BIG Dork Dance (documentary) Success
Today’s warmup required a microphone (idea inspired by Tram!). More people joining than ever before. A big circle. 20-30 people to start right at 5PM. Some new faces, and many familiar. No way could we have time to get through all of the dorky moves. Too many people. A great problem is not a problem at all.
This is what we wanted. This is what we planned. We marketed big and we got big.
After last Sunday’s record-breaking attendance (40+), we expected 50-70 dorks to show up today. We beat that — more than double. 90+ dorks (18%+ of our community) decided to show up for our cause this afternoon. More people, more energy, more awareness. The bigger crowd both draws more attention and adds to our excitement.
A mental health awareness campaign requires campaigning; it demands grasping attention. With so many dorks dancing out on the street, this is exactly what we accomplished. This was a celebration for mental health and our community of dorks.
This first BIG Dork Dance event came together not only to throw a big dance awareness party, but to also capture nice footage for a Dork Dancing documentary as well. In fact, this documentary was the main reason for creating the event in the first place.
Before today, we had danced 198 times, none of which were planned/marketed as BIG. We needed an extra drive to celebrate in larger numbers. This documentary was the exact push we needed to organize and make that happen.
The story of the documentary, and the origin of our first BIG Dork Dance event, comes from Marcus Statz, a local videographer, who is volunteering to support our cause, community, and campaign. Marcus has a vision for this documentary and today we followed his lead.
With a drone hovering above the dancing, Marcus directed a scene. Dork Dancing hosts in the middle, declaring, “we are dorks and we are dork dancing for mental health,” music drop, dorks swarm in, cameras zoom out, both from the ground and above. Marcus organized and executed like a pro (because he is). We are excited to reflect on the footage captured today and look forward to continuing with this documentary effort.
Today was really something special. A true celebration. A time to tell our neighbors, congratulations and I love you. Hugs, smiles, jumping joy. Young, old, and a mix of the world’s nationalities, expats and locals coming together in common purpose.
We all deserve to feel joyous, because life is meant to be enjoyed. We are working to remind people of that. But we know tapping into good feelings and positive emotions can be tough, because life is challenging. So we do what we can. One step at a time. We are starting simply, #dorkdancing for mental health.
Dork Dancing is a grassroots mental health initiative, campaign, and community effort. We depend entirely on charitable giving to inspire impact. We hope you may consider supporting by donating.