Continuing the tradition of last year’s ground-breaking alliance of the nation’s leading cultural organizations in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., National Dance Day is partnering with Eventbrite to help encourage Americans of all ages to incorporate dance into their lives.

The 6^th annual National Dance Day will take place on Saturday, July 25 culminating with the Dizzy Feet Foundation’s Celebration of Dance Gala on August 1st in Los Angeles.  Leading the charge – and the routines – in L.A.  will be Nigel Lythgoe, Co-Creator, Executive Producer and Judge of the hit FOX TV show – So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). 

The Music Center is also partnering with The Dizzy Feet Foundation for the fourth year in a row to present the all-day, free, West Coast dance extravaganza.  Dancers of all skill levels and ages are invited to join. 

Audiences will have the opportunity to participate and learn repertoire from some of Los Angeles’ best dance companies and enjoy interactive performances by some of the city’s the finest young dance talent including the San Pedro Ballet, which will showcase both its children’s group as well as its more advanced dancers, and also lead a demo at the event. 

In New York, Dancer/Choreographer and SYTYCD Judge Adam Shankman will lead the festivities in front of Lincoln Center’s iconic Revson Fountain, and will also be joined by SYTYCD All Star Alex Wong in teaching dancers of all ages and abilities various dance routines as part of the New York celebration of National Dance Day. 

This year’s celebration in Washington D.C. is in collaboration with the Kennedy Center’s 25/40 Celebration, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 40th anniversary of VSA. A variety of artists will headline the festivities at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, including Baakari Wilder, tap dancer famous for his Broadway role in Bring in da Funk, Bring in da Noise; Antoine Hunter, Deaf African American choreographer; Culture Shock, a D.C. based hip-hop crew; Evan Ruggiero, one-legged tap dancer, singer, and guitarist and AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s most acclaimed physically integrated companies, along with SYTYCD Season 9 Alumni Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer. 

As its official contribution to NDD, each year DFF produces and distributes instructional videos featuring dance routines for the public to learn. DFF encourages anyone and everyone to learn the routines and perform them on NDD.  DFF also encourages the public to submit videos of themselves performing the routines. Select videos may be included on SYTYCD and can be submitted via DFF’s Facebook page.  This year, DFF partnered with Eventbrite, the largest self—service global registration and events marketplace, to provide a place for anyone to create and promote their own NDD event. More information on how to become an official National Dance Day event can be found on DFF’s website.

Celebrated each year on the last Saturday in July, National Dance Day raises awareness about and encourages Americans to embrace dance as a fun, positive way to maintain good health and combat obesity. National Dance Day achieved national recognition when, in 2010, long-time proponent of healthy lifestyles, American congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, introduced a National Dance Day resolution to promote dance education and physical fitness.

The Dizzy Feet Foundation was founded in 2009 by producer Nigel Lythgoe and director Adam Shankman, among others to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the United States.  The Dizzy Feet Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 charitable organization. 

 The Kennedy Center is the only U.S. institution that presents a free performance 365 days a year. Created in 1997 and underwritten by James A. Johnson and Maxine Isaacs, the Millennium Stage features a broad spectrum of performing arts each day at 6 p.m. The Millennium Stage has hosted artists representing all 50 states, and has presented more than 15,000 artists in their Kennedy Center debuts. Since 1999, each night’s performance has been broadcast live over the Internet, and more than 4,430 of these performances have been digitally archived on the Kennedy Center’s website.