The Global Water Dances started as an idea hatched by a small group of students of non-verbal communications all trained in Laban Movement Analysis. The group had many years of experience in producing Movement Choirs, events that use community dance to create social cohesion.

A group of dancers and environmentalists were seeking a way in which dance could mobilize people to protect the planet.

“When people dance together, they connect in powerful ways and they generate a sense of agency in themselves and others,” said Vannia Ibarguen, the Artistic Director of Global Water Dances, which is a project of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) in New York City.

Global Water Dances began in 2011 and has taken place every two years since then, with participation being open to anyone who loves to move and participants plan their own local events. Choreographers crate a dance specifically for their own site, which is usually in a park or pool or somewhere else near water like a lake, beach or river.

Performances are family friendly and free of charge, and Choreographers will generally partner with environmental education organisations through scientific and environmental speeches, panel discussions, petitions or other eco-actions such as cleaning beaches, rivers or speeches against wasting or polluting water.

Global Water Dances has brought together performers and audiences in more than 250 cities in a unified around a call to action to honour and protect water.

“We know that Global Water Dances changes peoples’ attitudes about water. In 2013, we gathered survey responses from almost 1,000 people from four continents who attended their local performance. 75% of the respondents reported that the performance increased their interest in water issues and 78% said that the dance event inspired them to take action regarding water issues,” added Ibarguen.

On June 24th 2017, 108 cities from Aachen, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland took part in this year’s Global Water Dances.

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