Since 1982,the International Dance Day is being observed with various events and activities all over the world on April 29 to celebrate the dance art form and its multidimensional benefits The observance was first proclaimed by the International Dance Council and the date 29th April was chosen since on this date the Dance Committee of the International Theater Institute (ITI) was founded (pic from Wikipedia).
The purpose of the observance is to spread the message of the benefits of dance and celebrate the art form of dance through performances, write-ups and seminars. On an earlier occasion, I had written an article " Understanding spiritual and healing aspects of dance: International Dance Day on April 29" that connected dancing with spirituality. which, I reproduce here.
"Today, on April 29, the International Dance Day is being celebrated to highlight the purpose of dance as an expressive art form performed through rhythmic and flowing movements of the body and its limbs. Dance is said to be part of age-old ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and entertainment right from the earliest human civilizations. Also, during ancient times dance was used as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing rituals which still continue," I wrote to open the write up.
"In Vedic philosophy, it is believed that the universe was brought into existence as the manifestation of the dance of the Supreme Dancer, Nataraja. In the Hindu scriptures, there is mention of 23 Apsarases who had danced to please the gods by expressing the supreme truths of human life and worship of the divine in the language of movement, mime and gestures. In the Indian subcontinent, the codified dance movements were captured as Natyashastra as the sacred and divine movement art form of worship. In many temples, dance-worship was practiced which slowly got evolved as Indian Classical Dance. Many gifted and accomplished classical dancers are believed to be incarnations of one or the other of the 23 Apsarases," the article added
Lamenting that in modern times, dance has been commercialized and has become a part of entertainment industry and stage shows, the article elaborated, "As a part of interdisciplinary knowledge and it application, dances are being used as scientific healing interventions as Dance Movement Therapy and spiritual or devotion dancing popularised by Hare Krishna cult and Sufi Dances."
The article added the following points
~American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) defines DMT as the 'psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual, for the purpose of improving health and well-being'.
~Essentially spiritual dance is an instrument for the transmission of divine blessing of cosmic consciousness. Through an apparently simple process of dancing and singing sacred phrases with devotion is still in vogue in many cultures of the East.
~Many dancers of the West, such as Marin Roper, advocate connecting the physical movement with spiritual experience. “Dance is a way for people to connect to who they see themselves to be” says Roper adding that the patterns within movement, the mover is communicating others as unity.
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