Global Water Dances

Dancing for safe water everywhere

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For Choreographers


This page contains resources for you to help you through the process of creating your site-specific dance. The first step is to subscribe to our Newsletter as a Choreographer or a Site Leader. Then, please register your location with the Event Site Registration Form. Visit our Facebook page and join our GWD Choreographers Facebook group

About our 2021 event

As you are aware, the pandemic has imposed challenges, for us all: challenges we could never have imagined would be so difficult. Although we hope that as many sites as possible will be able to accommodate live performances, it is very likely that local health agencies will prohibit large gatherings, even for outdoor performances, this coming June. As artists and environmentalists, we are experts in adapting to challenges and using limits to deepen our work.

We encourage you to build social solidarity, as you socially distance. So, for this year’s GWD, we are shifting the focus from emphasizing live performances with huge gatherings, to using technology to safely build your community of artists and activists. To that end, we are excited to offer the following opportunities to support you in your efforts.

February to April: GWD 2021 Webinar Series

In the past we have gathered on Zoom to share questions and experiences. We will continue these meetings, and in addition, we will include workshops that will provide concrete tools and lectures by experts that will be inspiring. The first webinar will specifically address how to translate GWD events to the screen and on social media, coming up on February 19 and 20.

February Theme: Global – “Building a Virtual Dance Community around the World”

March Theme: Water – “Water, Ritual and Ecological Stewardship”

April Theme: Dances – “Movement Choirs and The Collective Effervescence of Dance”

You will soon receive more information about the dates, workshop leaders, and registration for these free webinars.

March 22: GWD Documentary

It’s our 10th year anniversary! What better way to move forward than to look back at what this beautiful and vibrant community has accomplished? Look out for the first broadcast of our new documentary directed by Nel Shelby Productions on World Water Day, March 22.

GWD Festival 2021

June 8: GWD Splash Mob

To kick off our week-long festival, we will be launching a Social Media campaign with a virtual flash mob. We call it the GWD Splash Mob. We will share a 1-minute long dance that everybody will be able to dance on June 8th, the World Ocean Day. The music was composed by Shari Lauter, an excerpt of the wonderful “Let’s clean it up” music for GWD Cincinnati in 2013. Download music here!

June 9-11: GWD Online Festival

You will have the opportunity to have your site featured in this special event.  You can incorporate the best moments of the different four sections we created for the dance. Deadline to send videos to be considered in our film festival: May 15 2021.

June 12: GWD On-site Live-streaming

For those sites that are authorized by local health agencies, events can be live-streamed. You can include the four sections of our GWD events: the first two local creation, and latter two global or common for every location:

  • Section I. Ritual: An opening, specific to each site.
  • Section II. Local Dance: It is open to the choreographer’s creativity. You can use locally-based music, and use a local water issue as a theme for your dance.
  • Section III. Global Dance: Simultaneous choreography done by all the performers worldwide to the same piece of music, connecting participants and audience globally. Download music | Read the Written Score | Video Solo Version: Front View | Back View | Video of Group version.
  • Section IV. Participatory Dance: Audience participation in a very simple movement sequence. Some sites will teach the moves right during the event, while at other sites the audience will have learned prior to performance. Video | Music (optional, you can use any music, or no music!)

June 13: GWD Synchronous Global Dance and Participatory Dance

To conclude our week-long festival, we will be gathering online to perform the new 5-minute version of the Global Dance and the Participatory Dance (Section III and IV). This will be a great way to connect and celebrate, not only your hard work, but also 10 years of a world-wide movement for water.

Download music | Read the Written Score | Video Solo Version: Front View | Back View

Important Details

  • Embody Water: Moving as one mind/body has potency. At some point in our dance, everyone becomes water, river, stream, ocean, puddle. Working on consciousness and action is important.
  • Include actions: Take on the issues needed in your community, including politics. Past models have included petitions, call to action, and causes.
  • Partner up: work with environmentally related organizations for speakers and taking collections or helping charities related to water: charity:water, theglobalfund.org, among others. We can help you to find the right match!
  • Include Movement Choirs: If you would like to have some ideas about how develop your own site specific performance, please read this Modern Day Movement Choirs Document.

Publicity Tools

Video and Photo instructions

 

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