World Square Dance
Back in the late ’90’s, some dancers had a cool idea: why not use video and audio internet feeds to let dancers from all over the world have a dance at the same time to the same callers. World Square Dance 2000 was born. The idea:
Since square dancing is a world-wide activity and technology has advanced to the point that it is possible to communicate to the world
, it would be of great benefit to square dancing and the world as a whole to perform a world-wide square dance. A world-wide square dance would help unite the activity as well as advance peace and understanding among the peoples of the world. The basic concept would be to have a group of square dance callers perform live over the internet to all the square dancers in the world. It would be an eight hour-long dance. This would be a non-profit venture.
At the time, the group decided that the technology wasn’t there yet, and the event was postponed indefinitely. Now there’s some action; the committee has sent out a survey asking clubs around the world if they could and would participate.
Our local square dance facility, the Albuquerque Square Dance Center doesn’t have broadband access, but we do have a phone line, so we could go for an audio-only link.
I think it’s a cool idea (but then, I’m a techno-freak anyway). Not only would it be fun, but it would also be the kind of thing that could be used to get square dancing in the news.
To keep up with what’s going on, check the website: World Square Dance 2000