Dancers move to all sorts of music, and silence, and they don't need to be on a stage to summon the groove. Some toe-tapping in the kitchen can stir up the magic of movement, or a quick spin with a sweetheart by the ol' hi-fi in the den.
And just like there are multiple types of dancing, and ways to enjoy shaking one's thing, there are several ways to honor the pursuit. National Dance Day arrives at the end of July, or nearly, and with it, mondo gatherings of people all learning the same routine. But the close of April belongs to International Dance Day, and National Dance Week, and fans of the form, and those who engage in movement, can find places to celebrate.
One of the liveliest and most-around-town-iest is the Dance Camera West Dance Media Film Festival, which pirouettes from April 30 through May 5.
A caboodle of cinematic works spotlighting dancers, stories, leaps, troupes, twirls, and everything to do with the fabulously physical calling shall unspool across the city at venues like The Aero, The Crest, REDCAT, UCLA, and more screens.
Let us pause to amend that: Dance, of course, is as much about the interior world as the physical expression, a world many of these films seek to visit.
Look for flicks focusing on dancers in Cuba, on percussive dancers, cheerleading, ballet, and a host of topics both knotty and fluid (as the best dance pieces are, at various junctures).
A dance-along at The Egyptian on May 5 will get audience members moving as well ahead of the evening's film, "Dancing for my Havana."
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So where will you celebrate National Dance Week? You can find a cinema showing a film or you can put on your own show at home. Or both. That's one of the beauties of dance, like singing and performing and writing: You don't need to wait for permission to pursue it, whenever/wherever.
