The Dance parade is an annual parade and festival that showcases dance of all kinds as an expression of art and culture. It takes place in New York City each May, on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Greg Miller, a social entrepreneur and dance aficionado, established the non-profit organization in December, 2006 and led an all-volunteer group that produced the inaugural parade on May 19, 2007.
Over 2300 dancers from 75 organizations made their way down Manhattan’s Broadway and Fifth Avenue on and around eight floats. Ending in front of the Washington Square Memorial Arch, the parade culminated in 31 performances highlighting native New York dance styles such as hip-hop, jazz dance, break dancing, and salsa. Participants included the original B-boys, DJs Danny Tenaglia and Kool Herc; and Frieda Williams.
As defined by its Board of Directors, Dance parade’s mission is “to promote dance as an expressive and unifying art form by showcasing all forms of dance, educating the general public about the opportunities to experience dance, and celebrating diversity of dance in New York City by sponsoring a yearly city-wide dance parade and dance festival”. The parade route starts on 21st street, then progresses in the history of dance order and boogie our way down Broadway.
The parade is designed to celebrate the history of dance. The order of the parade reflects the history of dance, with the earliest forms African/Japanese/etc up through modern times. By showcasing various different genres, cultures and styles, the parade unifies the world of dance. It also provides the general public the opportunity to experience and participate in a day of dance.
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