National Dance Day event this Saturday at Riverfront Pavilion

It’s time. Grab your dancing shoes, your cooler with drinks and snacks and head down to Riverfront Pavilion Saturday evening. July 26 is the date this year for National Dance Day and Orange County is going to dance 7-9 p.m.

Declared in 2010, National Dance Day is held the last Saturday in July with big events in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., with smaller events cropping up all over the country. This year, Orange is added to the list of events. Of events listed on the DizzyFeetFoundation.org Web site, the next closest event to Orange County is Austin and Round Rock. To the east, you have to go all the way to New Orleans to find the next event on the calendar.

“This free event is meant to be a fun celebration of dance,” said Penny LeLeux, organizer for the event. “We have performances lined up and audience participation numbers.”

The official National Dance Day tutorials will be taught and performed. The beginner tutorial even has an adapted version that can be done from a seated position. “Even if someone is confined to a wheelchair or can’t dance for some other reason, they can still participate,” said LeLeux. “No one has to be left out.” The tutorial videos can be found at octx.info, just look in the top menu for the heading National Dance Day Tutorials. They can also be found on YouTube, and dizzyfeetfoundation.org

Besides the tutorials, the Orange Community Players, Inc. Young People’s Theater Workshop kids will perform two of their numbers from their recent show, Thayer Dance Academy with do team dance numbers, the West Orange-Stark Fillies will be offering Zumba routines and there will be line dances. John Gray, OCP choreographer and dance teacher at Studio C has been working on a special finale number with several local dancers. For more information call 409-728-5970 or go to What’s Happening Orange County? on Facebook for up-to-the-minute updates.

Once again, the event is 7-9 p.m. Saturday at the Riverfront Pavilion in Orange, 601 Division Ave., coolers are welcome, no glass containers, no dogs, no pets.