Global Water Dances

Inspiring world dance event will raise

consciousness of the global water crisis

Flow, the medium of dance/movement, can connect community, just as water connects people. Communities grew up and were often defined by the water nearby. Through Global Water Dances we want to connect the local to the global community to safeguard that all humans have access to clean drinking water, so that the water flowing through us is sustaining and not harming us. Taking responsibility for, valuing and protecting water can shift people easily into other ways of caring for the planet.

A devastating crisis

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe water causes 4.4 billion cases of diarrhea every year, resulting in 1.5 million deaths, mostly of children under five. A child dies somewhere in the world every 20 seconds from waterborne diarrhea. Overall, WHO figures show that unsafe water kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

The Global Water Dances event

On June 25th, dances will be performed in approximately 50 cities around the globe, centered around water issues. The event will begin at 5 p.m. local time in the Pacific Rim, rolling westward through the time zones. The dances will also be broadcast online. Participating cities include Beijing, Lima, Vienna, New York, Halifax, Cairo, Mexico City and Berlin.

Each Global Water Dances location has its own professional choreographer who will produce a four-part site-specific performance. The first two parts will reflect the importance of water as seen by that local community, with movements created especially for the individual outdoor locations. In part three, all dancers worldwide will perform to the same 8-1/2 minute piece of music written by prominent global musicians.