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Norton Introduces National Dance Day Resolution Leading up to July 25th Nationwide Celebration

July 15, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a resolution marking Saturday, July 25th as National Dance Day, celebrated annually on the last Saturday of July. National Dance Day celebrations began on the National Mall in the District of Columbia and in Los Angeles, California in 2010. The Kennedy Center, VSA, and Dizzy Feet Foundation, in conjunction with Congresswoman Norton, will present a free, two-hour celebration of National Dance Day featuring dance performances, interactive routines, and dance lessons on Saturday, July 25, 2015, from 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., on the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.

"National Dance Day has become a grassroots movement when Americans across the country host local events celebrating dance for fun and exercise," Norton said. "The contribution of National Dance Day to healthy lifestyles makes dance do double duty in a nation that wants to be fit and loves to dance. I am very pleased to work with the Kennedy Center and the Dizzy Feet Foundation, which are cosponsors this year after a huge crowd gathered at the Kennedy Center on National Dance Day last year."

Launched in 2010 by So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) co-creator Nigel Lythgoe, National Dance Day is an annual celebration that encourages Americans to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health. Leading up to National Dance Day, the Dizzy Feet Foundation produced the official 2015 "Everybody Dance" beginner routine, which is designed for all dance levels, and will be performed by the crowd on National Dance Day. The dance is choreographed by SYTYCD alumni and current "Team Street" leader Twitch.

Norton first introduced a resolution to mark National Dance Day in 2010.

The full text of the resolution is below.

RESOLUTION

Expressing support for dancing as a form of valuable exercise and of artistic expression, and for the designation of Saturday, July 25 as 2015 National Dance Day;

Whereas Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer and celebrity judge for the dance-themed television show `So You Think You Can Dance', in association with the Dizzy Feet Foundation, has encouraged the creation of National Dance Day in nations around the world, beginning with the first National Dance Day on the National Mall in 2010;

Whereas the Dizzy Feet foundation and the Kennedy Center, in conjunction with the office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, will celebrate National Dance Day Saturday, July 25, 2015, in the nation's capital at the Kennedy Center

Whereas National Dance Day has captured the imagination of people throughout the nation and around the world and has helped popularize dancing as an art, for fun, and as a form of exercise;

Whereas National Dance Day encourages many forms of dance expression, representing the nation's rich artistic, regional, ethnic, and racial diversity;

Whereas National Dance Day features the spectrum of dance, from classical to popular to line and partner dances;

Whereas dancing helps improve heart health, burn calories, strengthen muscles, and improve flexibility for people of all ages;

Whereas health officials have repeatedly documented an overweight and obesity epidemic among every age group in the United States;

Whereas dancing, in all its variations, is a popular form of physical exercise;

Whereas this year at the Kennedy Center in the nation's capital performances by Antoine Hunter, AXIS Dance Company, Baakari Wilder, Culture Shock, Evan Ruggiero, and Season 9 finalist of So You Think You Can Dance, Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer will entertain and encourage dancing;

Whereas instructional videos are available on the Dizzy Feet Foundation YouTube channel featuring dance routines for all skill levels and ability in advance of National Dance Day to be performed by audiences on National Dance Day;

Whereas the last Saturday in July continues an appropriate day to annually celebrate National Dance Day as it has been for the past 5 years therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) supports the designation of National Dance Day to celebrate and encourage a national commitment to dance, dance education, and dance as physical fitness,

(2) acknowledges that dance is making an important contribution to health by encouraging physical fitness and reducing overweight and obesity;

(3) commends Nigel Lythgoe for his leadership in promoting National Dance Day