Dance For Kindness
Dance For Kindness was initiated by Life Vest Inside (LVI) in 2012. It is a worldwide event in celebration of World Kindness Day which falls on November 13. Groups from across the globe join together to perform a Kindness Freezmob/Flashmob to the same song, same dance, all happening on the same day. The purpose of Dance for Kindness is to show that regardless of the differences in race, religion, ethnicity culture and background, the common thread that ties us together is kindness.
The Dance for Kindness flagship location is located in the heart of NYC, Times Square. The event takes place on the second Sunday of November which usually just follows World Kindness Week.
Goals
The goals of the event are to promote:
- Kindness
- Positive Human Interaction
- Global Unity
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Positive Self Expression
Event format
DFK Group Leaders: Each city is run by LVI fans that sign up to become a Group Leader in their region. Group Leaders organize the events under the guidance and leadership of Life Vest Inside. The tasks of a group leader range from organizing a location, rehearsals, spreading word about the event, managing registrants who sign up to dance at their location, photo and video coverage during the event.
DFK Anthem Contest: Music is a large component of Dance for Kindness. It also has the most amazing power to uplift, inspire and unite. In the summer of 2014, LVI Founder, Orly Wahba, had an idea to create an original song for Dance for Kindness. She reached out to four artists and asked them to come up with an original song that embodies the purpose of Dance for Kindness. Once the songs were submitted, it was left in the hands of the DFK Group Leaders to vote as to which song would be the official DFK2014 anthem.
Votes were cast and Charles Preston’s song, Revolution of Love[1] was chosen as the first original DFK anthem.
Starting in 2015, LVI opened up this opportunity to any and all musicians from around the globe to submit a demo that would be voted on by the public. LVI works with music industry professionals to produce the song to be heard worldwide on the day of Dance for Kindness.
- 2014 DFK Anthem Winner: Charles Preston, Revolution of Love[1]
- 2015 DFK Anthem Winner: Yaakov Feldstein, More Light[2]
Dance for Kindness FlashMob and FreezeMob songs are part of the DFK compilation album Connect. Album proceeds got to further LVI’s mission.
Reach
In 2015, several Celebrity Ambassadors joined Life Vest Inside and participated in Dance For Kindness including:
- The Today Show’s, Hoda Kotb[3]
- Peter Scolari[4]
- Rachel Marie Thomas[5]
- Sean O’brien (AKA Dancing Man)[6][7]
Dance for Kindness has been featured on the The Today Show,[3] NBC,[8] CBS,[9] Bloomberg Television,[10] and many other media outlets.[11]
Stats
Dance for Kindness Stats:
- 2012: 15 Countries, 30 cities, 3,500 participants
- 2013: 25 countries, 30 cities, 5,000 participants[12]
- 2014: 30 countries, 80 cities, 10,000 participants[13]
- 2015: 50 countries, 100 cities, 12,000+ participants
References
- 1 2 "Life Vest Inside - Revolution of Love". YouTube/Life Vest Inside. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
- ↑ "Life Vest Inside | DFK Anthem", Life Vest Inside, Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- 1 2 "Hoda Kotb dances to kick off the Season of Kindness", Today, November 16, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Peter Scolari of HBO's "Girls" and Fox's "Gotham" challenges 'bosom buddy' Tom Hanks to Dance for Kindness", GlobaNewswire, September 27, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "SUNDAY INTERVIEW with Rachel Marie Thomas", Jenny Burgartz, November 1, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ , Instagram/Life Vest Inside, Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ Tanner D. Gardner, "USA, California, Los Angeles: Dance for Kindness 2015", Facebook/Life Vest Inside. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Life Vest Inside’s 4th Annual Dance for Kindness", NBC New York, November 5, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ William Goodman, "Watch how an act of kindness can spread amongst people", CBS News, December 22, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "What a Flash Mob Can Teach Us About Business", Bloomberg Business, December 26, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Life Vest Inside - Press", Life Vest Inside, November 10, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "One Day, One Dance, One Heart! (DFK2013)", Youtube/Life Vest Inside, June 20, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Official Dance for Kindness 2014 (Worldwide Montage)", Youtube/Life Vest Inside, May 1, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2016.