The Dance Conspiracy organizes dance events that inspire and incite dance in public, for public, by the public in service to authentic expression and presence.
The idea came to CJ O’Reilly during a live music concert for the band Paper Bird, when CJ arrived early along with a few other friends from the social dance scene. Having arrived early, there were few people, and naturally, CJ and friends started dancing. CJ usually felt annoyed at live dance shows because of how many people stand around with beers not dancing to the music, but this time was different, somehow there were more people dancing a the live music show than not… CJ perceived or imagined that the people not dancing felt out of place.
This turning of tables inspired a vision of a reality in which it might be possible that instead of the common response of: “I don’t know how to dance”, or “no, I’d need to have a few beers before I could do that”, or “I don’t know how to dance with people”, the commons response could be “hell yeah!” to opportunities to dance. Instead of awkward discomfort at the idea of authentic expression through movement in the presence of others, even the general public, perhaps the common response might be “you go human!”.
The Dance Conspiracy Vision
This is the vision the dance conspiracy strives for: a world where dance and authentic physical expression by the general public is normal, even in public.
The Dance Conspiracy Mission
The Dance Conspiracy does this by:
- Organizing dance events in public, especially ones which incite participation or strive to normalized dance.
- Organizing events and education and practice opportunities that support individuals in being more comfortable with dance, especially to be dance ambassadors, sharing and inciting dance in public.
The Dance Conspiracy Aims for 2020
- To launch location specific dance waves, aiming for one release per month.
- To hold at least one or more Distributed Silent Disco events, starting with a solstice dance event.
- To launch the Dance Community Leadership Program by the end of Q2
- To launch the Dance Conspirators Directory by Q4.
- To develop collaborators.