dance fever

by Jeanne Chinard ••• There are moments you know that New York still has a creative heartbeat because it hasn’t lost the capacity to surprise you - one of those rarer and rarer times when a relaxed Sunday stroll turns into a heart-pumping smile-inducing memorable wow. It happened to us on May 22nd. ••• We had just left the Strand Bookstore and were beginning a leisurely stroll down University Place when we saw what we thought was a typical New York parade. New York in May is a festival of street fairs and parades. We have seen plenty, so we weren’t intending to watch this one. But what stopped us in our tracks wasn’t just any parade - it was a river of exuberant dancers leaping and jumping and pirouetting through the air over the hard asphalt of the New York City streets. ••• There were hundreds and hundreds of dancers. Some danced on floats, but most were on foot. Or stilts. Or sliding down poles. There were Swing dancers, Samba dancers, Tango dancers, Indian Bhangra dancers, Ecuadorian dancers, Congolese dancers - each group more energetic and enthusiastic than the last.  A cacophony of global musical genres fused together as one group finished and another began. Almost six thousand dancers from everywhere in every style - Argentinean to African, Meringue to Martha Graham, Bollywood to Boogie Woogie.. ••• Cynicism, worries, the economy were all swept away by the intensity and joy of each one of these passionate dancers. Watching them soar between the buildings was a revelation. The costumes, the colors, the diversity of people, dances and musical styles were mind-boggling. We didn’t want it ever to be over, so we followed the dancers to Tompkins Square Park, where the parade ended and it was clear the party was just beginning. ••• Having been New Yorkers for years, it is sometimes hard to allow yourself to see things in a fresh way, but this was absolutely one of the coolest things we have ever seen in the city. It left us uplifted and smiling for the rest of the day. The Annual New York City Dance Parade http://danceparade.org/EE/