On an ancient bridge over the Nabão river in the historic 12th century town of Tomar, located in the central region of Portugal, over 1,000 people joined Soradi Dance on Friday March 22, 2013 for dance anywhere at 7pm.

Soradi Dance, led by Fausto Matias & Shirin Stave-Matias, organized the dance anywhere event on the bridge. Below is the poster they created to help spread the word. What a great idea!

“We love dance and we aim to share the love of dance with others.

We try to make dance accessible to people of various ages and believe that dance has
a special place in societies that is integral to our well-being and
personal/cultural development. Exposure to dance is essential to keeping it alive,
so we are strong believers in site-specific work and branching out of traditional
venues into unexpected places.

Over the years we have brought dance to a variety of different venues, such as:
gardens, plazas, churches, beaches, convents, streets, castles, educational and art
institutions, monasteries, sports centers, bridges, cemeteries, dance halls,
swimming pools, private homes, tennis courts, theaters, cafés, train stations,
nursing homes and many others.

Our work together began in New York City, where for over ten years we had it
presented through venues such as: Dancing in The Streets, The Kitchen, DTW/Fresh
Tracks, Dixon Place, DIA Center for the Arts, and Movement Research at Judson
Church.

Since 1999 we’ve focused on developing dance in Portugal, where we first began
presenting through our festival: the Fringe Festival Internacional de Dança
Contemporânea. For six consecutive years and expanding to encompass 20 other cities
in Portugal, the festival presented choreographed and improvised works,
predominantly in outdoor/site-specific venues that highlighted Portugal’s rich
architectural heritage. The fringe was committed to presenting cutting-edge and
diverse works of contemporary and experimental dance, from internationally
established artists to emerging talents.

Since the global crisis and the lack of funding for the arts, we are focused on
surviving as dance artists and making dance thrive. More recently we see the decline
of a once beautiful & productive city where we live, and are aware that many people
are confronted with serious problems of unemployment and economic hardship around
the world. We don’t have the solution to the enormous severity of this issue, and
don’t believe that it will be relieved instantaneously, but those of us who dance,
know the power it has to heal and revitalize us like nothing else can.

It can be a simple dance, but it can be a prayer, too.

On March 22nd in Tomar, Portugal we were very happy to share our dance with
Dance Anywhere® and unite with others around the globe in one universal dance.”

To view the Soradi Dance event page for more media and information, click here.