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Date registered: September 18, 2011

Latest posts

  1. Save the Date! NHDA at the Southwest DC Arts Festival on September 29 — June 4, 2012
  2. The President’s Turn – June 2012 — June 3, 2012
  3. NHDA at Stax Music Academy Music & Community Festival – Memphis, TN — April 9, 2012
  4. The President’s Turn – November 2011 — October 24, 2011
  5. NHDA at DC 2011 Dance Festival — Old School — October 4, 2011

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Save the Date! NHDA at the Southwest DC Arts Festival on September 29

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The National Hand Dance Association will be presenting at the Southwest DC Arts Festival at the Arena Stage. We hope to see you there!

 

The President’s Turn – June 2012

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Hello!
As President of the National hand Dance Association (NHDA), I would like to thank you for visiting our newly redesigned web site. We hope that you will find it easy to navigate as you research the organization and the social and cultural art form of Hand Dance.
Hand Dance is the “Official Dance of the District of Columbia” (by Resolution of the DC Council).  Hand Dance is also gaining ground as a major component in American and African American vernacular dance.
NHDA is a clearinghouse for information and resources associated with Hand Dance. Click onto the various links and you will find information on the organization including membership into NHDA, names and locations of  area-wide Hand Dance classes, listings various social events, when and where the latest NHDA Hand Dance presentations, demonstrations, and public outreach programs will take place, the best in dance competitions, the new youth movement in Hand Dance including youth hand dance classes and where the youth are social dancing, providing recreation and physical movement through senior Hand Dance workshops, and much more.
If you don’t see what you are looking for feel free to contact us at info@nationalhanddanceassociation.org or call us at 866 583-0780.
Thanks to the NHDA web designer, Charlese Mayo.
We look forward to see you on the dance floor!
Beverly Lindsay-Johnson
President

NHDA at Stax Music Academy Music & Community Festival – Memphis, TN

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Stax Museum, Memphis, TenesseeThe National Hand Dance Association participated in an awe inspiring trip to the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, TN, April 26-April 29.  At the invitation of the Stax Music Academy and Soulsville Charter School, our youth Hand Dance instructors conducted Hand Dance workshops to introduce their students to the art form of Hand Dance.  The invitation was also extended to members of the NHDA Classic Hand Dancers affiliate in presenting “The Journey of the Evolution of Hand Dance”.  In preserving the classic Hand Dance styles of the 1950s and 60s, these classic Hand Dancers danced with pride.

NHDA was also invited to attend, dance and fellowship with the Memphis Bop Club, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary.  We had a wonderful time on the dance floor with them. A lasting partnership was formed with the Memphis organization.

Participants – Markus Smith, Tren Veal, Auraum Johnson, Deonna Ball, Marya Wallace, Melvin Copeland, Maxine Grant, Adrienne Poteat, Navada Warren and Lawrence Bradford
NHDA Administration – Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, Jacque Ballard
Guests who traveled with NHDA – Jody Roberts, Delores Hudson, Tina Williams, Renita Smith, Gwen Pitt, Toni Hawkins, Reggie Thomas
Hand Dance made a lasting impression on the City of Memphis, and we look forward to returning.
On behalf of the National Hand Dance Association, our heartfelt thank you to all in the Hand Dance community who donated towards our travel to Memphis and the Stax Music Academy.  You can view more of the photographs on Facebook.
Beverly Lindsay-Johnson
President

The President’s Turn – November 2011

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Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, PresidentThe National Hand Dance Association’s growth has been impressive since I took office at the end of 2008 and re-elected in 2011 for another two year term.  It is my obligation to see the organization grow and prosper in its efforts to live up to its mission to “Preserve, Educate and Promote” the art form of Hand Dance.

Many don’t know the “behind the scenes” work done on a daily basis to keep NHDA and Hand Dance not only in the forefront of social dance, but also on the radar screen of cultural arts institutions, as Hand Dance is a cultural and traditional art form.  Here are 10 of the many achievements made through NHDA:

  1. NHDA sponsored six youth and young adult Hand Dancers to participate and compete at the prestigious U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships in California. (2009)
  2. The Humanities Council of Washington, DC awards NHDA in 2010 their “Grantee Award” for preserving the history of Washington, DC.
  3. NHDA was accepted as a member of the United Black Fund.  UBF provides its members with outreach programs to promote growth and stabilization as a non-profit organization. (2010)
  4. Grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to continue documenting the history of Hand Dance, and for the production of the NHDA documentary “Hand Dance: A Capitol Swing”.  The documentary made its public debut at a screening at the Chateau night club in April 2011.  This public outreach event also included a panel discussion, hand dance demonstrations by the new generation of hand dancers and a classic demonstration.  DC Mayor Vincent Gray and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton made an appearance at the event.
  5. NHDA presented “old school” Hand Dance and free style dances of the 1960s in the Smithsonian  Institution Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC in their program “Rhythm & Blues: Tell It Like It Is”  (June/July 2011)
  6. NHDA, its members and affiliates presented a Hand Dance program during the Southwest Arts Festival at the prestigious Arena Stage Theater in Washington, DC (Sept. 2011)
  7. NHDA received a grant from the District of Columbia to sponsor through NHDA affiliates free 8-week senior and youth Hand Dance workshops in DC Wards 7 and 8. (Sept. 2011)
  8. NHDA and its Youth and Young Adult Affairs Division, headed by 3rd Vice President Markus Smith has been invited to the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, TN in February 2012 to present youth and young adult Hand Dance workshops to introduce Hand Dance to the teens at the Stax Music Academy and students of Memphis public schools.
  9. NHDA and its Youth and Young Adult Affairs Division has been invited in Spring 2012 to present youth Hand Dance workshops to youth in New Orleans.
  10. NHDA is now a proud member of the United Way Campaign and the Combined Federal Campaign in fundraising for the continuation of our programs to introduce youth in the District of Columbia and surrounding area to the art form of Hand Dance as a vehicle for social growth and development. (July 2011)

We are proud of the accomplishments made and are seeking the support of the entire Hand Dance community in order to continue our mission in preserving Hand Dance and leaving a legacy for our new generation of Hand Dancers.  Supporting growth and preserving the past will help to make that happen. As a non-profit membership organization, NHDA needs your participation, your voice and your support.  We need you to help us in assisting and building Youth programs through the National Hand Dance Association.  Your membership and your financial donations are needed, if for nothing else, then to keep young people Hand Dancing.

“It takes a Hand Dance village to raise a young Hand Dancer”

 

Beverly Lindsay-Johnson

NHDA President

NHDA at DC 2011 Dance Festival — Old School

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NHDA at the 2011 DC Dance Festival – The Next Generation

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September 2011

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As the world turns,and technology evolves faster than the speed of light, it’s time for NHDA to advance to the 21st century. It’s not always easy to keep up with the latest technology, because in many cases it’s time and dollars.

However, NHDA is working at coming up to speed with technology.

1. NHDA is on Facebook at National Hand Dance Association. We will be looking into setting up a Twitter account as well. But in the meantime, visit us on Facebook.

2. NHDA will be working on texting it’s members on when and where NHDA meetings will take place.

3. NHDA will be using Constant Contact for sending out its newsletters with news, events and the monthly Community Events Calendar.

4. AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL….The NHDA website will be getting an “Extreme Makeover” within the next few weeks. So please forgive the outdated information on this current website. The new website design will be attractive and easy to navigate.

We, at NHDA, welcome the up to the minute changes in how the organization operates in its mission to Preserve, Educate and Promote the artform of Hand Dance.
Sincerely yours,

Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, President