Dance Parade New York, an annual celebration of dance in all its forms, will host an interactive online dance festival on Saturday, May 22, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST. According to its organizers, one thousand dancers from around the world will connect to family-friendly, fun and movement joy in DJ-lead dance rooms, free dance classes with top professionals, dance-offs between participants, and free dance classes. In addition, the winning videos from the Dare-to-Dance challenge contest will be premiered.

Greg Miller is executive director of Dance Parade New York and said the past year has been really hard on everyone, including the tens of thousands of dancers Dance Parade serves. “As a service to the community, Dance Parade has put together a dynamic event and a television show with lots of content, providing something for everyone,” he said. “This year, we celebrate the theme “Dance Brings Us Together” with dancers from around the world.”

Among the parade and festival highlights are the following:

2021 Grand Marshals: emcee, Shireen Dickson, presents this year’s Grand Marshals: H.T. Chen and Dian Dong of Chen Dance Center; Virginia Johnson, artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem; and Lisa Lisa, Latina pop music legend.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: Kicking off the family-friendly event is a ceremony officiated by Dickson to pay homage to Lisa, Chen, Dong, and Johnson, who will cut the ribbon and unleash dance styles from ballet to breakdance, tango to tap, and Japanese to Scottish!

Home Stage: Lisa will open the Home Stage with a live appearance and medley of her life-long work. DJ, Ali Coleman, invites everyone to bring their best moves to the participatory stage. Dance scouts will go through 1,000 cameras and spotlight those with great energy, costumes, and artistry. Join a dance battle, or vote for your favorite as contestants from around the world compete for cash prizes.

Dare To Dance Challenge: See the winners of the Dare to Dance Video contest that challenged choreographers to connect to their dancers remotely during the period of isolation and social distancing, amid the pandemic. Thanks to Nancy Steele of STEELE DANCE, three winners will receive cash prizes and will have their one-minute videos premiered at the festival.

Grandstand Performance Stage: Included are performances from artists who have bucked the pandemic to create riveting work in the past year, with interviews that give an inside glimpse behind dozens of movement cultures…Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Chinese, African, Bolivian, Mexican, and more.

Dance Film: This year, Dance Parade will present portions of its one-hour TV special, The Resilience of Dance Through the Pandemic, due out in June on NYC Life which includes interviews and performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Heidi Latsky Dance, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, National Dance Institute, DrumatiX, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Dance Rising and more.

Teaching Stages: Take a free dance lesson from Dance Parade’s best teachers. Learn Body/Mind Exercise Dance, Salsa, Break Dance, African, Hip-Hop, Indonesian, Lit Fit, Latin Boogaloo, Bhangra and others! Ask our teaching artists whatever question you like either live on camera or in the chat.

Suggested donations to participate: $20 or free for artists and low-income guests. Organizers say there is something for everyone. Applicants are invited to register here to participate. Those wishing to simply watch the parade and all four stages can see the livestream show here.

Organizers say New Yorkers can tune up their dance moves prior to the event by taking free dance lessons in Japanese, Mexican, Moving For Life Dance Exercise, Ballroom, Salsa and African by clicking here.

Dance Parade New York is the world’s only street parade to exclusively celebrate and showcase the diversity of dance, according to its organizers. They say the annual celebration of eclectic dance styles from around the world, features over ten thousand dancers, and presents more than 80 unique styles of dance.

Launched in 2006, Dance Parade is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to celebrate diversity by presenting as many forms of dance and culture as possible. The organization offers free dance programs to schools and community centers throughout New York City. In 2020, the pandemic caused the parade to go online and as such, reached dozens of countries around the world.