Jess Grippo celebrated dance anywhere® 2014 with friends in locations across the country. At noon, the dancers met on Google Hangout and danced together. “I posted on Facebook to see who might be interested in joining, and that’s when I heard from my friend Denise Posnak who had the awesome idea of making it into a virtual dance party via Google Hangout, where our friends from all over the place could come together and dance”. Jess and Denise danced with over a dozen people and many more anonymous viewers watched the hangout and danced along.

Jess Grippo

Denise described their dance anywhere® piece as, “a ‘Rear Window-esque’ peek into human movement”. Dancers performed in private and public locations, sharing their private performance with a large audience. The performances of each dancer varied as they improvised to the DJ’s music, which was also a surprise. Jess said, “It was a massive improvisation! The camera highlighted each dancer (or set of dancers) on a rotating basis, so not only was everyone improvising their personal dance, but the entire video was improvised too!

Denise Posnak / Photo by Jess Grippo

Jess’ creativity was sparked by her dance anywhere® experience. “The energy was contagious and the feeling of being part of a larger movement made it feel even more passionate and impactful. I really enjoyed getting to see the other dancers in the video and was so inspired by everyone’s expression and creativity”.

Denise perceives that dancing in real time with friends in different locations was both enlivening and comforting. “Since the camera was controlled on my end (via an artist friend) I was able to both watch and dance during the live hangout. The music served as a thread to connect our disparate moves and was a perfect home base – given the distances we were from each other.”

Jess Grippo

Watching the result was quite pleasurable for the performers as as well. Subscribers to the dancers’ blogs and youtube channels watched live or caught the recording after the fact. “I heard from so many people who said what an uplifting experience it was,” said Jess. The use of technology to unite diverse audiences inspired Denise. She said, “as a choreographer I see a lot of potential in this form!”

Jess Grippo / photo by Dave Rubin

Denise and Jess can’t wait to perform again next year. Jess, a longtime dance anywhere participant, first heard about dance anywhere® a few years ago as she was starting to reintroduce dance into her creative practice. “I had been mostly making dance videos on my own in random places and posting them to YouTube, since it felt better to me than taking formal classes again. When I saw the dance anywhere® site and the fact that people all over the world were coming together to dance in all kinds of random places, I felt a sense of community and connection that I had been missing”. This was Denise’s first year performing for dance anywhere®. Denise expressed her experience – “dance anywhere® is brilliant! It is so effective in connecting us to each other and our inner dancers. dance anywhere® is a project that I hope gains momentum and becomes an international holiday”.

For more information on Jess Grippo visit her website and dance anywhere® page

For more information on Denise Posnak visit her website