The universal language

Julio Bocca

In 1982 the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) founded International Dance Day to be celebrated every year on April 29. The date commemorates the birthday of Jean Georges Noverre, who was born in 1727 and was a great reformer of dance.
The intention of International Dance Day and the message is to bring all dancers together on this day, to celebrate this art form and revel in its universality, to cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers and bring people together in peace and friendship with a common language -- dance.
In 1995 the International Dance Committee entered into a collaborative effort for the celebration of International Dance Day with World Dance Alliance.
The message circulated by the International Dance Committee on the occasion of the International Dance Day is one more attempt to build bridges through art. This year the message has been written by Julio Bocca, arguably one of the foremost ballet dancers of Argentina.
International Dance Day Message by Julio Bocca:
“Dance is discipline, work, teaching, communication. With it we save on words that perhaps others would not understand and, instead, we establish a universal language familiar to everyone. It gives us pleasure, it makes us free and it comforts us from the impossibility we humans have -- to fly like birds, bringing us closer to heaven, to the sacred, to the infinite. It is a sublime art, different each time, so much like making love that at the end of each performance it leaves our heart beating very hard and looking forward to the next time.”
The dancers in Bangladesh have been celebrating International Dance Day since 1993 under the aegis of Bangladesh Chapter of International Dance Committee, ITI and International Dance Council. For the last couple of years the Bangladesh Dance Artistes' Association has been observing this day on a grand scale. This year the annual festival of the Association began on April 23 and will conclude today. Dancers in colourful costumes from all over the country will come to Dhaka, to join the grand rally today. Nrityanchal will also celebrate the day with daylong processions and programmes at various spots in Dhaka.
The overall scenario of this art form in Bangladesh has greatly improved. However, the commercial aspects and the attraction towards fame often dilute the true interest of striving hard to learn this art form to its core. Dance teachers are often confronted by various questions during admissions by the parents, such as, “How long will it take my daughter to become a dancer?”/ “Can my child become a dancer in two months?”/ “How soon can my child dance at a public function?”/ “Can you get my daughter ready for a competition next month?”/ “Can you make her ready to dance to song 'x y z' from the film 'q r s' at her cousin's wedding next week?”/ “Ma'am please teach me some contemporary dance…” etc.
Everyone who wishes to become a dancer one day has to keep in mind that there is no shortcut to achieving good skills in dancing, other than the utmost dedication and devotion towards the teacher, the institution and the art form itself. Hard work and only hard work is the only formulae of reaching one's goals and becoming successful in not only dance but also any other field.

The writer is renowned dancer, choreographer and dance teacher