Committee at Senior Services and look forward to leading the Immigrants’ group. I am glad that I have been able to connect my passion, interest, hobbies with my work and other activities.

Thanks Suma! 

We often get contacted by other organizations, community groups, or individuals that stumbled upon a World Dance Party and had a blast. They might say “I love this idea, there should be a WDP in every neighborhood.” And there can be!

WDP was born in Southeast Seattle, but the basic formula (dancing + potluck + local resources) can be applied to almost any community. Give it a try. We’ve got a toolkit pdf you can download on this website. Check it out.

Here are 6 simple steps to get you started:

1. Build your all-star team of party planners— start with people you know and trust in your community. Invite local movers and shakers and as many artists/dancers/musicians as you find. Think about all the big and little organizations that make your community thrive and put feelers out. You never know who might want to jump on the WDP train. This group should be reflective of the community and diverse in every possible way.

2. Ask your party planners about their networks– each community is rich with assets! Come up with a list of potential venues, dance instructors, sponsors, and neighborhood connectors. Make a big spreadsheet with contact information for everyone on your list and jot some ideas describing how they can be involved. Update the list from time to time as you make new local partners. Anyone and everyone can be a valuable addition to your WDP network.

3. Location– Pick a couple spots that might work and assign people to contact them. Many places will agree to host you for free because they want to be a part of building community around them. It never hurts to ask- who knows what they’ll offer? Try to pick locations that are easily accessible by public transportation and have large parking lots.

ONCE THE VENUE IS SECURED AND DATE IS DETERMINED:

4. Recruit dance instructors and DJ– identify instructors that offer a good representation of dance styles from around the globe. Contact cultural centers and find out if they have dance groups that would like to teach. If they can’t help, maybe they know someone else who can. Follow the path and see where it takes you. Make sure the DJ has the right sound equipment and test everything before the event (VERY IMPORTANT).

Helpful Hint: Have a HUGE list of potential dance instructors and add to it often. It can take a lot of phone calls and emails to find 8 people to teach at a WDP. Give this task to a couple people if necessary.

5. Spread the word— design some posters or flyers, start an email list, connect with local schools, non-profits, and businesses. Ask around and find out how your neighbors get their information. Talk it up at local bumping spaces and neighborhood meetings. Make a facebook event. Don’t be shy!

Side note:  If you plan to have a potluck, make sure to include that detail on everything you send out. We learned this the hard way one time.

6. Go with the flow — (On the day of the WDP) you should have already delegated tasks to all the members of your planning team, remind everyone of their responsibilities. Be flexible and have fun with it. Remember that each person is there to hang out, share food, and learn some new dances. Leave some time for yourself to eat some grub and dance with your friends. Always leave the building cleaner than you found it and thank your host on the way out.

Handy Tip: Give props where they are due. Acknowledge your volunteers, dance instructors…and everyone that came to share their evening with a roomful of kind strangers. Be ready with Thank You cards and/or beers for the afterparty.

Things to remember:

• Invite everyone and their mother
• Ask someone to take pictures
• Be respectful and spread the love

**Our instructions weren’t good enough? Email us and one of our amazing volunteers will give you some more pointers- worlddanceparty@gmail.com

Greetings Party People-

We’re lining up instructors now. If you or someone you know would like to be a dance instructor or volunteer at the event- wonderful! Let us know ASAP by emailing worlddanceparty@gmail.com

Greetings fellow dancers,