What is International Dance Day?
- Sophie Fletcher
- Apr 17
- 8 min read
Do you know why April is special for dancers all around the world? Because on 29th April, it's the International Dance Day!
Let’s be honest - there’s a day for almost everything now, but International Dance Day (IDD) stands out for anyone who loves movement, music, and the magic that happens when the two combine. IDD has been celebrated every year since 1982, established by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute, a partner of UNESCO. The date? April 29th was chosen to honour the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a name every ballet lover should be aware of.
Who was Jean-Georges Noverre?
Born on 29th April 1727, Noverre was a French dancer, ballet master, and a friend of Marie-Antoinette who changed the course of ballet history. He’s often called the “father of modern ballet” - but not in the sense of 'modern dance' as we know it today. Instead, Noverre introduced ballet d’action, a style that broke away from the decorative, often disconnected dances of his era. Ballet d’action aimed to tell a story through movement alone, using expressive choreography, realistic gestures, and dramatic staging rather than relying on spoken or sung words. The focus was on emotion, character, and narrative. Think of it as the precursor to the full-length story ballets we consider the 'classics', like Giselle or Swan Lake.
Noverre’s ideas weren’t always popular in his lifetime, but his 1759 book, Letters on Dancing and Ballets, set out his vision for dance as a true dramatic art. His legacy is why, every April 29th, the world pauses to celebrate dance in all its forms.
What happens on International Dance Day?
International Dance Day is all about celebrating the universality of dance, breaking down barriers of language, culture, and politics to bring people together through movement. It’s marked by performances, workshops, and festivals across the globe, from grand galas to community flash mobs.
One of the day’s special traditions is the annual International Dance Day Message. Each year, a renowned dance personality is invited to write an address that’s shared worldwide. The first message, in 1982, was given by Henrik Neubauer (1929-2024), a Slovenian opera director, choreographer, professor, doctor, and ballet historian who was active internationally and wrote 30 books and over 500 articles on opera and ballet.
Here’s the 2026 address by Crystal Pite:
"Humans move - our arms reach out, our knees collapse, our heads nod, our chests cave in, our backs arch, we jump, we shrug, we clench our fists, we pick each other up and push each other away. This is language as much as it is action. This is what the body has to say about need, defeat, courage, despair, desire, joy, ambivalence, frustration, love. These images flash with meaning in the mind because we have felt these things so purely in the body - we have been moved.
We are dancers, all of us. Life moves us; life dances us. Ephemeral as breath, concrete as bone, a dance is made of us. We sculpt space. We write with our bodies in a wordless language that is deeply understood. We grace the space within and around us when we dance.
Like life, a dance creates and destroys itself in every moment. Like love, it is beyond reason.
I like to think of the body as a location; a place where being is held and shaped. When we dance, we are profoundly engaged in being there.
I’m writing this in early 2026, when there seems to be no end to the oppression, upheaval and suffering in our world. Daily, as we witness the horror of what humans are capable of doing to each other and the machinery of power that funds and fuels unspeakable violence to people and planet, dance feels like a facile, useless response. It’s hard to imagine what a dance artist can do in a world that so badly needs radical change and healing.
And yet - art, like hope, is a form of love. Defiantly generative in the face of desecration, art is a solvent for the calcifying mind and a balm to heal it. Art is a vessel to hold us while we grapple with questions - together - in a way that is different from news, different from documentary and education, different from opinion and social media, different from activism and protest, but not incompatible.
Through creativity, we accumulate resistance and hope through small acts of courage, curiosity, kindness and collaboration. In dance, and in dance-making, we find proof that humanity is more than our latest heartbreaking global failure.
But dance needs no justification, no explanation. It’s made of us yet owes us nothing. It only needs to inhabit a willing body. From that location, it can translate the ineffable; acting as an intermediary between us and the unknown.
We are moved by these vanishing traces of beauty in the present moment. And as we embody both the dance and its disappearance, we are reminded of our impermanence. At the same time, if we are paying attention, dance will give us an occasional glimpse of the soul."
Crystal Pite is a Canadian choreographer with over 35 years of experience, known for creating more than sixty works for leading companies including The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, and the Paris Opera Ballet. A former member of Ballet British Columbia and Ballett Frankfurt, she founded Kidd Pivot in Vancouver in 2002, producing internationally acclaimed hybrid dance-theatre works that explore themes of trauma, conflict, and mortality. Her many honours include five Olivier Awards, the 2022 Governor General's Performing Arts Award, the Benois de la Danse, membership in the Order of Canada, and Associate Artist status at Nederlands Dans Theater, Sadler's Wells, and Canada's National Arts Centre.
