Why Dance Matters Reloaded

Two years ago, I threw together a little social experiment called Why Dance Matters (read all about it here).

It turned out to be a rather fabulous event; exceeding my expectations. So, my hope each year has been to make it bigger and better than the inaugural event. But, like a practiced perfectionist with big ideas (and a small time budget), I’ve let the whole thing slide rather than present it “imperfectly.”

Shame. On. Me.

I’ve been facing numerous challenges in the last few months. Through this I’ve discovered that depending on others occasionally is not a necessary evil but actually a blessing for all involved.

I was mistakenly thinking that I had to make Why Dance Matters “something special” but it already is special… or will be, not because of anything I do or don’t do, but because of YOU and what you have to say about dance.

So (pardon me), screw perfection. I’m counting on you to make Why Dance Matters (July 23-28) six days of utter fabuliciousness!

How will you do it? Where will it go?

I don’t really know! Let’s start by bringing it into our Circle Time!

Shame on me again. I’ve missed our Circle Time posts, haven’t you?

Sometimes life gets in the way of our best intentions but, a reader and fellow blogger recently reminded me that these little monthly prompts are worth it! They create a web of conversation and sharing within the dance blogging community and, because community and sharing is central to the Dance Advantage mission, I’m going to resume the roundups starting… now.

Tell Us Why Dance Matters

Write a blog post sharing why dance matters…

• To you personally
• OR to your community
• OR to the world
• OR to someone else
• OR all of the above!

Then submit it via this form by July 20 for inclusion in our Circle Time post roundup to appear during the Why Dance Matters event, July 23-28.

Not a Blogger?

Not a problem! Why Dance Matters meets you where you are!

You can Tweet, share on Facebook, post a YouTube video, or Pin it!

All the details for how to jump in are at whydancematters.org.

Here’s where you become a rock star:

Notice there’s a shiny new website to go with the Why Dance Matters event?

I chose to set it apart from Dance Advantage because it’s not really MY event. It’s ours. I’m just sort of trying to get the ball rolling… again.

More than just tweeting a hashtag or pinning a link, I’d like Why Dance Matters to become an honest-to-goodness Project, with a capital P. The social event is great for drawing a bit of attention to what’s amazing about dance in a short burst of time. But eventually, I’d like the project to be one gigantic, colorful, dazzling tapestry of testimonial pointing to our WHY.

I don’t know how long it will take to get from Point A to B. I’m not even totally sure what Point B will look like!

What I do know is that I want to do this thing, and I want to spearhead it, and I want to write and share and tweet, and make it happen. But I need help. I’m already crazy-busy juggling two kids, a life, a job, and more, I definitely cannot do it alone!

I need help from people who are way more organized than I am, who are good at managing and plotting out projects, who have mad skillz they’d like to add to the stew. I’d like it to be a community collaboration.

I’m also looking for those who are willing to donate their time doing what they do best — profits, if ever there are any, will go to some kind of something under the for the love of dance! category.

What I’m really hoping is that as we merrily roll along, someone with a lot of heart and drive will want to take the helm, or be part of a group of project heads. We all saw what happened when things were left totally in my hands!

Anyway, for now, this is a vague announcement of intent, probably not even for this year, but if you’re down, drop me a line.

Even if you don’t blog. Even if you don’t know yet if you want to help this project take shape.

Please visit WhyDanceMatters.org and learn more about how to participate!

Thanks!