Coming together on Saturday, April 20 are hundreds of dancers from across the country to 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 our water.

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 at Hesky Park. The event will begin at 3:30 p.m. with a community gathering and water blessing. At 4 p.m EDT all of the dances throughout the U.S. will start and will be live-streamed 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. I find myself wondering what the water carries as it rushes downstream.”

Gosselin is concerned about how our actions affect the health of the lakes so many people have come to enjoy. “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 our brooks, ponds, and lakes and rivers.”

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.

The mission of NWD Projects Inc. is to promote dance as a vehicle for social change through the creation of new work that increases awareness of environmental and social issues by collaborating with artists, educators, and the community at large. NWD Projects makes use of technology and the internet to create a national community which offers platforms for supporting artistic exchange among professional artists, educating students, and engaging and informing the public.

The mission of See Change Dance is to demystify the creative process and to build community through dance improvisation and community-based dance experiences. See Change Dance is affiliated with Demetrius Klein Dance Company/DIY projects which seeks to promote collaboration among dance artists to create and present modern dance in both traditional and non-traditional venues.

What: 6th Bi-annual National Water Dance

When: Saturday, April 20, at 3:30 pm EDT (Live stream begins at 4 pm)

Where: Hesky Park, 327 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith

Event is free and open to the community.