National Water Dance
National Water Dance

National Water Dance

National Water Dance 2022: “Dancing Out of Time!” Brings Art and Community Together

The National Water Dance returns with a powerful theme this year: water and the Everglades. The event, founded by Miami-based choreographer and environmental advocate Dale Andree, is more than a performance—it’s a call to action, blending art with environmental awareness.

Andree, who created the National Water Dance in 2011, uses movement as a metaphorical and literal catalyst for unity and political engagement. The 2022 edition, titled “Dancing Out of Time!”, focuses on the unique and fragile ecosystem of the Everglades, an inspiration drawn from Andree’s AIRIE arts fellowship in 2018.

A Multifaceted Experience

The event kicks off at 3 PM with immersive activities, including:

  • An onsite art gallery featuring Glades-inspired works by Seminole artist Wilson Bowers and mixed-media artist Deborah Mitchell.
  • Interactive tents led by members of the Love the Everglades Movement, offering insights into the challenges faced by this vital ecosystem.

Movement, Music, and Collaboration

As the afternoon unfolds, audiences will experience:

  • Miamibloco’s percussionists, guiding attendees samba-style to an outdoor space adorned with papier-mâché birds created by student sculptors from George Washington Carver Middle School.
  • A haunting flute invocation by Seminole Tribe member Samuel Tommie, acknowledging the spiritual significance of the land.
  • Music performances by the Miami Sound Choir, Cuban-American duo Afrobeta, and more.

The highlight of the event, the 4 PM dance performance, begins with a “movement choir.” This concept, rooted in the teachings of modern dance pioneer Rudolf Laban, unites participants in shared gestures, embodying the healing power of movement. But the National Water Dance takes this further—groups from across the United States will join via livestream, creating a simultaneous, nationwide performance.

A Celebration of Diversity and Unity

Performing troupes include:

  • Afro-Cuban ensemble IFE-ILE
  • Karen Peterson and Dancers
  • Olujimi Dance Theatre
  • Dimensions Dance
  • Miami Dade College’s Jubilation Dance Ensemble
  • Andree’s own troupe
  • Students from the Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts

The choreography weaves these diverse groups into “one woven fabric of movement,” emphasizing the interconnectedness of humanity and the environment.

The Message: Art as Advocacy

“This is about constructing community,” Andree explains, “and creating awareness centered around the joy of these dancers.” The performance not only highlights the environment’s importance but also reflects on humanity’s role as part of it.

“Our only way forward is to work as one.”

For more information about National Water Dance and how you can participate, visit nwdprojects.org.

Miami Herald - National Water Dance
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Artburst, National Water Dance

Nature abhors a vacuum; so, too, does Dale Andree.

When the Earth advocate, dancer and pioneering Miami choreographer created the National Water Dance in 2011, she saw the project as a way to build community. Her work hints that movement, with its physical and metaphorical power, can be the seed for a movement in the political sense.

Over the past decade of her impressive career, Andree has made a deep dive into the creative and connective possibilities of water as a vital and imperiled element. Starting at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 23, audiences may join National Water Dance’s dialogue around water during a presentation titled “Dancing Out of Time!” at the South Miami-Dade Art and Culture Center.

This year’s theme centers around the Everglades, where Andree had an AIRIE arts fellowship in 2018. The afternoon of this multifaceted presentation will begin with guides showing participants to an onsite art gallery featuring the Glades-inspired works of Seminole painter Wilson Bowers and Canadian-born conservationist and mixed-media artist Deborah Mitchell. Or guides will lead them to tents where they can learn about the wetlands’ challenges from members of the Love the Everglades Movement.

For the performance sequence later in the afternoon, the Brazilian sounds of Miamibloco’s percussionists will usher audiences, samba-style, to an outdoor space decorated with papier-mâché birds created by student sculptors from George Washington Carver Middle School in Coral Gables. Seminole Tribe member Samuel Tommie’s haunting flute music will begin an invocation acknowledging the spiritual significance of the land. There will be music from the Miami Sound Choir and from the Cuban-American duo Afrobeta, all accompanying an equally diverse array of dance companies.

The 4 p.m. dance performance is expected to start with a “movement choir.” Developed in the early 20th century by modern dance revolutionary Rudolf Laban, this practice involves mounting a simple choreographic sequence through a large group of people so that, together, they can experience the healing power of movement.

But with National Water Dance, said Andree, the sequence of “shared gestures” will happen across the entire United States as member groups from Connecticut to California connect via live stream, uniting in a simultaneous, nationwide performance. “This is about constructing community,” said Andree, and about “creating awareness centered around the joy of these dancers.” The large group of dancers here includes the Afro-Cuban ensemble IFE-ILE; Karen Peterson and Dancers; Olujimi Dance Theatre; Dimensions Dance; NWD Projects, Miami Dade College’s Jubilation Dance Ensemble; Andree’s own troupe; and young performers from the Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts.

Following the movement choir, dancers from the different troupes will be highlighted, with the groups “constantly threading through to make the performance one woven fabric of movement,” Andree said.

“What this is all about is not only attention to the environment, but also attention to ourselves as part of the environment,” she added. “Our only way forward is to work as one.”

  • WHAT: National Water Dance 2022 — “Dancing Out of Time!”
  • WHEN: 3 p.m. Saturday, April 23, 2022
  • WHERE: South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, 10950 SW 211th St., Cutler Bay; plus online access at nwdprojects.org/national-water-dance
  • COST: Free with ticket; available at SMDCAC.org
  • INFORMATION: nwdprojects.org

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