Congresswoman Holmes Norton Introduces 'Dance Day'

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a resolution, which has 22 original co-sponsors, designating Saturday, July 30 as National Dance Day to promote physical exercise, dance art forms, and dance education.

So You Think You Can Dance producer and celebrity judge Nigel Lythgoe will announce National Dance Day on tonight’s TV show, including how participants may access the dance routines to learn for the Dance Day flash mobs. Lythgoe, the Dizzy Feet Foundation and the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, in conjunction with Norton, will host the National Dance Day celebration at the Sylvan Theatre on the National Mall to encourage physical activity through dance forms of all kinds.

National Dance Day in DC will feature a variety of dance performances by local and regional amateur dance groups, as well as a flash mob that will include participation by those who attend. Norton and Lythgoe intend to make National Dance Day an annual celebration on the Mall and throughout the country on the last Saturday in July.

The National Dance Day resolution demonstrates the need for dance as a form of exercise, when almost one-third of children and teenagers ages 2 to 19, and 68 percent of adults ages 20 and older, are obese or overweight.

“Our National Dance Day on the National Mall will show residents that anybody can dance and have fun with flash mobs,” said Norton. “And all of us will be inspired to get up and move by the dance groups that will perform.”

Last year, National Dance Day attracted several thousand participants to the National Mall, including former U.S. Olympic gymnast and co-chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Dominique Dawes.

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