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Top Story News
Utah is celebrating National Dance Day with celebrations along the Wasatch Front. This national day will highlight the need for America to move and help raise money for aspiring dancers.
National Dance Day is a grassroots initiative to encourage the entire nation, no matter how old or uncoordinated, to get up and move. Dance producers in LA organized this national celebration to encourage the country to get up and do something. Utah will be right in the middle of it all.
Janene Jaynes organized Orem's Dance Day Celebration. She said, "I just knew Utah needed to be a part of that. So, 14 days ago I put together a program for Utah so we would have a voice on that day." |
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Associated Content
Writer: Karan Moses Robinson |
National Dance Day Events Near You
Get out there and DANCE!
We are just about one week away from National Dance Day! Have you made your dance plans yet? If you’re still looking for a way to get involved, have no fear.
Here is a list of some of the organized events taking place nationwide on Saturday, July 31st:
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Utah's Dance Heritage
Before coming to Utah, the early Latter-day Saints (Mormons) settled in Nauvoo. They strove to improve themselves in education and the arts. For them, books and musical instruments were as necessary as shovels and plows. Even though many were from the poor and middle classes of New England and the British Isles, they responded to the advice of their leaders to develop cultural arts. This created strong support for a beginning library, artwork, music, dance and theater. In the larger homes, dancing was ever present, including reels and the square and round dances of Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and England. With its energetic and fancy stepping, dance played an important part in the lives of these people. When they settled Utah, these pioneering people brought their love for the arts with them. See "The Cultural Arts in Nauvoo", Ensign magazine, September 2002.
Although the pioneers who settled the Salt Lake Valley are best remembered for their diligence and hard work, they also knew how to have a good time. In fact, their ability to enjoy entertainment, especially singing and dancing, may have saved their sanity while toiling toward Utah on the plains of the American midwest. In the book "History of Utah 1847-1869" Andrew Love Neff writes "The Mormons love dancing...almost every third man is a fiddler, and every one must learn to dance. In the winter of 1854-1855, there were dancing schools in almost every one of the nineteen school houses, and necessarily so much more attention to dancing involved so much less attention to study."
Only five years after arriving in the valley, they built a building dedicated to music, dance, theatre and other social graces. There settlers shook off the hardships of frontier life and enjoyed music, dancing, lectures, and the company of good friends. Dedicated January 1, 1853, it is one of the earliest landmarks for the area. It has the distinction of being the first theater built west of the Missouri River and housed a stage on the east side of the building. The remains of the Social Hall were uncovered in 1991 and a museum was erected to preserve them. see http://www.utah.com/mormon/social_hall.htm. Discovery of pioneer Social Hall provides a glimpse into past.
According to the Encyclopedic History of the Church (Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saings), "Dancing was the principal feature of the public gatherings in the Social Hall in the early days, the cotillion, minuet and other square dances being favored, as President Brigham Young opposed the waltz and round dances generally." http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/20683/Discovery-of-pioneer-Social-Hall-provides-a-glimpse-into-past.html
In 1893 the Mormon church built a popular recreation site on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, about sixteen miles from downtown Salt Lake City. They also built a railroad connecting the resort to the city. The purpose was to provide "a wholesome place of recreation." Dancing was one of the main attractions on what was then advertised as the world's largest dance floor. The facility reached its peak of popularity in the early 1920s attracting nearly a half-million people a year. However, in April 1925 it burned to the ground. This was followed by a succession of attempts to rebuild and regain its former popularity, but the Great Depression, a $100,000 fire in 1931, World War II, and the flood of 1984 each caused the effort to fail. But, like a phoenix, Saltair again rose from the ashes in 1993 (its 100th anniversary). It now stands strong today on its picturesque spot overlooking Great Salt Lake. For more about the history of Saltair, see historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/statehood_and_the_progressive_era/saltair.html
And, when it comes to size, Salt Lake City can boast as having the nation's largest ballroom. It was the Coconut Grove. A postcard printed in 1947 to commemorate Utah's centennial reads on the front: "858 Coconut Grove, Salt Lake City, Utah. The Largest Ballroom in America". On the back: "This beautiful Ballroom is the largest in America, accommodating eight thousand people. It is ventilated by 51 giant airplane fans circulating 1/2 million cubic feet of air per minute. The romantic atmosphere of the South Sea Isles permeates the place. It is the tourists' mecca."
Did you know?
Utah's official dance is square dance. The square dance was adopted as the official state folk dance of Utah by an act of the Utah Legislature in 1994. As defined in the "Utah Code," square dancing is "...the folk dance that is called, cued, or prompted to the dancers and includes squares, rounds, clogging, contra, line, and heritage dances."
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