daCi USA Days of Dance "Be Where Our Feet Are" by Deborah Lipa-Ciotta Covid kept us from coming together for our 7th National Gathering at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, originally scheduled for the summer of 2020. Nonetheless we persevered, organized and gathered virtually for our second annual daCi Days of Dance and what a wonderful three days it was! The weekend centered around our theme “Be Where Our Feet Are” as well as the National Day of Dance. Participants celebrated, danced, created and came together as a daCi community. Our feet were in Utah, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Idaho, Maryland and Michigan as well as international members from Toronto, Canada and as far away as Genoa, Italy! Across five time zones, our daCi family of children, teens, college students, and adults came together in a hybrid format and moved their feet from homes, dance studios and school spaces. Old friends connected and new friends were made.
discussion about the multitude of contemporary dance communities filmed around the world. There were site-specific dances with local dancers and interviews with artists about why they dance. Many connected to the simple beauty and universal appeal of physical contact featured throughout the film and mentioned how much it is missed during Covid. daCi college student Elizabeth Karpov shared how moved she was by a particular thought expressed by one of the dancers in the film: “The body is really the shortest distance between two people. It makes an immediate connection across the distance between where I am and you begin….Dance is the most immediate communication compared to other art forms — it provides the most organic connection to our environment and the people in it.” In case you missed the film, or would like to view it again, here is the YouTube link.
The events began Friday evening with a virtual kick-off, welcome and introductions by daCi Chair Joy Guarino, followed by a viewing of the film “Dancing Around the World” by German choreographer and director Nejla Yatkin. It led into a rich 9