A few authors from the previous years
Robert Joffrey (1983) – Co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet, Joffrey’s address emphasised ballet’s evolution and its role in contemporary society.
Kathryn Dunham (1993) – A groundbreaking African-American dancer and anthropologist, Dunham’s address highlighted dance as a tool for social change.
Maguy Marin (1996) – The French choreographer’s message focused on the creative process and the courage to experiment.
Stephen Page (2008) – Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, Page spoke about the deep connection between indigenous culture and dance.
Akram Khan (2009) – The British-Bangladeshi choreographer reflected on tradition, innovation, and the importance of storytelling in movement.
Trisha Brown (2017) – An American postmodern dance pioneer, Brown’s message celebrated dance’s power to connect and transform.
Ohad Naharin (2018) – The Israeli choreographer and creator of Gaga movement language, Naharin’s words inspired dancers to embrace individuality.
Friedemann Vogel (2021) – The German principal dancer spoke about resilience and the healing power of dance during challenging times.
International Dance address archive
1982 inaugural address by Dr. Henrik Neubauer
"The board of the Permanent Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute suggested to all persons working in dance to celebrate 29 April, birthday of Jean Georges Noverre, as INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY.
The Board thus wishes to achieve that all the world should think on that same day of the basic significance of dance for all mankind. INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY should become an instrument for a better understanding between people, particularly because dance acts as a means of communication that does not need interpreters for other languages.
INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY should unite people in noble and progressive ideas of our time, for peace and friendship through the art of dance.
We chose as International Dance Day the birthday of the reformer of the art of dance, Jean –Georges Noverre, born on 29 April 1727. He contributed to the emancipation of dance from its former position as pure divertissement, and his critical Letters on Dance opened up a new era of artistic trends in our art.
All who work in this field feel the necessity of dance, which sensitises people and sharpens their awareness of themselves and of the surrounding world. The dance art should connect people so that they could go their own way into the world without exploitation and poverty, without any aspiration and armament. In all our works – should they be classical or romantic, works of our century or new creations with music of contemporary composers – dance should articulate the effort for collaboration in humanization of people.
Dance art is not separated from reality and the everyday life of people. It is connected with all that inspires people with what they expect and wish, what they are afraid of, what they dislike, what they love and what they are searching for. In the future, we will take advantage of all the possibilities we have to keep peace, to ensure social progress and to bring people closer to each other through human ideals.
The profession of dancer is characterized by heavy work from the beginning of schooling, which begins very early, and until the end of the career of every individual. This career is of a very short duration and the dancer risks every day that it may suddenly be interrupted by an accident or by illness. In spite of all that it is a most beautiful career. What could be more beautiful than showing human emotions with your own body, to use your own body as an instrument, to transmit your own art to an audience by the strength of your muscles, by the flexibility of your joints, by the expression of the instrument which everyone possesses.
Just because of that we would like dance to get its place together with drama, music and plastic arts in the general education system. That way dance can get public acknowledgement and help, and also our youth can acquire knowledge of the art of dance in elementary and secondary schools, together with all other art forms. In spite of this progress in the last decades, we can still consider our dance art as a young branch and therefore the education of future audiences and potential dance artists is very probably one of the main aims we have. We dedicate therefore our first INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY, which we celebrate with all our colleagues and admirers in different parts of the world, to that aim, together with the wish that dance should develop further."
2025 address by Mikhail Baryshnikov
"It’s often said that dance can express the unspeakable. Joy, grief, and despair become visible; embodied expressions of our shared fragility. In this, dance can awaken empathy, inspire kindness, and spark a desire to heal rather than harm.
Especially now—as hundreds of thousands endure war, navigate political upheaval, and rise in protest against injustice—honest reflection is vital. It’s a heavy burden to place on the body, on dance, on art.
Yet art is still the best way to give form to the unspoken, and we can begin by asking ourselves: Where is my truth? How do I honor myself and my community? Whom do I answer to?"
Why celebrate International Dance Day?
Whether you’re a professional dancer, a student, or someone who just loves to move in the kitchen, International Dance Day is for you. It’s a chance to remember that dance is a universal language - one that tells stories, expresses emotions, and brings people together across borders and generations. It’s also a day to honour the visionaries like Jean-Georges Noverre, whose passion and innovation laid the groundwork for the dance we cherish today.
So on 29th April, whether you’re in the studio, on stage, or just grooving in your living room or your office with headphones on, take a moment to celebrate. Dance, in its essence, is for everyone - no matter your age, background, or experience. Happy International Dance Day!
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