One of the ideas that has grown out of the City of Redmond’s Cultural Inclusion project was to bring World Dance Party to Redmond. World Dance Party ( http://worlddancepartyseattle.org/) is a grass roots celebration of culture and community; with food, fun, music, and dance. After seeing the WDP success in Seattle since 2010; members of Redmond’s community are bringing the event to the eastside.
Derby Days, this year, featured a taste of what this event can be, as fantastic performances by local talent were shared at the Redmond Moving Art Center Community Stage.
This inaugural event will be September 19, 2015, 6:30-9:00 at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center. Learn different multicultural dances taught by volunteer instructors. Just bring a potluck dish to share at this free event. Help spread the word about this event by sharing the WDP Eastside Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wdpeastside
The idea for the event surfaced years ago in Seattle. The gathering was part of a project designed to capture people’s input for an ideal community for everyone to grow old in, as well as inspire citizens to actions to improve their neighborhoods. One theme that arose was the lack of connections between elders and young people, and between neighbors of different ethnicities. One idea that came up was a fun multicultural dance and potluck. There have been several WDP’s now, each one attended by 100 to 250 people.
World Dance Party has three guiding principles:
1. Everyone has fun: WDP is an event that energizes people and gives us all an outlet to know our neighbors in a fun and relaxed setting.
2. Everyone contributes: WDP is about building community. Everyone contributes in some way such as bringing a dish to share, teaching dances, volunteering, and inviting their friends and family to participate in the event.
3. Everyone is accepted: WDP should be a place where everyone can feel welcome and connected to their neighbors, regardless of their culture, race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, political view, sexual orientation, etc.
The WDP Eastside steering committee is raising money for this inaugural event. World Dance Party Eastside has a GoFundMe presence, for collecting donations: http://www.gofundme.com/wdpeastside. It is hoped that grants from community organizations will keep this going after the first successful WDP Eastside in September.
