Kids having fun at NBS Sharing Dance Day

Past Events

Past NBS Sharing Dance Celebrations

NBS Sharing Dance started as a flashmob in Toronto in 2010 and has grown over the years into an incredible nation-wide dance party, with tens of thousands of people participating!

 

Each year, Canada’s National Ballet School commissions a Canadian artist to create a piece of choreography that embodies a thoughtful theme. See some of the highlights of past NBS Sharing Dance Day events below:

Sharing Dance Day 2022

June 2, 2022


The 2022 NBS Sharing Dance Choreography, created by Starr Muranko and Aïcha Bastien-N’Diaye, brings each of us within, connecting us with the land, our breath and our bodies. The choreography is divided into sections and taught through step-by-step video resources, adapted for all ages. Resources support educators, community programmers for kids, programmers for seniors, dance studios, families, individual dancers and more.

 

We often take for granted the spaces we inhabit and the lands that sustain each of our lives. The 2022 NBS Sharing Dance Choreograph y begins by bringing each of us within. Once centered and fully present, we can feel the beat of the music begin to pulse and build throughout the choreography, inviting us to see our spaces differently and connect with what’s around us — the people, the environment, the sounds and scents in our room, the tree or river outside our window, and so on.

Sharing Dance Day 2021

May 28, 2021


We are excited to announce Lua Shayenne and Jera Wolfe as NBS’ 2021 Sharing Dance choreographers. This year’s choreography explores the processes of isolation, reflection, growth, transformation and balance that have characterized the past year. Complement and deepen your experience of learning the choreography by watching the NBS Sharing Dance Day 2021 broadcast - that took place on May 28! Presented as a digital event this year, this national celebration of the power of dance has brought together dancers of all ages and abilities from across the country for almost a decade. 

 

This 2021 Sharing Dance Day broadcast is hosted by Canada’s National Ballet School, and programmed in partnership with Arts Umbrella, L'École de danse de Québec, Halifax Dance, and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) School.

Sharing Dance Day 2020

May 29, 2020


Welcome to NBS Sharing Dance Day, a national digital broadcast to celebrate the joy, creativity and community of dance. Using your digital device, dance along with Canadian artists as they share and teach a diversity of dance styles, introduce you to new music rhythms, and more. Best of all, no dance experience is required! 

 

This special Sharing Dance Day is hosted by Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) in partnership with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Arts Umbrella, Dance Nova Scotia, Halifax Dance and L'École de danse de Québec.

Sharing Dance Day 2019

May 29, 2019


For Sharing Dance Day 2019, Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) commissioned artists Esie Mensah and Philippe Alexandre-Jacques to create a piece of choreography that explores how our familial, cultural and community roots influence our identity. We often think of roots as entrenched and unchanging. But in fact, they grow over time, deepening and moving in different directions as they are affected by the elements around them.

 

In the same way, our identity also expands, grounded in that from which we’ve come, but also shaped and molded by the new experiences, new traditions and the communities through which we wander and to which we are welcomed.

 

These powerful interactions can affect the core of who we are and, like with roots, help us forge new paths. NBS Sharing Dance Day events engaged tens of thousands of people across the country in a nation-wide celebration of the power of dance.

Sharing Dance Day 2018

June 1, 2018


From coast to coast to coast, NBS Sharing Dance Day 2018 got more Canadians moving together than ever before!

  • More than 26,000 students from over 175 schools joined us in learning the choreography.

  • From Hoop Dancing to Hip Hop, from Bhangra to Ballet, over 20 different dance styles were performed at NBS Sharing Dance Day events.

  • Sharing Dance Day events were found at over 200 sites across the country.

  • Almost 50,000 people joined us at NBS Sharing Dance Day events nation-wide.

Sharing Dance Day 2017

June 2, 2017


One of 38 Canada 150 Signature Projects—funded in part by the Government of Canada through the Canada 150 Fund, and with Shaw Communications Inc. as presenting partner—NBS’ Sharing Dance Canada 2017 shared and showcased Canada’s history, cultural richness and diversity through dance, while also bringing together and empowering communities across the country to share their stories of what it means to be Canadian.

 

“I am pleased that Sharing Dance Canada 2017, from Canada’s National Ballet School, has finally been unveiled to Canadians,” said the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage. “Communities all across the country will have the opportunity to celebrate Canada’s cultural diversity through dance. The 150th anniversary of Confederation gives us a chance to think about what it means to be Canadian. Let’s make the most of the celebrations to strengthen the bonds of friendship that bring us together!”

 

For the 2017 dance performance, four Canadian choreographers—representing distinct styles of dance, cultural backgrounds and geographic locations in Canada—collaborated to give voice and movement to a unique work that embodied and celebrated Canada’s diversity and artistic identity. Choreographers included Kimberley Cooper (Calgary), Eugene Baffoe (Winnipeg), Tracee Smith (Toronto) and Roger Sinha (Montreal).

Sharing Dance Day 2016

June 3, 2016


Thank you for participating in Sharing Dance Day 2016 in your community. For the first time, 10 communities and over 7,000 people across Canada participated in the event. Together, the Sharing Dance community raised almost $11,000 to support the delivery of FREE, fun, accessible and healthy dance programs year-round for children and youth, seniors, and everyone in between.

Sharing Dance Day 2015

Sharing Dance Day 2015

May 24, 2015

 

On Sunday, May 24, 2015, Canada's National Ballet School presented Sharing Dance Day in Yonge-Dundas Square. Community participants included students from local public schools, dance organizations, Big Brothers Big Sisters Toronto, Parkinson Society Canada, and World Animal Protection. Over 150 participants performed the 2015 Sharing Dance street dance-style routine choreographed by Gadlfy's Apolonia Velasquez and Ofilio Sinbadinho, set to Kiesza's hit song "Hideaway". For the first time, 2015 Sharing Dance Day celebrations also took place in Winnipeg. Hosted by Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, participants from the community danced their hearts out and participated in free dance workshops.

Sharing Dance Day 2014

Sharing Dance Day 2014

Sunday, May 4, 2014

 

On Sunday, May 4, 2014 Canada's National Ballet School presented Sharing Dance Day in Yonge-Dundas Square. Participants from local public schools, community dance organizations, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto, Parkinson Society Canada, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals, performed the 2014 Sharing Dance routine choreographed by Patrick Parson in an African-Caribbean-style and set to Samba Squad's "One Love Aye Aye".

 

Watch the Sharing Dance Day 2014 video here!