National Water Dance in Meredith April 20

MEREDITH — National Water Dance 2024: Moving Forward Together, bringing dancers from 30 states to 56 different locations, will make a stop in Meredith on Saturday, April 20, at 3:30 p.m.

The sixth bi-annual National Water Dance will take place in Hesky Park, at 327 Daniel Webster Highway. These dancers from across the country perform a site-specific dance at a river, a bay, the ocean, a fountain or any water site nearby. From Seattle to Mississippi, Maine to California, New Hampshire to Florida dancers of all ages and experience will join others in uniting to celebrate and collectively take responsibility for protecting water supplies.

See Change Dance with assistance from the NH Dance Collaborative is bringing dancers and community members together to dance along the shore of Meredith Bay. The free event begins at 3:30 p.m. with a community gathering and water blessing. At 4 p.m, all of the dancers throughout the United States will start; live streaming at nwdprojects.org/.

This is the first time that New Hampshire has been represented at National Water Dances, which began 2011 as a catalyst to encourage ongoing engagement between dancers and the environment.

“I am awed by the power of water to literally move mountains as it did when the glaciers receded and created the Lakes Region,” says teaching artist and event organizer Gaynelle Gosselin. “The movement of water as the snow melts and the rain falls is a source of endless fascination to me.”

Gosselin is concerned that human actions affect the health of the lakes. “You can be a tourist and enjoy a place, but if you truly love a place, you take care of it. Water is life. My hope is that this event will encourage members of our community to be good stewards of the our brooks, ponds and lakes and rivers,” she said.

Community partners for National Water Dance New Hampshire include Lakes Region Conservation Trust, Lake Winnipesaukee Association, the NH Dance Collaborative, Diamond Rolfing and Movement, Unbound Dance Academy, The Town of Meredith and the Greater Meredith Program.

For more information, email gaynellejr@bellsouth.net or call 561-702-1286.