Announcements

๐—ฆ๐—ข๐—–๐—œ๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—ฆ, ๐—™๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ฉ๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐—ฃ๐—”๐—ฅ๐—ง๐—œ๐—–๐—œ๐—ฃ๐—”๐—ก๐—ง๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—›๐—ข๐—ข๐—Ÿ ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐——๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—ฆ, ๐—”๐—ง๐—ง๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก!
๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฆ๐—˜, ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ข๐—ฃ ๐—ฆ๐—ข๐—–๐—œ๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—œ๐—ก๐—š!
(At least in the next few weeks!)
You will see this statement posted and shared by many major afro-latin festival organisers, artists, DJs, musicians and other professionals from the dance industry. Yep, it sounds strange coming from people, who for all these years did everything they could to ๐— ๐—”๐—ž๐—˜ ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—˜ ๐— ๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—˜ – but pls read further.

There are several reasons for this bold request:
– Most important one – we care about your own safety…
– We care about safety of your loved onesโ€ฆ
– We also care about safety of all the rest of usโ€ฆ

So, unfortunatelly, social dancing became actually quite the opposite of helpful in these troubled times. The sooner we realize that and take it serious, more helpful are we going to become for our selves and our loved ones. Not an easy job, no question about it. But this is the reality we currently live in. Very inconvenient for some but very dangerous for others and it is the reality we must all accept as our token for a brighter future. Actually it is also our responsibility.

#๐—จ๐—ก๐—œ๐—ง๐—˜๐——๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—˜
Naturally, this terrible pandemic is not sparing our dear community. Countless events have already been cancelled, leaving the organizers and their team of volunteers in despair as one year of passionate and hard work just sunk overnight and are left with only the bills and troubled minds.

This has and is still creating a massive โ€œButterfly effectโ€ which is directly impacting negatively all the professionals of our dance industry such as artists, DJs, musicians, photographers, videographers or various suppliers…

Many dance schoolโ€™s owners are on the verge of shutting down their studios, fearing if they will be able to pay their rent in the future as they live from month to month mostly.

However, History, our greatest teacher, has reminded us many times that it is by sticking together and joining our forces during the hard times, that we can survive the worst experiences and even more; to get out of it stronger than before.

๐—ฆ๐—ข ๐—ช๐—›๐—”๐—ง ๐——๐—ข๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—ง๐—›๐—”๐—ง ๐— ๐—˜๐—”๐—ก ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐—›๐—ข๐—ช ๐—–๐—”๐—ก ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ ๐—›๐—˜๐—Ÿ๐—ฃ?
Actually, to support the community, you donยดt need to do anything!

You see, the only hope for an organizer to survive until the next years event is to hope for your support and help, and kindly ask you to accept to transfer your ticket for the next edition. Understandably, this might be a big effort on your side, but this sole action of yours will help the organizers stand back to their feet (or at least to their knees) after they took a almost a deadly blow. This action of yours will help maintain their spirit on the bright side, and finally re-focus on building the next edition with the greater desire to make it an even more unforgettable experience for you.

Your action of โ€œ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ดโ€ and not asking for refund will help not only the event organisers but also will preserve the โ€œ๐—–๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒโ€ for the professionals of the dance industry who extremely depend on those events.

The same applies to dance schools, as you can also support your local studio by postponing your classes to another time, instead of asking for a refund.

At the end letโ€™s not forget – ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†. It is an opportunity for unity, solidarity, fresh starts and support. This crisis, like everything else in life, will pass. And when it does we will be able to make up for the lost time and get back to the dance floor with even more fire knowing that we had a bigger role in preserving this special place of ours we call – dance community.

So, time for now is to be patient, to refrain from social dancing for yours and for all our sakes and we kindly invite you to support your local and international dance professionals who in this time of crisis need your support.

๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ.

With Passion and Love,
#unitedfordance