The 10th annual Dance Parade was spared the heavy rains that arrived later on Saturday. It stayed away long enough for the thousands of dancers to show off their moves to the crowd. This young parade is gaining in popularity as dancers came from all over country and parts of the world to celebrate the most ancient of art forms…dance. This is one of my personal favorites because it’s one of the few parades that brings people together of all cultures and backgrounds and ages to get up and dance. And it doesn’t matter the age. On a few occasions I saw seniors in their 90s dance to the music and kids as young as two trying to find their rhythm. A thing of beauty I tell ya. The parade was delayed slightly because the March Against Monsanto had to pass by the parade route on Broadway and 8th before the dancing started. Back on 22nd St. and Broadway, the buzz was in high gear with lots of dancers getting ready to show off their moves. Once things got started, it was a non-stop party.The parade route turned on 8th St. and into Tompkins Square Park where there was more dancing on 3 different stages. This years Grand Marshall was an amazing dancer, Kwikstep. He helped to take break dancing to the next level and helped inspire thousands of dancers to develop new moves and improve their art form.
The first of many floats arrived with an impressive group of dancers swaying their way down the parade route. The BellyDance America dance group got the crowd really worked up.But they were just warming things up for the high energy San Simon caporales. They always give it their all. A crowd favorite, Danielle Lima and her Samba dancers, always leaves people feeling good. They make you want to join in and have fun. Then the international crowd arrived with groups from Taiwan and Mexico and India showing off their traditional dance moves. They had some amazing costumes. A rather curious group of dancers from the Solstice Tribe had an original dance that echoed mystery and sensuality. But just as you were being lulled into a sense of serenity, the loud and proud women of Batala woke everyone up with their thunderous drum beats. A good sample of what the parade offers was when the Manhattan Tribal group danced their way the parade route followed by traditional Haitian dancers and the Cobras dance group from Harlem. The best Spanish music representation was from the exciting XDance group. They showed everyone how it’s done as they closed out the parade and asked people to follow them to Tompkins Square Park where the fun and dancing continued. Great job Dance Parade and thanks for honoring Prince on your float.
NYC Parade Life 