Nanaimo’s Crimson Coast Dance Society is proceeding with its annual Infringing Dance Festival this summer and organizers are welcoming Nanaimo families to be part of the show.
From June 12 until July 3, families are being encouraged to send in videos of themselves dancing, which will then be edited together and shown at this year’s Infringing Festival, which is scheduled to take place from July 10 to 19.
Crimson Coast artistic director Holly Bright said the festival has always had interactive components, but in the age of COVID-19, she said the question was “How can we engage the community because everyone’s inside?”
After discussing this with her team, Bright said they determined there were many digital and in-person options.
“Some ideas that came around were inspired by other communities, where people drive to people’s homes and watch a dance on a porch or they do the video where they’re passing something and then the next person dances,” she said. “So just looking at what was possible and knowing that we wanted to get people moving, and outside, and of course interacting with each other and then being seen doing that and celebrated.”
In the end they decided on “backyard dances,” in which families, or people within COVID-19 social “bubbles,” will have the opportunity to access music from the Crimson Coast website and film themselves on their device of choice dancing to that music outdoors. The final compilation video will be available online and be shown on a big outdoor screen during Infringing.
“Hopefully lots of families will enjoy that together and then singles or neighbours, people who are in each other’s bubbles, will create something fun and have a great experience doing it and then a great experience seeing themselves doing it and sharing it with the public,” Bright said.
The dance must be “appropriate for all ages,” and while Crimson Coast aims to include all submissions, the website notes “it is possible your dance may not be used.”
More information and video music is available here. Videos can be uploaded to the file-sharing website of one’s choosing. A link including the participant’s contact information must then be submitted to admin@crimsoncoast.org.
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