Norton Ready to Join the Dancing at National Dance Day, Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, D.C.'s National Dance Day celebration, in collaboration with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who will speak at the event, will go late into the evening and will feature interactive lessons, and performances by amateur and professional dancers, including D.C. natives, the Manzari Brothers. National Dance Day begins today, Saturday, July 27, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. and will go to 11:30 p.m., at the Kennedy Center outdoor South Plaza from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., in the Grand Foyer from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., and finishing with dance lessons and "Dancing under the Stars" with live music at the South Plaza. The free Kennedy Center red shuttle will bring visitors to and from the Foggy Bottom Metro station. Norton worked with producer and celebrity judge Nygel Lythgoe of So You Think You Can Dance to bring National Dance Day celebrations to the Mall four years ago, to celebrate dancing as an art form and to encourage all forms of dance as physical exercise to defeat the epidemic of obesity. Today there are National Dance Day celebrations in an increasing number of localities. This year's expanded National Dance Day celebration in the nation's capital, in collaboration with Norton, is sponsored by the Kennedy Center and the Dizzy Feet Foundation.

Earlier this month, Norton introduced a resolution, H.RES.304, to mark Saturday, July 27th as the date for the 2013 National Dance Day, celebrated annually on the last Saturday of July. She first introduced a resolution to mark National Dance Day in 2010

Today's schedule follows.

1:15–5:30 p.m. on the South Plaza
- Free performances, dance lessons, interactive dances
Dizzy Feet - "Everybody Dance" and "Hip-Hop Master Class" dance routines
Esperonto Bean and Stefani Thomas – House
DEA Youth Dance Program Partner, CityDance - modern
Doonya Dance – Bollywood
Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company Joy of Motion Dance Center's Youth Dance Ensemble – modern
Just Tap
Nomad Dancers – Persian
Dr. Janaki Rangarajan – classical Indian Bharatanatyam
Smooth & EZ – Hand Dance Company
Washington Ballet, TheArc – youth ballet
Doug Yeuell - Broadway jazz class

6–7 p.m. in the Grand Foyer
Founder's Day Celebration: Culture Shock and Manzari Brothers, a performance that honors James A. Johnson, Kennedy Center Chairman Emeritus and Millennium Stage founder

8–11:30 p.m. on the South Plaza
"Dancing Under the Stars" with live music by Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with Tito Rodriguez Jr.
8–9 p.m.: Dance lessons with Eddie Torres and Shani
9-10 p.m.: Live music and dancing
10-10:30 p.m.: "Brush up" lesson Eddie Torres and Shani Talmor
10:30-11:30 p.m.: Second set of live music and dancing

Published: July 27, 2013